How to write a character sketch It is super easy if you follow these directions.

General Information You will be using an 11-point paragraph to write your character sketch. In addition, you must incorporate a quote which will be properly referenced. HERE WE GO!!!

Point 1 Topic Sentence Every paragraph starts off with a topic sentence which tells your reader what you are going to talk about. For this task, you will outline the title and author of the short story, the character you are investigating and the traits you will be discussing.

Topic Sentence Laurie’s mother from the short story “Charles” by Shirley Jackson is an oblivious, obsessive, and inadequate character.

Point 2,3,4 This is where you write about your first character trait. You are going to P-E-E on your page! P oint E xample E xplain

P-E-E To begin, Laurie’s mother is oblivious. She is completely unaware of reality when it comes to her son. For example, Laurie comes home from school telling his mother about how the naughty boy, Charles, got in trouble for being rude to the teacher. However, while Laurie is retelling this story, he himself is being rude to his parents, a sure sign that there is no Charles and that Laurie, in fact, is Charles.

Point 5,6,7 This is where you write about your second character trait. You are going to P-E-E again! P oint E xample E xplain

P-E-E Additionally, Laurie’s mother is obsessed when it comes to stories regarding the fictional Charles. She even goes so far as to comment that “[w]ith the third week of kindergarten Charles was an institution in [her] family” (Jackson). This further demonstrates her obsession with Charles as telling his tales becomes a daily routine.

Quotation Incorporation Before we move on, let’s talk about how to incorporate a quotation. Your quotation should flow between your own words. Any changes you must make to the quote so it is grammatically correct goes into square brackets. You must reference the author in round brackets at the end of the sentence. She even goes so far as to comment that “[w]ith the third week of kindergarten Charles was an institution in [her] family” (Jackson).

Point 8, 9, 10 This is where you write about your third character trait. You are going to P-E-E for a third time! P oint E xample E xplain

P-E-E Lastly, Laurie’s mother is inadequate when it comes to parenting. She is always curious about Charles and encourages Laurie to share stories about him. What she should be doing instead is parenting Laurie on how Charles’s behaviour and actions are inappropriate and let him know that if he behaves similarly, he will be punished.

Point 11 Every paragraph ends off with a concluding sentence. Here you will restate your main points. Try to make it sound different from your topic sentence.

Concluding Sentence All in all, Laurie’s mother is oblivious regarding her son, obsessed with the fictional Charles, and inadequate when it comes to parenting.

Your task You are to write a character sketch for Mary Maloney from “Lamb to the Slaughter”. See the evaluation rubric for how you will be marked.