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Charles (1949, by Shirley Jackson)

(original text open source )

I have read this story in my teen years in a popular magazine for parents in the USSR (Семья и Школа, School and Family). The section was named ‘Foreign Literature’. Now the Russian translation of this story can be found on the internet. It is done (highly likely) with an online translator and is really awful. I made my own translation referring to the scan of the original one. I also tried in my comments to analyze how the translator, Olga Varshaver, in 1985 adapted the text to make it understandable for her readers who were Soviet parents and teachers. Below is the scan from the Russian magazine and the original text of the story.

1985 translation
1985 translation

The day my son Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a longtrousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave good-bye to me.

He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and the voice suddenly become raucous shouting, “Isn’t anybody here?” At lunch he 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.

“How was school today?” I asked, elaborately casual. (*)

“All right,” he said.

“Did you learn anything?” his father asked.

Laurie regarded his father coldly. “I didn’t learn nothing,” he said.

“Anything,” I said. “Didn’t learn anything”

“The teacher spanked a boy, though,” Laurie said, addressing his bread and butter. “For being fresh,” he added, with his mouth full.

“What did he do?” I asked. “Who was it?”

Laurie thought. “It was Charles,” he said. “He was fresh. The teacher spanked him and made him stand in a corner. He was awfully fresh.”

“What did he do?” I asked again, but Laurie slid off his chair, took a cookie, and left, while his father was still saying, “See here, young man.”

The next day Laurie remarked at lunch, as soon as he sat down, “Well, Charles was bad again today.” He grinned enormously and said, “Today Charles hit the teacher.”

“Good heavens,” I said, mindful of the Lord’s name, “I suppose he got spanked again?”

“He sure did,” Laurie said. “Look up,” he said to his father.

“What?” his father said, looking up. “Look down,” Laurie said. “Look at my thumb. Gee, you’re dumb.” He began to laugh insanely. (*)

“Why did Charles hit the teacher?” I asked quickly.

“Because she tried to make him color with red crayons,” Laurie said. “Charles wanted to color with green crayons so he hit the teacher and she spanked him and said nobody play with Charles but everybody did.”

The third day—it was Wednesday of the first week—Charles bounced a see-saw on to the head of a little girl and made her bleed, and the teacher made him stay inside all during recess. Thursday Charles had to stand in a corner during storytime because he kept pounding his feet on the floor. Friday Charles was deprived of blackboard privileges because he threw chalk.

On Saturday I remarked to my husband, “Do you think kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie? All this toughness, and bad grammar, and this Charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.”

“It’ll be all right,” my husband said reassuringly. “Bound to be people like Charles in the world. Might as well meet them now as later.”

On Monday Laurie came home late, full of news.

“Charles,” he shouted as he came up the hill; I was waiting anxiously on the front steps. “Charles,” Laurie yelled all the way up the hill, “Charles was bad again.”

“Come right in,” I said, as soon as he came close enough. “Lunch is waiting.”

“You know what Charles did?” he demanded, following me through the door. “Charles yelled so in school they sent a boy in from first grade to tell the teacher she had to make Charles keep quiet, and so Charles had to stay after school. And so all the children stayed to watch him.”

“What did he do?” I asked.

“He just sat there,” Laurie said, climbing into his chair at the table. “Hi, Pop, y’old dust mop.”

“Charles had to stay after school today,” I told my husband. “Everyone stayed with him.”

“What does this Charles look like?” my husband asked Laurie. “What’s his other name?” (*)

“He’s bigger than me,” Laurie said. “And he doesn’t have any rubbers and he doesn’t ever wear a jacket.”

Monday night was the first Parent-Teachers meeting, and only the fact that the baby had a cold kept me from going; I wanted passionately to meet Charles’s mother. On Tuesday Laurie remarked suddenly,

“Our teacher had a friend come to see her in school today.”

“Charles’s mother?” my husband and I asked simultaneously.

“Naaah,” Laurie said scornfully. “It was a man who came and made us do exercises, we had to touch our toes. Look.” He climbed down from his chair and squatted down and touched his toes. “Like this,” he said. He got solemnly back into his chair and said, picking up his fork, “Charles didn’t even do exercises.”

“That’s fine,” I said heartily. “Didn’t Charles want to do exercises?”

“Naaah,” Laurie said. “Charles was so fresh to the teacher’s friend he wasn’t let do exercises.”

“Fresh again?” I said.

“He kicked the teacher’s friend,” Laurie said. “The teacher’s friend told Charles to touch his toes like I just did and Charles kicked him.”

“What are they going to do about Charles, do you suppose?” Laurie’s father asked him. Laurie shrugged elaborately. “Throw him out of school, I guess,” he said.

Wednesday and Thursday were routine; Charles yelled during story hour and hit a boy in the stomach and made him cry. On Friday Charles stayed after school again and so did all the other children. With the third week of kindergarten Charles was an institution in our family; the baby was being a Charles when she cried all afternoon; Laurie did a Charles when he filled his wagon full of mud and pulled it through the kitchen; even my husband, when he caught his elbow in the telephone cord and pulled telephone, ashtray, and a bowl of flowers off the table, said, after the first minute, “Looks like Charles.”

During the third and fourth weeks it looked like a reformation in Charles; Laurie reported grimly at lunch on Thursday of the third week, “Charles was so good today the teacher gave him an apple.”

“What?” I said, and my husband added warily, “You mean Charles?”

“Charles,” Laurie said. “He gave the crayons around and he picked up the books afterward and the teacher said he was her helper.”

“What happened?” I asked incredulously.

“He was her helper, that’s all,” Laurie said, and shrugged.

“Can this be true, about Charles?” I asked my husband that night. “Can something like this happen?”

“Wait and see,” my husband said cynically.(*) “When you’ve got a Charles to deal with, this may mean he’s only plotting.”

He seemed to be wrong. For over a week Charles was the teacher’s helper; each day he handed things out and he picked things up; no one had to stay after school.

“The P.T.A. meeting’s next week again,” I told my husband one evening. “I’m going to find Charles’s mother there.”

“Ask her what happened to Charles,” my husband said. “I’d like to know.”

“I’d like to know myself,” I said.

On Friday of that week things were back to normal.

“You know what Charles did today?” Laurie demanded at the lunch table, in a voice slightly awed. “He told a little girl to say a word and she said it and the teacher washed her mouth out with soap and Charles laughed.”

“What word?” his father asked unwisely, and Laurie said,

“I’ll have to whisper it to you, it’s so bad.” He got down off his chair and went around to his father. His father bent his head down and Laurie whispered joyfully. His father’s eyes widened.

“Did Charles tell the little girl to say that?” he asked respectfully. (*)

“She said it twice,” Laurie said. “Charles told her to say it twice.”

“What happened to Charles?” my husband asked.

“Nothing,” Laurie said. “He was passing out the crayons.”

Monday morning Charles abandoned the little girl and said the evil word himself three or four times, getting his mouth washed out with soap each time. He also threw chalk.

My husband came to the door with me that evening as I set out for the P.T.A. meeting. “Invite her over for a cup of tea after the meeting,” he said. “I want to get a look at her.”

“If only she’s there,” I said prayerfully.

“She’ll be there,” my husband said. “I don’t see how they could hold a P.T.A. meeting without Charles’s mother.”

At the meeting I sat restlessly, scanning each comfortable matronly face, trying to determine which one hid the secret of Charles. None of them looked to me haggard enough. No one stood up in the meeting and apologized for the way her son had been acting. No one mentioned Charles. After the meeting I identified and sought out Laurie’s kindergarten teacher. She had a plate with a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate cake; I had a plate with a cup of tea and a piece of marshmallow cake. We maneuvered up to one another cautiously, and smiled (*).

“I’ve been so anxious to meet you,” I said. “I’m Laurie’s mother.”

“We’re all so interested in Laurie,” she said. (*)

“Well, he certainly likes kindergarten,” I said. “He talks about it all the time.”

“We had a little trouble adjusting, the first week or so,” she said primly, “but now he’s a fine little helper. With occasional lapses, of course.”

“Laurie usually adjusts very quickly,” I said. “I suppose this time it’s Charles’s influence.”

“Charles?”

“Yes,” I said, laughing(*), “you must have your hands full in that kindergarten, with Charles.”

“Charles?” she said. “We don’t have any Charles in the kindergarten.”

1985 Sem'ya and Shkola
1985 Sem'ya and Shkola

Bottom Line. Poor teacher. In Soviet school she would have a simple way to follow: “Put your diary on my table now. You get kol (the worst of marks) for your conduct. Tomorrow you come to school and bring your parents”

But here we have Kindergarten, not school - so 5-6 years olds, preschool age in Russian school system (so no diaries with conduct records yet). Usually young kids up to 7y.o. were picked up by parents and in case of such deviant behaviour parents would be reported immediately. Even if parents are unavailable, the teacher would say to a little chump: “Tonight I’ll come to your house and tell your parents about your conduct” Usually it was quite clear to 5y.o. about the consequences. Another measure (more strong) was give a call or send a message to parent’s workplace. There a father of a troublemaker would stay in front of his coworkers and his authority and can be questioned - what kind of man is he if not able to govern his own son? Sure father will press on his son at home. Even one-on-one meeting with a teacher talking about kid’s pranks could not leave a parent indifferent.. In case of normal family. Otherwise the kid could be even spanked (like Charles-Laurie was, yes).

But here we see normal, not marginal family - two kids, nice house in suburban area,.. Sure the parents are somewhat infantile, that’s why the boy allows himself a lot of checking for boundaries.

In 1985 this was a story for Soviet parents - a piece of mosaic about how different two worlds are.

-3

Now, 30+ years later we can watch Russian mothers who blame teachers for being unpleasant with their littleones(онжеребенок). Sometimes we even oppose “collective upbringing” in favor of individualism. But the western people are, by contrast, very strict now about private boundaries that cannot be violated as well as regulations..

Let me translate the passage from Ajrat Dimiev's Book "America the Cool in the Classrooms" (Классная Америка, the word класс(klass) means both classroom and coolness). The author was a member of a group of Russian teachers employed by one Huston school district in mid-2000. After coming home he wrote a book about his experience.

“One small example. I have a black-skinned girl talking loudly in class during the lesson. Honestly, she is no longer a little girl at all. She is 18 years old and should be in the twelfth grade. But, apparently, last year she failed in several classes [...]. The girl has 180 centimeters in height and at least 100 kilograms of weight, or even all 120 kilos. So, I make her one call-down, then another. Zero attention. After the admonishments do not give any result, I, following the instructions, take her out of the classroom for a private conversation into the corridor, and there I accidentally bump into a passing head teacher.

The head teacher, seeing that a novice teacher is in a non-standard situation, is interested in what goes on and I briefly explain everything. In response, the girl begins to claim that she has not done anything wrong. She says, everyone is talking in this class and she absolutely does not understand why I am picked on her. This is their most frequent excuse - "everyone was talking." But I already went through this and therefore give my pedagogical remark: “Britney, we are not talking about everyone now, but specifically about you. You must be responsible for your actions." She knows that these are the rules: the collective violation does not remove personal responsibility. The girl is slightly confused. "I helped Tiffany, because she asked me to explain her some unclear assignment," - she invents on the go after a short pause. Here I am already confused. I don't know how to cover it yet. But the head teacher knows well. "Did you ask the teacher for permission to help your friend?" she asks her. The girl lowers her eyes and says in a guilty voice: "No." She recalls that there is such an instruction - to ask permission from the teacher. She violated this instruction. “Next time, if you want to help someone,” the head teacher continues with a pedagogical tone, “ask the teacher for permission, and then no one will accuse you of anything.”

I look at all this and can hardly restrain my laughter. The aunty looking girl stands in front of us guilty, her eyes downcast. She was caught violating instructions. Speaking loudly is bad not because it interferes with the teacher and the rest of the students, but because there is such an instruction.”

Russian Translation with Comments