Analyse af Laurie's skjulte identitet i Shirley Jacksons 'Charles'

Lauries’ true identity does he not show to his parents, until the ending of the short story. At first when you read Laurie, you think it’s a girl, because Laurie is not a common name for males. He tries to maybe become more manly. That’s maybe why he is using Charles as a cover name. He is of course also using Charles as a name, so his parents won't realize it’s actually him.

Settings:

The setting of the story is not very specific, but most of the short story is told in the kindergarten. The other minority of the text is told in Laurie's house. This short story spans over 4 weeks. The short story is being told in the 50’s or a few years later. That information is given when Laurie tells her father, that Charles got spanked. And it was around that time, that it still were allowed to hurt students. The text don’t inform you, where it takes place, but it most likely takes place in USA, Canada or the UK. You can see that with the names, and the punishment methods used against Charles. The western countries used those punishment methods, more than the eastern countries.