An appearance versus reality theme is one of the more common themes in literature. It challenges the reader to consider the characteristics of the text just as a good versus evil theme would. The appearance versus reality theme in Charlesmanifests in the character of Laurie, a kindergarten student and his parent's perception of him. In the story, Laurie bounds off to kindergarten in a very confident manner the very first day. His mother muses...
An appearance versus reality theme is one of the more common themes in literature. It challenges the reader to consider the characteristics of the text just as a good versus evil theme would. The appearance versus reality theme in Charles manifests in the character of Laurie, a kindergarten student and his parent's perception of him. In the story, Laurie bounds off to kindergarten in a very confident manner the very first day. His mother muses that her little toddler son is gone forever and marvels at this confident character he has become. He returns home day after day with stories of "Charles", a disruptive, rude student in class. Laurie's parents grow concerned about the influence Charles may have over Laurie, continuing to believe that Charles is a real child and that Laurie might be influenced to be ill behaved because of him until the day that they go to a parent meeting, speak to the teacher and realize that there is no Charles in all of kindergarten. For Laurie's mother and father, the apparent disruptive force at school was Charles until that moment when the teacher revealed that in reality, there was no Charles. The reader is left to assume that Laurie is in fact Charles.
It might also be said that the theme can be seen in Laurie's creation of the character Charles. A reader might believe that as a kindergarten age child, Laurie might not be able to separate reality from fiction and wonder if he truly believes that the character Charles is separate from him.
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