Share your literary essay with the rest of the students that chose this short story. Take some time to read 2 or 3 other essays. Comment on them. Your comment should be about something you noticed them doing well from our lessons. For example, "You did a really good job explaining your evidence"
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ReplyDeleteThe theme I chose for this story is “Don't Judge Others", I chose this story because it seemed very interesting to me. In the short story charles there's this boy named laurie, laurie comes home from school everyday complaining about how this boy named “charles” and how he is always doing something bad, by time the story ends the family/parents find out that “charles” is not the kid who is doing this stuff and there is no “charles”, When the family goes to the school they find that it is their kid who is doing all of this ridiculous stuff to the teacher and other students.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to support my claim is all the times that laurie's parents had something to say about “charles” for example “Do you think kindergarten is to unsettling for laurie? All this toughness and bad grammar this Charles boy sounds like a bad influence.” there is many other parts where laurie's parents have something to say about “Charles”.
At the end of the story “Charles” laurie's family has a meeting at the school and while they are at this meeting they are looking for charles and his parents to talk to them while instead of running into them they run into lauries teacher and ask about the charles kid the teacher says there is no charles, the parent was surprised and started asking who was doing all this stuff laurie told them everyday, but then the teacher started talking to her/him that it was there kid laurie doing all of this trouble.
In Conclusion this story has a lot of judging and falsely accusing other people/person that dont even exist, because of this i chose the theme “Don't Judge People”.
I like how you supported your theme and didn't let others change your mind.
DeleteLaurie was starting school. He was going to show that he was ready to go by wearing blue jeans. He must have been excited when he had left the house because when he got to the corner, “he didn’t stop at the corner and wave to his mom”. Times had changed for the new kindergartner.
ReplyDeleteHis first day must have been something interesting since the story entails that he had changed. He had slammed a door open, put his stuff on the floor and spoke to his mom and dad as though he was older. He proceeded to inform his parents about a boy named Charles. How the boy is getting in trouble in school. Laurie mentions all the things that Charles does and what happens to him at school because of the behavior.
Laurie’s behavior at home seemed to not have changed his mom and dads thoughts about him. However, when Laurie prompted his dad to “look up”, “look down” “boy your dumb”, then Laurie laughed; it seemed to have got his mothers attention, since she asked him another question quickly.
As the days went on and more happened with Charles, the parents became concerned on how this affects Laurie. Though, they never corrected Laurie’s behavior when he was wrong in actions and talking. They only thought about how Charles was influencing their son.
They had decided to go about finding more information by trying to catch up with the teacher, other than the school or the teacher at school. However, eventually they met his teacher at a PTA meeting. There they found out that Laurie was Charles.
Kindergarten had changed Laurie, he thought he was a big kid and could act out and say what he wanted. Since, the parents did not see him as a child that would not respect his teacher, them or the other kids, Laurie managed to get away with his shenanigan’s. Laurie thinking he has grown up, by being in kindergarten and that he can be this way shows that he still needs oversight by his parents.
Counter Argument: That Laurie thought he is a big kid and could act out, and say what he wanted, thinking he has grown up, being disciplined by the teacher other than his parents. So, the author was telling us that Laurie’s parents were never thinking it was him, even though Laurie talked to his parents wrong. It shows that his parents going easy and correcting his behavior on him was probably not the right thing to do.
In the story “Charlie”, I think the theme is, honesty makes a better Identity. I think honesty makes a better Identity is one of the most important themes. Laurie claims this kid “Charlie” is making disruptive scenes in his kindergarten class. Later on, the parents find out it was Laurie the whole time. Which made them look like the fools at Parents Night. That’s why I chose honesty makes a better Identity in the story “Charlie”.
ReplyDeleteLaurie claims this student “Charlie” is always rude and in trouble with the teacher all the time. Throughout this story a bunch of bad things happen with “Charlie”. In the first week of school, Laurie claims this kid “Charlie” has done some bad things in his classroom. “Charlie” once made a little girl bleed after bouncing a see-saw onto her head at recess. He even has made smart comments to get out of classes. Every time “Charlie” does something bad the teacher spanks him in front of the class. It states, “He was fresh. The teacher spanked him in front of the class.” Once he told a little girl to say something bad out loud without knowing what it ment and the teacher washed the little girls mouth out with soap. In the next it states,” Laurie started to have bad behavior at home. He starts to make smart comments to his dad and which is getting him in trouble at home more often. In the next it states,”Look up, look down, look at my thumb, gee your dumb”.Laurie mentions that “Charlie” was not being a distraction during class and was the teacher's helper for a week.
Next, Laurie's parents are starting to wonder if “Charlie” is becoming a bad influence on Laurie. It states in the text, “Do you think kindergarten is too unsettling for laurie? …..This “Charlie” kid sounds like a bad influence.”’They decide they are going to go to a parent gathering. This way they could meet “Charlie's” parents and maybe say something about the distraction of their kid. The first week of it Laurie's baby sister got sick so they had to stay home with the baby. The next week they go and they find out news when they ask about “Charlie”. It turns out that their own child is the one who was being fresh and a distraction during the class. I feel just for this moment it could be a different theme. Why, well they are embarrassed to figure out that it was Laurie the whole time and was lying to his parents about his actions. So I feel this could be, not being honest can affect other peoples life too.
I feel “Charlie” is the symbol in the story “Charlie” because he is the main problem in the story. Charlie is just somebody that Laurie made up to lie to his parents. So I feel since he is the main problem. The symbol Charlie is also related to my theme Honest makes a better Identity. Why, because Charlie is made up and in Lauries mind he is the way to get out of being in trouble with his parents. So I feel the symbol is Charlie.
The theme that I chose was honesty makes a better Identity. In the story I read Laurie is a perfect example of my theme that I decided. He was always saying how this kid was always making distractions and being fresh but when his parents went to a meeting they found out it was actually Laurie! So I feel the right theme is honesty makes a better Identity in the story I read “Charlie”.
I believe that the theme of the short story Charles is that you shouldn’t judge other people because it can make you not see the truth. I believe this because of how the main character Laurie’s and how the parents act towards Charles throughout the story or talk about him. Throughout the story the parents always believe that laurie is perfect and everything wrong is been cause by this Charles kid and his family.
ReplyDeleteFirst we have dialogue, throughout the story that shows how the parent judge charles. Everyday after laurie comes home from school he always has something to say about what charles did at school that day. Charles apparently does a lot of things ranging from “Friday Charles was deprived of blackboard privileges because he threw chalk.” To “Charles bounced a see-saw on the head of a little girl and made her bleed.” For one thing the parents every night listen to Laurie and believe what he say believing that charles is a bad influence on Laurie for not being there. Such as during a PTA or parent teacher association meeting that the parents go to they talk about him and don’t see Charleses parent there making them believe that charles is worse. But towards the end of the story they talk to the teacher Laurie has and it goes like “Laurie usually adjust very quickly I suppose this is harles influence.” Then the teacher says “ Charles? We don’t have any Charles in the kindergarten.” Indeed This is his how the story ends the parents throughout the story believed that Charles was the reason that Laurie was misbehaving but Laurie lied to his parents and they believed it. l thought this could be a sign of somebody being ignorant for believing this lie so long but I feel that it shows how far the parents took the judging of Charles and his family because of how long they believed the lie that charles existed and was the reason that laurie has been acting out and being weird at home.
Next we have actions of characters throughout the story. The parents of the main character Laurie are very judgemental towards Charles in the story through what they say making comments and reactions while they are eating at the table like when they take a guess at what happened like “II suppose he got spanked again?” For instance taking a guess at what happened just because of what they heard about prior to this conversation they had is very judgemental of the parents. Then through their actions they assume everything bad is what Charles would do making a the term “ that looks like Charles” whenever something bad happened or goes wrong. For example the Lauries dad accidentally broke a vase with flowers in it by bumping into it and then Lauries mother said “ looks like charles” surly this proves how she is judging Charles because she associates bad things with this person. This could as well be a sign to the parents being ignorant but I still believe that they are just very harsh judging because of making up a phrase for Charles with no evidence of him again besides Laurie's stories she was just going off of what she think she knew.
Finally we have the figurative language throughout the story. For example, Throughout the story the family always gathers at the table for dinner and talks about what Charles does how Charles hit somebody or how he screamed about crayons or something along those lines but everyday they meet at the table this is a sign of repetition. Then you have Charles. Charles being a fake person makes him a symbol of the story on how he was judged adds on to the meaning of judging can make you not see the truth. Then you have how the detail that laurie talk about what Charles does. Certainly this is a example of imagery because of how detailed they Laurie makes it.
So now you can see ho i believe that the theme of the short story charles is that judging can lead you to believe things that are not true. With the dialogue the actions of the characters and the figurative language throughout the story.
I feel you could have added more quotes to support you argument but you did a great job at explaining what you knew
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“Charles” is a short story by Shirley Jackson that details the experience of a little boy in kindergarten. What makes the little boy so unique is that he comes home every night, and he is being rude, and is doing unusual things. This short story focuses on a little boy named Laurie who is in kindergarten, and on another little boy named Charles who is also in kindergarten. The author uses these characters to show us not to lie; Don’t lie to cover up your own actions. I thought of this theme because Laurie covers up his own actions, and he tells his parents that it’s another kid. Laurie makes his parents believe its this Charles kid, and they get so raped up in Charles that they don't even notice their own kids behavior.
Every night Laurie goes home; tells his parents about what happened with Charles that day. At school, Charles hits the teachers because he only wants to use the green crayons. After Charles hit her; the teacher spanked his butt. Laurie goes home one night and is acting all weird, and different but his parents didn't notice because they were all worried about Charles. Laurie’s parents are worried about some kid they don’t know rather than their own kid. This shows the theme by showing that his parents don’t care about him, and aren’t paying attention to Laurie’s actions and behaviors.
After about a week of the naughty behavior, Laurie came home and told his dad, “Charles was so good the teacher gave him an apple.” The dad then replied with “What, you mean Charles?” Towards the end of the story Laurie’s parents are excited to meet Charles' parents at a PTA meeting. When they were at the meeting Laurie’s parents were looking around to see if they found a misbehaved kid. The parents asked the teacher about this Charles kid; the teacher then replied with, “We don't have any Charles in the kindergarten.” In other words, don’t change yourself because others see it as another person, and not you.
In Charles I think the symbolism is Charles because he is brought up multiple times, and is doing naughty actions all of the time. Something that stood out to me was the repetition of Laurie coming home, and telling his parents about Charles and what he did at school that day. Because Laurie comes home and tells his parents about Charles every day, his parents don’t realize it was Laurie’s actions. Although it could be argued that the theme is to not be judgemental, the text actually shows us not to cover ourselves up to hide our actions. An Example from the text is: “We don’t have a Charles in our class,” said the teacher. That example showed us that Laurie was lying because there is not a Charles in their class. So the theme of this story is most definitely don’t cover ourselves up to hide our actions.
Clearly the theme of “Charles“ is don’t lie to cover up your own actions. This is first seen when the author used character actions). Laurie goes home every night and tells his parents about Charles, and what Charles did at school. Next, the theme was created when the author used dialogue). “We don't have any Charles in the kindergarten,” said the teacher. Finally, the author used figurative language to create the theme. Readers saw this when figurative language was used. As a result, it is evident that the theme of “Charles“ is don't lie to cover up your own actions. Can’t we all just be ourselves?
great job overall I think you did a great job supporting your evidence to show the theme that you saw in the text
ReplyDelete¨Charles” is a short story by Shirley Jackson that takes place with a kid named Laurie starting his first day of kindergarten. The character that I'm gonna be talking about is Charles. When I was reading the story it kind of seemed like he was a troublemaker. He had gotten in trouble alot and he would just get yelled at often. It really wasn't a good impression for Laurie's first day of kindergarten and really when you start kindergarten it's new to every kid but Charles was the loudest one there.
ReplyDeleteThe people from the story always would talk and judge Charles. It was as if it was a habit for them to just talk about Charles that way. Charles would get in trouble alot the teachers on the other hand while Charles gets in trouble. As Laurie had just come back from school and his father had asked "How was school today, Did you learn anything?” Laurie had replied saying “No i didn't learn anything.. So as Laurie was eating with her mouth full he had said a teacher had spanked a boy. The father had asked who it was and Laurie had said that it was Charles. The teacher also spanked Charles and made him sit in the corner.
Although it could be argued that the theme is Don't Judge Others the text actually says A Lot of meaningful words so this short story is most definitely Don't Judge Others Because It's not always okay to judge the people that you don't really know much about Especially if its coming from a parent
Here are some things that the story said that I thought was judged for them to say.
On Saturday I remarked to my husband, "Do you think ;kindergarten is too unsettling for laurie? All this toughness and bad grammar, and this charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.¨ That I showed i thought was really judgy when the parents of Lauries
Here is another one that i found that laurie's parents said about charles,
My husband said reassuringly ¨bound to be people like charles in this world. Might as well meet him now then later.¨
That I showed was something that I thought showed how they were being a little judgy to Charles.
When I was looking at Charles I thought he was the symbolism to the story because of that I think everybody would always pick on Charles for his actions. Parents would think that Charles is a bad influence on their kids.. For this reason Charles was always doing bad things and Laurie's he told his parents about the thing. Everything would always have to do with Charles and it was like he was the Center of attention. Charles one day in school wanted to color with green crayons but the teacher had made charles draw with red crayons. So Charles got up and hit the teacher. The teacher spanked Charles and told everyone to not play with Charles but insisted on not playing with Charles they all did.