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Laurie Character Analysis Essay

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At first glance it may appear that
Laurie’s mother, the narrator, believes the stories about
Charles because she inherently has a bias to believe her son and proves to be a fairly incompetent parent. Both of these perceptions are supportable, but, most of all, the narrator appears unwilling to accept her son’s transition from “the sweetvoiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long- trousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave good-bye....”
Interestingly, the narrator identifies her son’s new persona as that of a character, while Laurie begins to attribute his poor behavior to the character know as Charles. Although the narrator claims to see that an era of her life has ended (one in which Laurie was her “sweetvoiced …show more content…
When the narrator makes mention of the fact that Laurie did not wave goodbye to her, it suggests that she yearns for her son’s love and affection. Therefore, the narrator’s hesitance to discipline Laurie when he acts out at home stems from the fear of losing any of the remaining attention that he gives her. Suspecting that
Laurie is indeed responsible for all of Charles's offenses would only further remove him from the sweetvoiced tot that she loved.
There is, however, support for the notion that the narrator only believes the stories that
Laurie makes up about Charles because of her own bias and incompetence. The narrator, along with her husband, are shown to have a lack of authority as it pertains to their relationship with
Laurie. They seem to take direction from him, rather than the other way around. At lunch following his first day of school, Laurie “ spoke insolently to his father, spilled his baby sister’s milk, and remarked that his teacher said we were not to take the name of the Lord in vain.” There is no indication that either parent disciplines Laurie for speaking insolently or spilling his sister’s milk. Later in the conversation, the narrator uses the phrase “Good heavens” as a substitute

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