Literary Analysis Of Perks Of Being A Wallflower

The term “literary canon” refers to “a body of books, narratives and other texts considered to be the most important and influential of a particular time period or place.” What books fall into the canon has, in the past, been determined by older, rich, religious, white men; this heavily restricted what books were deemed a socially acceptable influence. Books from authors like Shakespeare and Jane Austen were widely accepted, while more modern readings were not. Today, there is a lot of debate about what sorts of books are appropriate for the literary canon. Generally books in the Young Adult Category are not seen as adequate for the canon, but “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky belongs in the literary canon, despite its

Charlie begins to hang out with Sam and Patrick and is getting in the routine of going to football games and then going out afterwards to celebrate. Afterwhile he catches feelings for Sam and the way he expresses them further deepens our understanding of his depression. Instead of going with the flow and not telling her about the dreams he had about her, he professes his love for her in the form of sharing his dreams and telling her just how he feels. Perhaps, this isn’t all his fault because when Sam tells him that she’s too old for him, he becomes obsessed with his love for her and can’t stop thinking about how perfect she is in his eyes. The only thing this confession has done for him is make his feelings grow and send him in a downward spiral of

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a book about the changes teens go through as they mature and the obstacles they face during this time. Charlie comes across changes in his relationships, his own stance in his family, school, and friends, and how he thinks of himself. He learns about his past and makes changes towards how he thinks about himself and why he is who he is.

We get to know Charlie through letters he writes to the unnamed “friend”. Charlie has a lot of internal conflicts which he deals with every second of his life. He deals with his best friend’s death and his aunt’s death and his past with his aunt. These internal conflicts make him withdrawn. Moreover, Charlie has a need to tell someone about his life and thoughts, maybe to feel less lonely. In the very start of the story Charlie expresses: “I don’t want you to find me”, which emphasizes that he does not want a concrete person to help him, he only needs to let his thoughts out. Charlie is absolutely a dynamic and round character. He is an intelligent, observant high school freshman who hides his beautiful personality because of having dealt with a lot of trauma in his childhood. Through the relationships he develops over the course of the school year, Charlie suddenly comes out of his shell and grows as a person. For example, what he tells Sam who has also dealt with a troubled past: “Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there”. However, it is not until the very end of the book that he uncovers the repressed memories of sexual abuse of his aunt that are at the foundation of his internal

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.

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

The setting of the novel greatly breads Charlie’s life. In the suburbs, everyone knows each other better than in the city. Therefore, when one person is beaten by a mental illness, it affects everyone in some way. When someone has a mental illness people do not talk about it, it is pushed away and hidden. No one really tries to help, but once the problem goes to extremes and someone commits suicide, no one is not talking about it. So when Charlie’s best and only friend stops coming to school and they announce that he has passed away, everyone is whispering about it and trying to find what really happened. Charlie found someone who knows the truth and got the true but devastating news “Dave with the awkward glasses told us that Michael

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

The novel, Perks of being a Wallflower, displays an adventurous journey of a high school freshman growing up into the world. Written by Stephen Chbosky, a teenager named Charlie struggles to make friends and enjoy his high school experience. Throughout the story, he creates and breaks new bonds between diverse and special characters. The main theme of Perks of being a Wallflower is growing up. However, under this theme, there are multiple subcategories. For example, within the theme of growing up, Charlie meets new people,experiences changes within his family, gains new friends, and developed advanced literary abilities.

Values of societal context in ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘Perks of being a Wallflower’ are reflected and portrayed to change due to the times they were set and written. Author J.D. Salinger wrote ‘Catcher in the Rye’ during the 1940’s and released it in the early 1950’s, thus giving the book the ‘American dream’ vibe, while Stephen Chbosky set ‘Perks of being a Wallflower’ in 1991 and released it in 1999, (movie released in 2012), this introduces themes of changing ideas of sexuality and gender roles. Both composers use the context of high school and the values of ‘coming of age’ to explore the isolation caused by mental illness and the context the era had as an influence. Throughout ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘Perks of being a Wallflower’, Holden

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a powerful novel about a teenage boy named Charlie who expresses himself through a series of letters to an unknown reader. These letters detail Charlie’s search for friendship, a more mature identity and the ability to participate in life. Within the book, Chbosky presents countless ideas about how love affects people, how friendship changes our identity, living in the moment and how mental health has damaging and lasting effects, directly and indirectly, on everyone. There are many ideas built on from love in this book. The author frequently explores how love affects the characters and the dynamic way people act and change for the ones they love.

In the movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the main character Charlie is on a journey with his mental health. There are many high and low points, but it is obvious that he has a serious mental illness. Throughout the movie, Charlie shows many symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is defined as “A disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.” by the National Institute of Mental Health, and can be diagnosed through the DSM-IV method. Firstly, there needs to be signs of deviant behaviour. During the movie there are multiple occasions where Charlie blacks out and loses his memory. Whether it was drug, rage or anxiety included, this is still considered both deviant behaviour and a symptom of PTSD. Secondly, there needs to be signs of maladaptive behaviour. At the beginning of the movie, we see Charlie writing letters to his deceased best friend about his negative thoughts and feelings. While it is good to express these thoughts and feelings, it is not normal to articulate them to a dead person. He also experiences multiple flashbacks to the trauma he experienced from his Aunt Helen. Flashbacks are one the most common symptoms of PTSD, and can also develop other mental illnesses such as depression if not correctly treated. Lastly, there needs to be signs of personal distress, which can be seen when charlie expresses quilt about his Aunt Helen’s death before he has a blackout in the snow. When his feelings

Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of being a Wallflower is an explicit coming of age novel that gives teenagers a sense of relation with the 16 year old protagonist, Charlie. This book was a bestseller in the year 1999. This book definitely has a more mature content and is very straight to the point, it includes drug usage from parties, sex, and violence. Although this book has explicit content, definitely do not let that distract you from the story.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a fictional novel. This is a story about a young boy named Charlie, who starts writing anonymous letters after his friend Michael committed suicide. He felt alone entering his freshman year in high school, and heard about a nice stranger, who he referred to as his friend, he felt he could talk too. In the letter's, we learn about the problems Charlie is facing, and the good times he has had. As we explore Charlies adventures through his letters, we learn more about the innocent person he is, and the special person he has become.

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