“Charles”
Shirley Jackson
English 9A
Mr. Shimizu
Nov. 2013
Born in 1916 in San Francisco, but moved
as a teenager to Rochester, NY.
Went to Syracuse University and met her
future husband (book critic Stanley Edgar
Hyman) while on the school’s lit.
magazine.
Moved to Vermont, where Stanley was a
professor and had 4 children, one son
named Laurence (Laurie).
Died of heart failure at age 48 in her sleep;
was overweight and a smoker; suffered
nervous breakdowns according to Darryl
Hattenhauer (Shirley Jackson’s American
Gothic)
Stephen King considers her a major
influence and calls her The Haunting of
Hill House one of the best horror stories
ever written in his Danse Macabre.
“Charles” came out in 1948 and WWII (193945) was still fresh in readers’ minds
During wartime, nations use propaganda to
create a clear dichotomy between the good
guys and bad guys … dichotomy is a division
between two things thought to be opposed
or entirely different from each other
The question is, does such a dichotomy
between good and evil really exist? We
called ourselves the liberators of Europe
during the war (the good guys), but we
imprisoned and relocated JapaneseAmerican citizens after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor just like the Nazis did with
Europe’s Jewish population.
Mob mentality can overtake society during wartime: Nazism swept over
Germany and bloodthirsty patriotism swept the USA after Pearl Harbor …
Evil lurked even in the small-town America of “Charles” …
Preview of Conflict and Theme
Character vs. Society
Character vs. Self
The influence of social pressure on our choices
• We choose to believe what we want to believe … right?
• Can we believe anything we want to, behave how we want to? What
are the consequences of not believing what everyone else does, of not
behaving like everyone else wants us to?
Are people born evil? Is there such a thing as original sin?
Discuss answers to these questions with
your elbow partner(s) …
Characters + Point of View
NARRATOR = a young mother whose
son Laurie has just started
kindergarten; first-person protagonist
LAURIE = the narrator’s son; goes from
a sweet little boy to a rude, mouthy
kindergartner under the supposed
influence of a bad kid in his class
named Charles
LAURIE’S FATHER = narrator’s
husband; the target of Laurie’s teasing
CHARLES = a “bad seed” student who
fascinates Laurie’s whole family
LAURIE AND CHARLE’S TEACHER =
a character with a surprise for Laurie’s
parents
STORY NOTE #1: What a character does says
volumes about who he or she is as a person
READING STRATEGY for “CHARLES”:
Use context clues to uncover the meaning of unfamiliar words.
“I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door,
seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced
nursery-school tot replaced by a long-trousered, swaggering character
who forgot to stop at the corner and wave goodbye to me.”
What does “swaggering” mean?
“He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap
on the floor, and the voice suddenly become raucous shouting, “Isn’t
anybody here?”
What does “raucous” mean?
STORY NOTE #2: THE IMPORTANCE OF USING PRECISE
WORD CHOICE
Not only is Laurie shown to be rude (slamming the door, throwing
his cap on the floor, and shouting unnecessarily) but swaggering
adds another level to his rudeness—not only is he rude, he’s rude
in an in-your-face, obnoxious way intended to get himself noticed.
Consider: he slams the door loudly, talks loudly, and wants to know
if anyone’s home to witness his bad behavior
STORY NOTE #3: USE DIALOGUE TO MOVE THE PLOT
FORWARD … DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY/SHOW
Jackson unfolds the story by having Laurie tell his parents stories
about Charles’ behavior when he comes home everyday for lunch.
By not showing Laurie and Charles at school, she keeps suspense.
–ly suffix: indicates/forms an adjective out of the word
Insolently (p.73)
scornfully (p.75)
matronly (p.77)
elaborately (p.73)
heartily (p.75)
cautiously (p.77)
incredulously (p.76)
PRACTICE
Fresh 
Unfortunate 
Unsettling 
Sudden 
QUESTIONS TO PONDER AS YOU READ
 Who is Charles? How is he important to the story?
 What clues in the story let you know what’s really going
on? (Think: dramatic irony)
 Think about theme: What does the reader know that
characters in the story do not? Why don’t they see what
the reader sees?