Question

However, instead of meeting Charles’s mother at the back-to-school night, Laurie’s teacher tells his mom that they “don’t have a Charles in the class” (Jackson 3).

the parents treated it lightly and as joke but how does this information surprise them

Answer 1

Because the teacher’s line turns the whole story inside out: the parents have been treating “Charles” as a real, external cause for the classroom mischief, so the announcement that no such boy exists makes their prior assumptions suddenly look wrong. Specific reasons the information surprises them:

- It exposes that Laurie has been inventing a person to blame. Up to that point the parents (and readers) accepted his stories at face value; the teacher’s remark shows those stories were fabrications.
- The revelation undermines their sense of knowing their child. They thought they understood where the trouble at school came from; now they must confront the possibility that Laurie himself is the troublemaker.
- The teacher’s authoritative correction removes any plausible deniability. Laughter at first is a natural defense (embarrassment turned into a joke), but the factual statement forces a more serious realization.
- It’s an ironic twist: they’ve been assigning blame outward (to “Charles”), which makes the idea that there is no Charles unexpectedly intimate and unsettling — the mischief was inside the family all along.
- On a thematic level, the surprise highlights adults’ blindness and the ease with which a child can control the family narrative; what begins as light humor becomes a moment of uncomfortable self-recognition.

So although they initially laugh it off, the teacher’s confirmation that “we don’t have a Charles” is surprising because it flips their whole understanding of Laurie’s behavior and their role as parents.