In Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles", Laurie is a naughty little boy who craves attention and creates a fictitious character "Charles" to cover up his behavioral changes. Laurie becomes more rebellious after going to school, such as "speaking rudely to his father and forgetting to say goodbye to his parents on the street corner" (page 1), which hints at his personality change. He attributes all his mischievous behavior in school to "Charles", such as "hitting the teacher" and "shouting during story time" (page 2), in order to attract his parents' attention while hiding his true behavior.