In Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles," Laurie is a smart but naughty child. In the story, Laurie often talks about a boy named Charles, describing him as a troublemaker who does many bad things. For example, he says that Charles "hit the teacher" and "kicked the teacher's friend" (Jackson, page1,2). Laurie uses these stories to blame a made-up person, Charles, for his own bad behavior so that he doesn't get in trouble. Even though Laurie’s parents are worried and think Charles might be a bad influence on Laurie, they never question if Charles really exists.
Through the stories about Charles, Laurie is hiding his own naughty actions. When Laurie says that Charles "was good today, and the teacher gave him an apple" (Jackson, page3), it shows that Laurie is using the "Charles" character to talk about his own behavior. Sometimes, he says that Charles did bad things, but in reality, it might be Laurie who is doing those things. At the end of the story, we find out that there is no Charles at all, which is surprising. This shows that Laurie created Charles to avoid responsibility and hide the changes and confusion he is going through as he grows up.