Comparing Perks Of Being A Wallflower And Looking For Alaska

Though Charlie is an unreliable narrator in both film and novel form, he offers a sense of complete realism. From not quite dysfunctional families to first parties, Perks of Being a Wallflower immortalizes realistic moments in time like listening to a song for the first time in a car with friends. In one of the most memorable scenes from both the novel and the film, Charlie is in the car with Patrick and Sam and they’re driving through the tunnel after a dance. Charlie is there, completely in the moment with them and he says “…in that moment I swear, we were infinite,” (p 80). True reality is seemingly just out of grasp for Charlie until he meets Patrick and Sam. They tether him to reality and, alongside the rest of the “island of misfit toys” (movie quote), enable him to be and feel present in the moment. The narrative of the movie reflects that subtle change as when Charlie begins making friends with the step-siblings, the voice-overs, or Charlie’s inner monologue

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.

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

Life lessons that the books gives is relationships, depression, and suicide. For example, it talked about an abusive relationship. In the book, Charlie’s sister has a boyfriend, who punches her in the face hard (Gale). The sister did not seek for help, instead, she kept the relationship going like if nothing bad had happened. This example can open up teenagers eyes especially when they are starting to build up love relationships and demonstrates what is not acceptable in a healthy relationship. Another example is when Charlie wanted to kill himself because he had depression. That can also happen to any other ordinary teenager. Any young reader can learn from this experience and if they go through this they can get some if it does get as bad as Charlie’s did. The Perks of Being a Wallflower also talks about rape. Rape is something big in life. The book talks of how rape can occur. Whoever reads the book, the person might when through rape when they were small and did not realize. Reading this will open their eyes and come out to the truth. Reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower may get the reader to realize how important and realistic it is that it can happen to any other person. As Bancroft mentions

     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.

He’s putting a façade on to win back his daughter despite the bitter and angry tendencies that remain. Charlie’s final words do little to assure the reader that he is a changed man. His want for his daughter is shifted back to his guilt over his wife’s death. He believes that “Helen wouldn't have wanted him to be so alone”

Charlie, in the end, has a break down which is his cry for help. Charlie had to face all that happened with his aunt and just all the bad things he faced at once. When Charlie was younger his aunt molested him on the weekends. This all effected Charlie a lot because he thought the world of her and he still does. Charlie forgave his aunt but it changed his life.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of a unique high school student named Charlie and his journey of self-discovery throughout his freshman year. Charlie’s personality changes drastically from the beginning of the book to the end of it; and this is what I want to focus on. First I am going to detail Charlie’s personality at the beginning of the book and then use Erik Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development, Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and an article about adolescent bulling to analyze them. I will then use examples from the book and film to illustrate his growth in the respected areas. Through these major theories of psychology I will show Charlie’s evolution from a wallflower to a human being.

Charlie, the main character in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, tells his story through a series of letters written over a span of one year, or Charlie’s freshman year of high school. Author Stephen Chbosky, tells the story of a young man trying to find his way and also trying to make friends in school. Along the way, Charlie has trials he must go through, and not everything results in a happy ending right away. Eventually, all is well in Charlie’s life, but he must struggle in order to finally be content and happy with his life. Charlie’s coming of age story is told through his trials of trying to fit in by going to parties, drinking and even doing drugs while many of his relationships are hurt in the process. Just as every other high school student, Charlie wants to feel like he belongs, even if that means becoming someone that he is not. Along the way, not only is Charlie hurt, but also his friends Sam and Patrick. The relationships with these two friends, and Charlie himself are tested by all of their actions and how they live their lives.

Wallflowers tend to look at the deeper meanings of things. A lot of times people tend to take things at face value because they don't have time or have no interest in digging deeper into their meanings. Charlie definitely takes the time to consider the actual meanings of things. For example, there is a multitude of instances in this book in which Charlie goes

At the start of the novel charlie is just about to start his freshman year of highschool without any friends because his only friend michael killed himself but then at a football game he meets Sam and Patrick and make him a bit more sociable for example in a part of the novel he takes part in something called the rocky horror picture show in front of hundreds of people.By the end Charlie is now able to socialize and make more friends.This evidence shows how Perks of being a wallflower is partially about friendship and why it's important.Through socializing more and making new friends this shows that perks of being a wallflower teaches friendship and why it's important.

After falling out with his friends because of his mistake with Mary Elizabeth, Charlie became even more depressed than he was before Sam and Patrick. He turned to smoking as a way to grieve at the loss of his friends and the loss of his previous life. Charlie becomes ever out of it. When his sister needs him to drive her to the abortion clinic, he feels important and depended on and as he reported this was the first he felt needed. This repercussion with his sister helped him

In "The Perks..." there are a variety of personalities portrayed through the book. Charlie being the "wallflower" of the title, was different from most of the other students at his high school. He understood what most didn 't and didn 't judge anyone for who they are or what they were like; on the contrary, he actually thought about and sometimes asked why they decided to be that way, and there was nothing more to it. Through out the book, entirely composed of letters to an unnamed "friend", he explains how he met eccentric people, like Sam and her step-brother Patrick; two kids a few years older than the at the time freshman Charlie. Sam

In the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the main character, Charlie, struggles with depression and anxiety as a result of his post traumatic stress disorder. Charlie enters freshman year and has a difficult time meeting people, but a group of seniors become his friends and help him learn more about himself and the world. They take him to parties and give him the high school experience he always wanted.

Charlie Kelmeckis is described as a “wallflower.” He is socially awkward and likes to keep to himself. He also really enjoys reading and writing. Charlie cares deeply for others, but has a lot of guilt about past events. For example, Charlie believes that the death of his Aunt Helen is his fault, because she was killed in a car accident on an errand to get Charlie a birthday gift. Charlie has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression. His mental instability was mostly caused by being sexually abused by his Aunt Helen before the age of seven. Charlie experiences flashbacks of his Aunt over the course of the movie, but all are portrayed in a positive light.