The first story has something to do with what is known in psychology as projection where the

troubled person projects himself unto other people whether real or imagined, to attract the
attention of people close to himher like the parents, in the case of the story

 Discussing the first story in more detail, early on, the author already foreshadows the kind of
protagonist that is in the story with the following conversation that Laurie has with his father

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, youre dumb. He began
to laugh insanely. (Jackson)

 This early, the author already offers a glimpse of what Laurie actually is  the aimless and pointless
act of asking his father to do purposeless things like looking up or looking at the thumb suggests
that Laurie has something going in the upstairs department this, as well, is validated by the kind
of laugh that the protagonist elicits, insane according to the author.  Now, this early revelation of
what the character really is maybe considered a foreshadowing of events which is a tool in fiction
used to allow the audience to anticipate what might come next, however, it does not work quite
well in the story because instead, it reveals too much probably because the story is character-
driven and not plot-driven.  The author also gives another clue as to the character of the
protagonist in how the boy develops, my sweetvoiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long-
trousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave good-bye to me
(Jackson) here,

we have Jackson revealing the emergence of a new and different person from the boy who used to
be sweetvoiced.  The use of the words replaced and character in this particular line reveals that
the narrator no longer knows her son the way she used to.  Moving on in the story, we have more
revelations of the character of the boy being one who seems to be indifferent and ill-mannered,
which points out to something being seriously wrong with his social and family life.  In the lines,
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. (Jackson) the author portrays the character as one who
seems to be detached from the things around him, taking no notice of his own father, which by the
way, is also a way of showing discourtesy.  Then, all throughout the story, the author describes
the character of Laurie in the way the boy describes Charles, for instance, we have Laurie saying,
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. (Jackson) referring to the aggressive nature of
LaurieCharles or 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. (Jackson) illustrating how schemy the boy has become. 
However, it is not what the boy does that proves disturbing in this story but the fact that the boy
uses an imagined person to reveal his own personality to his parents. 

Now, proof of this projection as it is called in psychology is the fact that Laurie refers to Charles
as being a separate and different person, as in the lines describing Charles, Hes bigger than me,
Laurie said. And he doesnt have any rubbers and he doesnt wear a jacket. (Jackson) Here the
author accurately suggests that instead of just using a different name or projecting his misgivings
to another existing person, the protagonist creates another person in his mind and uses this
Charles character to reveal himself to his parents.  Now, why is this, because young boys normally
are able to speak to their parents with much frankness and candor  In this case, the reader begins
to question the relationship of Laurie with his parents, because if he is not able to communicate
directly with them and uses a dummy to tell them things about him, then something must be
wrong with his relationship with them.