How does Shirley Jackson set the tone in her narrative, "Charles?"

Jackson wrote the story "" in a
light and humorous, yet somewhat reflective, tone. The very first paragraph includes phrases
describing the mother of the story reflecting on the way that she watched her little boy, no
longer a toddler, walk off to school without so much as a glance back to her. The tone is light,
even in this slightly sad, reflective sentence. The author does not allow the main character to
reflect about this incident in a sad way but only as a reflection of life passing by. The author
allows the main character Laurie to bring out the humor in the story with short, funny phrasing
in the voice of Laurie, jokes and childishly rude behaviors that the family does not take too
seriously. This allows Laurie's actions to remain humorous and set the main story tone as a
humorous one.

The story would not have been as effective as a humorous,
reflective story if written in the third person because written as it is, the reader lives the
story through the point of view of Laurie's mom. It is by having her voice be the narration of
the story in first person, that we can experience the humorous side to Laurie's actions. His
actions are funny because we see them as a parent would. Had the story been written in third
person through the eyes of an anonymous narrator, then the story would lose some of the humor
and would not draw the reader into the experience as much.