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The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Belonging Analysis

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Startled by the suicide of his friend, Charlie starts writing letters about his daily life as he begins high school. Unsure who he’s writing to, just a “friend”, the reader follows the ups and downs through the eyes and writings of Charlie. This is a momentous year as he goes through a series of many firsts (first date, first cigarette, first visit to the Rocky Horror Picture Show), while trying to “participate” in this new setting. Within this year and within these letters, Charlie and his friends go through break-ups and break-downs, all in the hopes of trying to grow up in the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. One of Charlie’s friends, Patrick is a character that clearly goes through these break-ups and break-downs. …show more content…

It is from an understanding of these two concepts that we can begin to comprehend the context in which gay adolescents find themselves struggling to establish not only an identity, but a sense of community belongingness” (Johnson 2000: 623).
Due to the fact that Patrick, being gay, lacks this belonging, it can be argued that this is one of the reasons he is reacting to his environment in such a reckless way. Being unable to turn to a positive, older role model who has experienced similar situations as him, like being called a “faggot” or made to feel bad for who they loved, Patrick must resort to turning to other things in order to cope. Unfortunately, these things are harmful and have negative side …show more content…

Being a wallflower, Charlie was encouraged to go out and “patriciate” in the world and by doing so, without changing who he is, was able to learn about others and himself, paralleling the common theme of self-discovery in young adult books. Yet, this one is special. It does so in a way of showing not everything will be tied up at the end, that once the book closes, the story does not just end. This communication through the text that life moves quickly and you do stupid things and then you make up and then things keep going is poignant and inspiring for all young readers, as all of them can relate to the diversity of characters written in this

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