What are the settings in "Charles" by Shirley Jackson?

The story takes place in the late 1940s at Laurie’s home and school during the beginning of the school year.

The story’s setting is significant in “Charles.” Because the story takes place at the beginning of the school year when Laurie starts kindergarten, the plot involves his and his parents’ adjustment to starting school. The story takes place over the period of a few weeks, giving the plot plenty of time to develop to its surprise ironic ending.

You can tell that the story takes place in the middle of the twentieth century partly by the clothes.

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. . . .

The setting of the 1940s is significant. Things were a little different back then. Children could walk home from school by themselves. Kindergarten was not as intense as it is now, and it only lasted half a day. Mothers typically did not work, staying home with the children. For this reason, the story is able to progress with Charles coming home from school each day to have lunch with his parents.

The kindergarten setting is not one the reader sees directly.  All information about it comes to us through the unreliable narrator, Laurie.

“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.”

We find out what happened in kindergarten with Laurie’s precocious blend of humor and half-truth. His parents do seem supremely gullible. Their home is a chaotic one, though. With a kindergartener and a young baby, things are bound to fall through the cracks.

School was also different in those days. Laurie’s teacher seems very patient. I can’t imagine teachers today letting things go for several weeks without contacting the parents.  Laurie's teacher just takes care of it herself. In today’s schools, the teachers do not directly discipline the students in most cases, but in those days, corporal punishment was common. Laurie's parents show only vague interest in the number of severe punishments that Charles gets, such as spankings and having his mouth washed out with soap.

The closest we get to seeing the school setting is when Laurie's mother finally makes it to a PTA meeting, and the teacher only says Laurie had a little trouble adjusting. That sounds like quite an understatement!