In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school. In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as
Snubbed by her mother who wanted a slender, socialite, comme il faut daughter, she struggled with her own demons as well as those her community nourished in her. Instead of your average American of the day, Jackson married Stanley Edgar Hyman in 1940, an American Jew whom the FBI had been investigating in the late 1940s -1950s, suspecting him of being a Communist. In an era of antisemitism and fear of the Reds (cf. House Un-American Activities Committee and McCarthyism), Jackson managed to push all the wrong buttons in her New England community. She smoked and drank heavily, was interested in witchcraft and voodoo, and according to accounts, yelled at her children's teachers. Such an unconventional woman was unwelcome in a small provincial town with everything that this might entail. One day on her way home, schoolchildren threw rocks at her, which some believe to be the inspiration for her sublime short story "The Lottery".
Prescriptions of amphetamines for weight loss, barbiturates for her
agoraphobia in later life, her smoking and drinking in addition to a torturous marriage in which her husband's affairs with college students left her alone and unloved, looking after four children, took their toll on a woman who had become a recluse. She died at age 48 of heart failure.
"Charles" is a very short short story, yet it manages to say all that needs to be said in the space of approximately 1600 words. The following notes should help students and teachers get a general picture of Shirley Jackson's narrative.
Read the story here.
Click the picture for explanations of literary terms
Shirley Jackson –
Charles
- Biography
- 1916 – 1965, American author
- known mainly for her horror stories
- wrote 6 novels, 2 memoirs, more than 200 short stories
- her most famous works: the 1954 novel The Haunting of Hill House, her much anthologized short story “The Lottery” (first published 1948)
- the Shirley Jackson Awards (established 2007) are presented each year at the annual science fiction convention Readercon and are awarded to works of horror, psychological suspense and dark fantasy
- Characters
- Laurie
- kindergartner
- intelligent, cunning, versatile
- thrives on attention (parents’ and classmates’)
- adjusts to punishment by making others misbehave
- reverts to old bad behavior to regain attention
- Laurie’ mother
- cannot see reality
- doesn’t know her child at all
- busybody, dying for gossip: is “passionately” curious to meet Charles’s mother
- limited knowledge of people: can’t believe Charles’s change of behavior after he starts being teacher’s helper
- sees little details (what kind of cake Laurie’s teacher had during 2nd PTA meeting) but never important things
- believes she knows what Charles’s mother ought to look like (haggard) or should have done at the PTA meeting (stood up to apologize)
- Laurie’s father
- acceptant of the situation
- allows son to talk back/make fun of him without any repercussions
- condones Charles’s behavior
- never discusses with Laurie why Charles’s behavior is wrong
- jokingly blames an accident which pulled phone, ashtray + vase off the table on Charles
- 2nd PTA meeting: tells wife to find out about what happened to Charles that made him change his behavior
- encourages repetition of bad behavior (asks Laurie to tell him the bad word Charles made the girl say in class)
- is curious about meeting Charles’s mother (wants his wife to invite her over for tea)
- Laurie’s baby sister
- Laurie’s kindergarten teacher
- form of punishment used = violent (spanks)
- tries different approach (makes Charles helper)
- reverts to old punishment: washes girl’ s + Charles’s mouth out with soap
- tactfully tells Laurie’s mother about son’s behavior, not directly
- Plot
- mother sees her son change the day he starts kindergarten (refuses to wear overalls and bibs; wears jeans with a belt + is a “swaggering character” who doesn’t wave goodbye to her)
- Laurie’s bad behavior at home
- slams door
- shouts
- talks insolently to his father at table + openly makes fun of him
- spills baby’s milk
- speaks with his mouth full
- leaves the table without being asked to be excused
- lies to parents
- Charles’s schooldays
- day 1 of school: is spanked and sent to stand in the corner for being fresh
- day 2: hits the teacher because she told him to color with red crayons + he wanted green;, teacher spanks him + tells class not to play with him but everyone does
- day 3: hit girl’s head on a see-saw; teacher makes him stay inside during recess
- day 4: pounds feet on floor during story-time; made to stand in the corner
- day 5: throws chalk; is deprived of blackboard privileges
- 2nd week: yelled so was made to stay after school
- 2nd week: kicks gym teacher so not allowed to do gym exercises
- 2nd week: yells during story-hour, hits boy in the stomach, stays in detention
- becomes good while he is teacher’s helper
- reverts to bad behavior before 2nd PTA meeting: indirect malice → tells another girl to say a bad word so girl is punished
- one week later, Charles says the bad word himself several times
- parents discuss if kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie because of Charles’s bad influence
- mother misses first parent-teacher conference because the baby is sick; sorry she missed seeing Charles’s mother
- by week 3, all bad behavior in the house referred to as a ‘Charles’
- Charles’ s reformation: has become teacher’s helper
- mother is incredulous at this news; father believes Charles is up to something
- next PTA meeting + final discovery that there is no Charles in the kindergarten
- Themes
- bullying
- insolence in children: nature or nurture?
- parenting
- disciplinary methods and their effect on character-building
- society’s obsession with other people’s problems
- faultfinding
- conventional, provincial mindset
- role of teachers as educators
- Point of View
- first-person narrator (from the mother’s standpoint)
- highly ironic ending due to choice of narrator
- Questions for discussion
1) What makes Laurie/ Charles behave the way he does?
2) Why are Laurie’s parents unable to see who Charles really
is?
3) Is the teacher partly responsible for Charles’s behavior?
4) During the 2nd PTA meeting, the teacher
says that Laurie has occasional lapses of bad behavior. Do you think that in
time these will continue or will his new position as helper mean these lapses
will eventually die down?
5) Does Laurie’s mother understand what has happened at the
end of the story? If so, will she take action to rectify his behavior or will
she remain incredulous?
6) What will the father’s reaction be once his wife tells him
the news about Charles?
7) Will Laurie change as he matures?
8) Would the story vary greatly if it were told by a different
narrator?
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality." - Shirley Jackson