Louisa, Please Come Home By Shirley Jackson

This short story by Shirley Jackson, “Louisa, Please come home.” is about a teenager by the name of Louisa, decides to run away from her family because she feels she doesn’t fit in with them. Louisa carefully plans on running away. At age 19, she runs to Chandler. She is lucky and runs into an old lady, Mrs. Peacock, who owns a stationary shop and gives Louisa a job and a place to stay. Louisa has many attributes and character traits throughout the story. I will talk about cautious, brilliant and judgementful. Louisa is very cautious from the beginning to the end. In the beginning of the story, she stated: “I always knew that I was going to run away sooner or later, and I had made plans ahead of time, for whenever I decided to go. Everything had to go right the first time, because they don't usually give you a second chance on that kind of thing.” That example shows that she took extra precaution on running away. She knew everything had to go right the first time, or else the rest of her life would be even more miserable. Louisa also realized while in Chandler, that she needed to obviate the light coat her Mother bought her that she aversioned. She knew that at some point, someone could recognize her, and then she’d have to go
On the bus to the cities she travels to, she brainstorms up a plan to tell anyone if they wonder what a 19 year old is doing late at night on a bus. “I tried to think myself into a good reason why I was leaving college to go home on a Monday night late, when I would hardly be going home for the weekend.” When Louisa was with Mrs. Peacock, and she saw her in the newspaper, she was smart to ask her if they looked alike. Louisa could see how much she changed to be the girl she wants to be, not what her family wants her to be. Mrs. Peacock said, “No. If you wore your hair longer and curlier, and your face was fuller, there might be little