"The Charmer" Essential Question Response

EQ: How do our personal experiences shape our view of others? Ourselves?

               Our personal experiences shape our view of others. This statement is demonstrated in the short story "The Charmer" by Budge Wilson. The protagonist has grown up with a "charmer" of a brother and realizes how many horrible things happened because of it. Years later, as she has finally recovered from her brother's bewitchment, she realizes the similarity between him and one of her daughters. The similarity is not noticed in physical ways, but in the way they act, "like quicksilver, pretty and mischievous, quick-tempered and full of laughter"(p. 8). It is then that she decides  not to fall for her charm and she administers consequences at an early age. The protagonist would not have done this if she had not had that personal experience with her brother Zack in her childhood. If it were not for that experience, she would have continually blamed her daughter's outbursts on teenage hormones and made other excuses for her behaviour. This would have led to a much different life than the one she will have thanks to the fact that she acted upon the knowledge she gained from her personal experience with her brother Zack.