Don't Judge a Book Who you knew for a while, by its Cover

Never judge a book by its cover even if you knew them for a while, or if they are your own child, in the short story "Charles" by Shirley Jackson. A mother of two hears true stories about her son's classmate acing horrible in class. Soon she sees it's almost a routine with this little boy who is known as Charles to act up, certain ways on certain days. At the end if the story was a "smack" in the face. For both the main character, and the reader.
Parents these days, and in the past never thought "my child could do wrong"(my mother). Meaning parents thought their child would never do something wrong. In the short story "Charles" it seems that Ms.Shirley Jackson is trying to tell the reader that there's always a chance that your child did it. The mother's point of view is first person, she never came across the thought of her child doing something wrong. Even randomly saying to her child "Laurie don't let that little boy influence you, or if you ever do that you ill be in big trouble".  That would have been a very adult thing to do especially if you don't have a close relationship with your son.
The short story has a weird way of organizing the events. The exposition is regular.As for the foreshadow(hint of what will happen in the story), and conflict it's not so clear, until the end. The reader might think the foreshadowing is when Laurie tells his mom about Charle's actions during class, and the conflict is Laurie's behavior. The rising action would be parent teacher conference when Laurie's mother is determined to talk to Charle's mother. The climax is what makes you think more about the moments that happened before. "He had some trouble getting used to school,' says the teacher. 'But I think he'll be alright'. 'Laurie usually fits in quickly' the mother says, 'I suppose the his trouble might be from Charles' influence', the mother finishes. 'Charles?', questions the teacher. 'Yes', replies the mother with a laugh. "You must have your hands full with Charles', replies the mother. 'Charles? We don't have a Charles in Kindergarten", responds the teacher. This shows the teacher in a way dropped a bomb on the mother. The main character probably never came across the thought of her child lying.
The protagonist is the mother who's perspective we see or is described to us. She seems young, and not very close to her son because when "Charles" did something bad or anything he would mostly tell his father in detail what happened. The reader might be surprised that she never said anything. The only question you might have right now is why? Why doesn't she ask her son, 'why don't you tell me anything?' Why can't she just be open about how she feels?

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