Charlie Pierzynski

Charlie May Pierzynski is an original character created by the writer Project B. She appears in almost all of Project B's scripts and fanfictions.

Charlie is a third (and later later fourth) grade student in Mr. Garrison's class at South Park Elementary. She is reasonably good-natured and clever, but she doesn't make friends easily. Because she is fostered by the Marsh family, she has become a peripheral member of Stan's group of friends.

Background
Until she was five, Charlie had a relatively normal home life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She lived with two parents, Joe and Jane Pierzynski. When Charlie was four, Jane gave birth to Becca, Charlie's half-sister.

When Charlie was five years old, her parents' marriage began to deteriorate. Joe quit his job and was unfaithful to his wife; he was often away for extended periods of time. In response, Jane began to physically abuse Charlie. Although Joseph and Jane never legally divorced, Joe gradually visited his family less frequently, and the children and their mother moved several times. Despite their tumultuous relationship, Jane became pregnant by Joe and gave birth to a son, Davy, when Charlie was seven. When Charlie is eight and in third grade, Jane, Charlie, Becca, and Davy move to South Park, Colorado.

Appearance
Charlie is a nine-year-old white girl with dark brown hair. She is average-looking in terms of attractiveness (although she is ranked last on the girls' list of prettiest fourth graders in "One of the Girls"). At the time of her introduction in "Charlie," her hair is very short. Over time, her hair grows somewhat longer, but it always remains shorter than shoulder-length. She typically wears a dark blue coat, cargo pants, grey sneakers, and a blue-green hat. Because of her short hair and gender-ambiguous clothes and name, she is often mistaken for a boy (much to her annoyance)

Personality
Although she is not shy, Charlie is not skilled in making good first impressions. She is not a good conversationalist with acquaintances, although she is more relaxed when speaking to friends. She can be somewhat blunt in casual conversations. She doesn't fit in well with other girls (or most boys, for that matter) but she cares deeply for the friends she has.

Charlie is generally good-natured. She doesn't like singling out people to tease, and she does her best to cheer her friends up when they're down. In "Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder," she tells the other boys to stop laughing at Kyle when his mother walks him on a leash. Then she tries to make Kyle feel less uncomfortable by telling him that Mrs. Marsh had checked her and Stan's backpacks for weapons that morning.

Although she isn't as smart as Kyle, Charlie occasionally reveals a mature and intelligent side. She is good at explaining things, and she appears to be a reasonably good student. However, she still has plenty of childlike naivety. She doesn't know what a scrotum is in "Elephant Balls," and she still finds toilet-humor amusing. And while she isn't exactly gullible, she does fall victim to Cartman's powers of manipulation in "Project B" and "Girl Scout Cookies."

Even though she's a pretty decent kid, she doesn't mind arguing with or yelling at her friends when they upset or annoy her. She can also be a schemer, willing to act on morally questionable plans if will benefit her (as seen in "Elephant Balls" and "Girl Scout Cookies"). She is also capable of being manipulative; for example, she takes advantage of Tweek's nervous personality in "Hedgehog" when she coaxes him out of telling the truth about being bitten by the hedgehog, and she cajoles a large group of townspeople to donate to Mr. Garrison's surgery by crying (and claiming he is dying of brain cancer).

Charlie was not raised to be religious. When she lives with the Marsh family, she goes with them to mass, but is often confused by rituals and rites. In "Mistletoe Immunity," she doesn't know that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus's birth, leading her to begin a movement to bring Christmas to the Jews.

Jane Pierzynski
Jane is Charlie's abusive mother. For several years, Charlie was subjected to physical and emotional abuse at Jane's hands. Ultimately, the abuse nearly killed her. After years of defending her mother's behavior, Charlie is forced to confront and acknowledge the truth when she testified against Jane in court in "Sisters Suck." The more time Charlie is separated from Jane, the more she realizes that she's better off without her.

Joe Pierzynski
Despite his instability and infidelity toward Jane, Charlie always greatly admired and loved Joe. Throughout the second, third, and fourth chapters of , Child Protective Services are unable to locate Joe. Charlie writes (but doesn't send) him a note in chapter three. At the end of chapter four, it is revealed that Joseph is not Charlie's biological father (although he is the father of her two younger siblings), and that he is, perhaps, not the greatest guy in the world either, as he is serving a ten-year prison sentence for armed robbery.

Becca Pierzynski
Becca is Charlie's five-year-old half-sister who is fostered by Cartman and his mother after Jane's arrest. When they still lived together, Charlie was like a second mother to Becca. She babysat her from a very young age and was always very protective of her. Though they now live in different homes, Charlie is still protective of Becca and is always concerned about her welfare. For example, when Cartman swears, Charlie typically warns him "not to talk like that" in front of Becca.

Davy Pierzynski
Davy is Charlie's one-year-old half-brother. As with Becca, Charlie is very protective of and loving towards Davy. After Jane's arrest, Davy briefly lives with Kyle's family. He is relocated to a foster home in Denver in "Project B," which devastates Charlie. She has not seen him since.

Stan Marsh
Charlie lives with the Marsh family after her mother is arrested, so she and Stan spend a lot of time together. Over time, the two come to act like somewhat like siblings.

Friendship
When they first meet, Stan and Charlie are somewhat indifferent towards each other. However, after living together for a few weeks, they become good friends. They enjoy tormenting Shelley and watching T.V. together, and Stan gradually allows Charlie to become part of the group.

Conflict
Stan is furious when he has to give Charlie his room and share with Shelley. He becomes even angrier when, in "Sisters Suck," he is grounded for yelling at Charlie about this issue. Ultimately, Charlie is switched to Shelley's room and Stan gets his old room back. After this conflict is resolved, the pair get along much better, although they do occasionally bicker.

Kyle Broflovski
Kyle is Charlie's first friend in South Park. He discovers that Jane is abusive and tells Mr. Mackey (against Charlie's wishes), who contacts Jane. Kyle finds Charlie unconscious after Jane feeds her bleach, and he contacts the authorities. The Broflovskis briefly foster Charlie's brother Davy.

Kyle is very defensive, even protective, of Charlie. In "Charlie," he stands up for her against Cartman's teasing and makes an effort to make her feel welcome. He does the same thing in "Sisters Suck" when Wendy calls her names. In "Project B," Kyle tries to convince his mother to allow Davy to stay with their family, knowing that Charlie would be devastated if she lost her little brother. When this fails, he tries to hide the truth from Charlie for as long as possible.

There are several hints throughout Charlie's appearances that Kyle might have a crush on her. Cartman torments Kyle for this from her very first appearance (although Cartman's taunting is mostly unsubstantiated). However, there are two scenes in "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" where Kyle is excited to twice able to hold her hand. In "One of the Girls," this crush appears to become mutual, but nothing comes of it.

Kenny McCormick
Kenny and Charlie are friends, although she is not as close to Kenny as she is to Stan or Kyle. When Charlie first moved to South Park, she moved into the house next to Kenny's.

Kenny is often excited by the prospects of having a female in the group. Despite Charlie's opinion that Kenny is "a pervert," she finds him amusing.

Partly due to her personality, Charlie is usually more upset by Kenny's deaths than the guys. In "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," she cries over his trampled body, vomits when rats eat his corpse, and wears black the next day out of respect for his (and Warren Zevon's) death.

Friendship
Despite the fact that they fight frequently, Cartman and Charlie continue to hang out with the same social group. Like Cartman and Kyle (but to a lesser extent), they are friends who like to fight.

Conflict
Cartman continually fights against Charlie's fusion into the group, although he is typically overruled. When left alone, as seen in "Project B" and "Girl Scout Cookies," they fight much more than they do in the group.

Alliances
On several occasions, Cartman and Charlie (sometimes with others) have teamed up for something mutually beneficial, as in "Girl Scout Cookies" and "Elephant Balls."

Becca
Despite his desire to hate her, Cartman is actually a decent foster brother to Becca. Becca considers him her "big brother," and Charlie appreciates his (relatively) good behavior towards her.

Sharon Marsh
Sharon acts as Charlie's foster mother when Charlie lives with the Marshes. Sharon treats Charlie in a very caring and maternal way.

Randy Marsh
Randy is Charlie's foster father when Charlie lives with the Marshes. They do not interact much.

Shelley Marsh
Shelley becomes Charlie's foster sister. They are forced to share a room, and Shelley treats Charlie similarly to how she treats Stan: like a turd.

Gerald Broflovski
Gerald represents Charlie in court. He prosecutes the case against Jane Pierzynski pro-bono in "Sisters Suck."

Trivia

 * Charlie and her story were first conceived in 2007, then abandoned until 2011. "Charlie," "Brainwashing," and "Sisters Suck" (the first three chapters of The Charlie Arc) are consistent with the original plot.
 * Her legal name is Charlie May Pierzynski, but she is sometimes mistakenly called "Charlotte," usually by adults. She even explains her own name as "short for Charlotte" in "Charlie."
 * Charlie is diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in (the aptly named) "Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder." (She is also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but this diagnosis is later proven false.)
 * Charlie's taste in music is unorthodox for a girl her age; Joseph Pierzynski drew her toward such artists as Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon, Willie Nelson, and John Prine.
 * In "Hedgehog," Charlie adopts a hedgehog as a pet and names him Binky.
 * Charlie wants to be a pilot when she grows up.
 * Although she learns that Joe is not her father in "Project B," we receive no indication that she or Joe knows who her biological father really is. This issue will be addressed in later installments of The Charlie Arc.

"Sisters Suck"

 * Charlie (to the jury): My mom is evil and you'd better put her in jail or you will suffer the consequences. I will find you. I will personally come to each of your houses and kill your families! / Gerald: Um, okay, that's enough, Charlie. / Charlie: Kill! You hear me? I will kill your families! I hope you sleep well tonight. Thank you.
 * Charlie: Hey, you'd better not use that kind of language in front of my little sister, or I'll kick you in the nuts!

"Project B"

 * Charlie: What's up? You guys have been acting really naked—I mean, weird! Weird! Weird!
 * Charlie: Damn it! They're starting to play the "no girls" card!
 * Charlie: I just found out I was a bastard, and now I'm gonna be a bisexual chain-smoking cutter.

"Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder"

 * Charlie: I'm "borderline" and I've got "post-dramatic stress disorder".

"Girl Scout Cookies"

 * Charlie: We'll see how lame it is once I'm paid my $5.50 an hour!
 * Charlie: Gah! No wonder we aren't turning the profit we expected! You fat fuck! Do you know what you're doing? You're eating money, Cartman! You're eating my money! Jesus Christ!
 * Charlie: Cartman, I am not going to write you any FUCKING letter about this when you can hear me right now! This is what you get for being fat and impulsive. You give me my forty percent, or I walk! / Cartman: Oh yeah? Well as per Article V, Section A of your contract, you are legally bound to continue employment until the contract expires in six months or your employment is terminated by your employer, you stupid talking vagina! / Charlie: Oh yeah? Because it looks to me like this contract was never notarized by a lawyer, and therefore isn't legally binding, jackass! / Cartman (in low voice): Holy son of a bitch.
 * Charlie: I broke the Girl Scout Law. I broke the Girl Scout Law and I got tackled to the ground by three heavily-armed 200-lb SWAT team men.

"Elephant Balls"

 * Charlie: Damn it! How come every time we tell someone we're raising money to operate on Mr. Garrison's elephant scrotum people walk away and don't buy anything?
 * Charlie: Now we'll just say the exact same stuff we were saying before, only we'll say "brain" instead of "scrotum" and "cancer" instead of "elephantitis."
 * Charlie: So I guess we learned that lying is okay, because it all works out in the end.