Character Development Of Perks Of Being A Wallflower

1. The Perks of being a Wallflower is a story about a high school freshman named Charlie. Through the entire novel Charlie is writing letters addressed to an anonymous friend. In these letters, he talks about his journey throughout his first year in high school. Where he experiences everything for the first time – first dates, family drama, drugs and new friends. In other words; growing up.

Adolescence is a time of many changes including puberty, high school and finding one’s identity. Among the many changes in this period of development there are many new experiences combined with a greater amount of responsibility. Adolescence can be a difficult time for many people especially when trying to find out who they want to be. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a movie about a freshmen in high school who is going through experiences most kids his age do. Depression, suicide, peer pressure, first love, and the importance of friends and family are all elements in the development of an adolescent.

He sees things. He keeps quiet. He understands. The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s main character Charlie, is a wallflower: reserved, isolated, and observant. Like a fly on the wall, he stays in the background, and goes unnoticed by many. In fact, he has not felt true recognition since he was a child, when his Aunt Helen visited from time to time. Aunt Helen made him feel loved and wanted, however, as a child, he did not recognize her actions for what they truly were: sexual abuse. Throughout his life, Charlie experiences flashbacks of moments spent with his Aunt, eventually understanding her actions as sexual misconduct, and suffering from the emotional turmoil stemming from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although the typical representation of PTSD in movies can often alienate viewers, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an exception, because Charlie’s flashbacks allow us to be empathetic to his situation, normalizing the stigma around suicidal-depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Stephen Chbosky uses the title The Perks of Being a Wallflower to display irony, because Charlies life while being excluded by society has everything but good moments in them. After the party where he was dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room and Charlie didn't choose his girlfriend, Charlie’s friends stopped talking to him. Charlies already poor mental health became worse when he was alone. In a letter on pg 144, about the aftermath of that incident he wrote, “ I don’t know how much longer I can keep going without a friend. I use to be able to do it very easily, but that was before I knew what having a friend is like.”

His story argues that success isn’t important and neither is being admired by others, but that rather, having people who love and care about you is more important. In the story, there is an old man at a cafe who is very depressed and tried to commit suicide the week before. The young waiter knows that the old man has plenty of money so he can’t understand why the old man would be grief-stricken or need to hang out at the café (Hemmingway 9).

At this point in the novel, I believe that the 'Coming of Age ' motif is becoming very recurring as the book goes on. Charlie is starting to reminisce more and think about things as a mature adult would. Mr. Etheridge made a very good analogy in class the other day, he said that as a kid you do not think about getting your new clothes dirty when you play outside. However, once you start maturing you question if it is worth it or not to get comfortable and sit on the grass and risk dirty clothing or suffer and stand. This really interested my because I can relate to this.

Then he realizes that he was not going to stay with his money when he die. At the end, he helped his employee with a monetary situation. Further, he went to his nephew’s Christmas dinner. Significantly, this novel helps people retrain the meaning of being humble and kind with others. Something that is very important about this novel is that it teaches a lesson of helping others, because you are not going to stay with your money when you die.

The novelist has made this book meaningful but also something that gives the readers a good laugh with its witty comments, embarrassing moments and humorous characters. “But mostly I’d like to thank everyone who didn 't show up for the meeting. I love you guys – I really couldn 't have done it without you, Thank you……. Thank you…….. Thank you’, and with that Razza slumped on his desk, seemingly overcome with emotions”.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a Fascinating Book and Movie “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.” (2). The book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky, has a very bumpy storyline featuring a teenager named Charlie. Charlie starts out his freshman year with no friends, but he eventually he meets Sam and Patrick, two seniors at his school.

The woman across the street from the narrator lives with her cats and watches her tv into the early morning. Each character in the story has a particular routine and sticks to it, which supports the concepts of loneliness and solitude in this story. The Box Man searches for boxes every night and brings them home like a collector would. He fuels his imagination with them, according to the narrator, and comfort him and help him to “organize a life,” (Ascher 2).

From this, we learn that it is important to be ourselves and not have labels define you we are. It also teaches us that we have to be careful of labels and not to associate with bad influences such as gangs, because they are what people will see you as. Instead, we must avoid labels and develop our own character. There are several events in this story that demonstrate this theme. For example, Andy meets the couple, Freddie and Angela, who refused to help him because they saw he was a gang member.

Gupta [1] Shrishti Gupta Ms.Kanika Dang English thesis paper 20th October, 2015 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stefen Chbosky ‘The perks of being a wallflower’ is a popular book read mostly among teenagers, it revolves around the life of an introverted boy called Charlie. This book is a rollercoaster of human emotions and an excellent portrayal of “misfits” as they struggle to find their place in the turbulent high school world. The readers have greeted this premise with empathy and understanding. Charlie’s haunting letters, addressed only to “Dear Friend,” bring readers straight to the heart of his struggles to fit in, to find the will to “participate” in life, and to cope with the realities of the larger world as he learns how to grow up. ‘the perks of being a wallflower’ is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Stefen Chbosky and published in 1999.

The movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, is based in Western Pennsylvania and directed towards teenage boys and girls. The story begins with a teenage boy named Charlie Kelmeckis who is entering his freshman year of high school. He is trying to cope with the death of a close friend and close relative, his own life, his lack of friends, and starting a new life at a new school. Chbosky does a miraculous job at narrating all of these issues through the eyes of the shy, introverted teenager. The reader will experience waves of emotion as they progress throughout the movie about Charlie’s life as he goes down the road of realization and grows up. The story is written as a series of letters from Charlie

The film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, follows the story of Charlie as he braves through the challenges of freshman year. Throughout his first year, Charlies experiences friendship, alienation, love, mistakes, depression, acceptance of past events and newfound motivation. With the help of his love interest Sam, her stepbrother Patrick, and other likeminded individuals, Charlie is able to gain a sense of belonging and a boost of confidence that ensures his survival for the high school years yet to come (Halfon, Chbosky, 2012). This essay will delve into an in-depth analysis of adolescence from a socio-cultural perspective, using events from the film to provide examples and further enhance arguments. Furthermore, topics highlighting what I believe to be the most crucial aspects of adolescence will be discussed. The analysis of hegemonic masculinity, age induced frustration and restrictions, and the discourse of innocence will be defined and elaborated on. Finally, a comparison between the socio-cultural and developmental lenses of youth analysis, the unique view they each offer and my personal experience using the socio-cultural lens, will be discussed.

The purpose of my essay is to explore how different social backgrounds and the social norms that follow affect the personality of two fictive characters and encourage them to break out of their station to find an identity. The protagonists Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and Tambudzai in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions are both victims of social norms. Therefore, the foundation of this essay was to analyze the character’s social background, which has influenced their personalities, behavior and aspirations, and consequently their opposing actions against society.