To Be Infinite The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a poignant coming of age story about a teenage boy named Charlie who is entering into his freshman year of high school and trying to cope with death, life, friends, and sexuality. Chobosky does a remarkable job at describing all of these issues through the eyes of a shy, introvert teen. The reader will be shocked, amazed, and grateful to join Charlie in his walk down the road of realization and growing up. The story is actually written as a series of letters from Charlie to an anonymous “friend”. Charlie reveals his secrets, stories, fears, worries, and observations to this “friend.” Perks is based in Western …show more content…
Brad happens to be the high schools very popular quarter back. These characters play a significant role because without they’re influence Charlie would have never been exposed to a world of parties, drugs, high school dances, dates, sexuality, and friendship. Most importantly Sam, Patrick, and Brad helped Charlie see the perks of being a wallflower. The book also focuses on Charlie’s home life. Charlie has two siblings that make him feel invisible. There’s a hidden resentment in the tone that is used by Charlie to explain his sister and brother. But by the end they have managed to form a certain bond that Charlie has always wanted. I think that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is exceptional in its class of literary works mainly because Chbosky chose to push the limits of teen fiction. Most young adult writers are afraid to further explore the world of drugs, sexuality, and depression in too much detail. What most writers fail to realize is that high school vividly explains all those things. Young readers are ready for a book that seems to understand that too. Chobosky did a wonderful job at developing and defining each character. He made them seem real, which helps readers relate. Although many may think that the number of controversial issues discussed in the book makes it negative, the book is really about finding yourself in the midst of chaos and peer pressure. Charlie eventually
Charlie’s friendship with Jasper Jones, his parents, and witnessing the intolerance of Corrigan are the three biggest factors in Charlie's development from innocence to experience. Jasper Jones exposed him to fear and forced him to be brave and face his fears, the rampant intolerance in Corrigan, both racial and otherwise, exposed him to the injustices of the real world, and his relationship with his parents taught him to be diplomatic and control his
In the story Charlie faces through difficulties. For example, throughout his journey in the series of letters,
At the beginning, Charlie is without friends and is rather alone. He is very gifted and quite an overthinker which expels him from the usual teenage social groups. This changes, however, when he meets Sam and Patrick at a football game. They expose him to all new experiences. Resulting from his new friendships, is his relationship with Mary Elizabeth, his experimentations with drugs, and new knowledge of being a person. During this time, he is increasingly happy because Charlie was finally living.
Also Charlie is one of the most menial kids around he would never go with Jasper if he didn’t have courage. All of the choices Charlie makes impact his life in some way for example; if he didn’t go with Jasper his life would be normal, but because of one simple decision his life changed forever with the fact that he hid a body hovering over him at all times.
Throughout his diary entries, Charlie demonstrates an emotional attachment to his Aunt Helen. Although Charlie isn’t aware, Aunt Helen is in his subconscious: the part of the mind that an individual is not aware of but influences one's actions. According to Charlie, his aunt is his favorite person in the world. Aunt Helen lived under her sister's roof for her last few years of life after living a dreadful life. This woman was formerly molested by a family friend and when she revealed this information to her parents, the suffering didn’t stop because they saw it as a false claim and continued inviting this man over. This traumatic event led to an overuse of drugs, the frequent reentry to a hospital, a jobless life, and lastly the repeated sexual abuse of a young version of Charlie. Charlie develops a form of
His frustration grows after his friends start heading off to college and has a constant stressor from all the flashbacks he’s having, believing that he himself killed his Aunt. Charlie was close to his aunt as a child and it is obvious that aunt Helen was playing favoritism when it came to charlie. Aunt Helen gave him a special attention and she was kind to him, she told him that she understood him and he was special but this in a way was a ruse. Charlie repressed his memories of aunt Helen 's sexual assault but started realizing eventually, Charlie has a mental breakdown during his first sexual encounter with Sam and the realization of his past comes flooding in after she touched his leg similar to the way his aunt Helen did to him. He was sexually assaulted by his aunt and he tried forgot all of this and he tried to move on with his life but he saw memories that haunted him. This could be the possible reason and explanation as to why he said to her sister that he wished their aunt to die. Afterward, charlie is in a hospital after trying to commit suicide and must start accepting the truth to get past what happened. Charlie is often trying to please people and is always worried about how other people feel but never truly worries about himself, it could be that charlie is very caring but it is possible that charlie has had this way of thinking instilled in his mind: aunt help was very disturbed as charlie knew this and because of this he was constantly
Charlie is mocked and bullied at school, and nobody wants to be friend with him. He is counting down the days he has left since the first day of high school. He eats alone, walks alone, and he is invisible. Even though, his family care about him and support him, he doesn’t share anything with them. Until he meets Mr. Anderson, his English teacher. He sees the potential in Charlie, and encourages him to read and write, as well as participate in the outside world. Later on, he becomes friend of Patrick and Sam. Sooner, he is introduced into their world, a group of people of punks, film buffs, goths, music lovers, stoners, and writers. He goes to the party where he
In the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie, an introverted boy, coping with the recent suicide of his friend, begins high school. He finds trouble making friends until he meets Patrick and Sam. As Charlie attempts to improve his social interaction, and cultivate a sense of self, he continuously experiences blackouts and triggers. Nearing the end of the film, Charlie has a mental breakdown, which leads to his hospitalization, and he uncovers his repressed memories of his Aunt Helen molesting him. Charlie shows symptoms and behavioral tendencies of post-traumatic stress disorder in addition to a comorbid diagnosis of depression and social anxiety.
“....And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” (Chbosky) The thoughts of a teenager are odd things, and even more odd are the thoughts of fifteen year old Charlie, the best friend of a boy who committed suicide. Charlie has been through a lot in his life, and during the book he goes through even more.
Although Charlie and Scotty overcame many obstacles while adapting to new changes, they sometimes did not believe in themselves. At the start of the film, Scotty was narrating a portion saying, “I moved to the neighborhood two weeks before school let out. It should have started off with loads of great things happening for me, but it didn't.. it was a lousy way to start the fifth grade” He was implying that he wasn't delighted at the fact that he didn't have any friends, and hinted that he desperately wanted to flip the problem and start making changes that would influence him in an exceptional way. Charlie had a similar situation because when he first met his friends Sam and Patrick, they all attended a party after a football game, and at the party Charlie got drunk and confessed some of his past while making his friends feel sympathetic towards him. This made Sam and Patrick feel worried for him, so both of them decided to impact Charlie in a supportive way to make him feel valuable and welcome. Since society set standards such as how popular you should be, or how good you should look, both of these
Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development of identity versus role confusion explains the position that Charlie is in. In the beginning of the movie, Charlie is this shy, introverted boy, but as he meet new friends, he starts to open up to them and becoming more comfortable in social situations, he has developed a change of who he is. Charlie even stood up for Patrick by punching the two boys, which is something that is very out of the ordinary, and not like what the old Charlie would do. Charlie has been terrified ever since the cafeteria incident, and wonders what kind of person he is. As Charlie turn to Sam for comfort, he develops a sense of connectedness and intimacy with her--intimacy versus isolation. Charlie confides with Sam and asks her if what he did was wrong, and Sam told Charlie that he is a hero for saving Patrick, but Charlie still feels somewhat disrupted from his blackout
Throughout the story, Charlie begins to have flashbacks of his past life as a child. He starts to recollect childhood memories and begins to recall his mother Rose, his father Matt, and his sister Norma. Throughout these childhood memories, Charlie starts to realize how emotionally
Although the reader is never told who the letters are written to, Charlie starts each letter with “Dear Friend…”. He states at the start of the novel that “I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand…Please don’t try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don’t want you to do that…”(1.3) whilst Charlie does not give the reader a clear explanation on who this anonymous person may be; the audience can make the assumption that perhaps Charlie is writing these letters to help him understand his feelings. Charlies raw and honest narration of the problems he encounters, and his dark thoughts throughout his first year of high school allows the reader to empathise with Charlie. This behaviour is often typical for high school aged students, as they tend to find it easier to communicate with each other when it is not face to face. The emotions that Charlie feels are also common for this age group, allowing the intended audience to relate to Charlie, and engage with the narrative.
Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age novel about a 15-year-old boy, Charlie, who is unable to repress any emotions. The novel was first released on 1999 by MTV Books. It has quietly sold nearly half a million copies.1
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky is a compilation of letters written to us by Charlie (the main character). Charlie writes to us telling us anything that went on that day. It could be something good or it could be something bad. Basically, in these letters, Charlie would tell us his feelings about events that occurred on that particular day. It’s in these letters that we see what I believe to be the two most important themes are friendship and coming of age. I believe that Charlie is a very pleasant person. I believe that because I trust he is a person true to his word. There is no deceit or ill intensions in what he says, to my knowledge.