“Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” The Perks of Being a Wallflower displays Charlie’s various encounters with amazing people who accept him for who he is. Through his interactions with them, Charlie discovers his true identity and abilities. He seeks the support of his friends for their positive energy and takes advantage of it to his fullest. Charlie’s friends teach him many life lessons and tips for him to become a better individual. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky emphasizes that the theme of friendship creates positive changes, which is seen through Charlie’s relationship with Sam, Patrick, and Bill. Over the course of the novel, Chbosky demonstrates that each of Charlie’s …show more content…
He is Charlie’s motivator and also his inspiration. For example, Bill states while conversing with Charlie, “Charlie you’re one of the most gifted people I’ve ever known. And I don’t mean it in terms of other students, I mean it in terms of anyone I’ve ever met” (Chbosky, 181). This indicates that Bill recognizes Charlie’s intelligence, and believes that he will go far in life. Bill also motivates Charlie to read extra books in order for him to improve his writing. As a result, Charlie benefits from learning new vocabulary and becomes a better essay writer. In another scenario, Bill expresses, “Not necessarily, it’s just that sometimes people use thoughts to not participate in life. You should begin participating in life” (Chbosky, 101). This quote indicates that Bill is trying to convince Charlie to participate in life, rather than just observe it. In fact, Bill wants Charlie to go to parties more often and enjoy life with his friends. Charlie takes Bill’s advice into consideration and becomes a more social individual by attending
Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, includes the topic of adolescent development, the book forces itself to thrive in conflict, and the idea of loving submission is present throughout the story as the discussion of modern issues becomes apparent. As expressed In the Perks of Being a Wallflower, “I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other”(Chbosky.)
Charlie was a man that did not know how to stand up for himself. He allowed his peers to bully him, and treat him like he is worthless. Charlie thinks that if he allows people to laugh at him, and tease him, they will become his friend. He thinks “Its easy to make frends if you let
For my paper, I am diagnosing Charlie from the film, Perks of Being a Wallflower. Before I delve into Charlie’s diagnosis, I will provide some background information about his character. In the film, Charlie is a 15 year old boy who has recently started high school as a freshman. He lives with both parents, and his sister who is a couple years older than him. Charlie also has a brother who has gone away to college. In school, Charlie is seen to be good with academics, particularly in English, since he has an interest in writing. However, Charlie does not have any friends and his best friend had kill himself in the last year. Furthermore, Charlie is seen to be quite socially awkward around his peers and usually keeps to himself.
Movies are constantly created by producers and writers to convey a particular meaning to their audience they are reaching out too. The meaning can be interpreted in several ways. For example, one can understand the meaning that was intended by the creators, or it could be an individual’s own understanding of a storyline in the movie. As a movie can be viewed through different perspectives, a dominant male named Louis Althusser created the theory of Interpellation and the Role of ISAs and RSAs to help further understand movies. Althusser’s theory explains that people in power will remain in power and others will be controlled by those in power (Hartt-Fournier, Lecture 2). Furthermore, the role of ISA, known as the Ideological State
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.
My personal view on the book is that, though I myself enjoyed it, it may not be everyone’s favorite. To parents that do not want their children to read Perks of Being A Wallflower, ask their teacher to give them another book instead, but do it politely. To students who do not wish to read the book, ask your teachers if you may read
Imagine receiving one’s first car or an acceptance letter to the best school in the state, or even simply having a birthday party. Now, on the contrary, imagine a close family member has just passed away, school is incredibly stressful, and, because of all this, a mental breakdown is on the horizon. From the most saturated moments to the ones that are decidedly grayscale, friends should be at the side of anyone experiencing these moments - which is nearly everyone. What if all those confidants vanished? This is what happened to charlie after his only friend, Michael, committed suicide. Then, he met step siblings Sam and Patrick, who filled his life with colors he hadn’t even known existed. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the author emphasizes the theme that, no matter how cliché it is, friendship can often be the one thing that teaches a person what to do to save themselves.
Over the course of the book I read-The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- Charlie’s character went through a lot of change in many ways. Throughout the book, the narrator felt very distant from everyone (A wallflower) and was just trying to get through his freshman year. Charlie’s letters all seemed to leave out some information, as if he was always seeing the world in a haze. He did make some friends, like Sam and Patrick, but he didn’t really participate in life in general. In one of his letters, he explained when Dave raped the girl at his brother and sister’s party in an almost disturbingly nonchalant way, as if he wasn't actually witnessing what was happening. Over the course of the book, Charlie became more of an “active wallflower,” in that he learned to participate in life.
At first Charlie doesn’t understand why people do some things, and then he does things he doesn’t fully understand because of his innocence. The Perks of Being a Wallflower teaches you not to idolize innocence. You experience Charlie’s freshmen year with him and come face to face with world through Charlie innocent eyes. No matter how wise or how innocent you are, after reading the Perks of Being a Wallflower you lose a little bit of that innocence, you may not have known you even
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a novel about coming of age that is seen through the perspective of Charlie, a young ‘wallflower’ that is starting high school and experiences the troublesome teenage life filled with drugs, sexuality and love. Charlie writes this book in a series of letters to an anonymous person. Charlie is the main protagonist of the story who is apprehensive and a kind-hearted boy however he has many problems happening in his life that he doesn’t like to concern others with “I just don’t want you to worry about me, or think you’ve met me, or waste your time anymore”. I admire Charlie because he is very considerate of others and although he is shy he overcomes this fear when he tries to find friends and step out of his comfort zone” Normally I am very shy, but (Patrick) seemed like the kind of guy you could just walk up to at a football game even though you were three years younger and not popular”. In return Charlie is rewarded with his first real friend at high school. I also admire Charlie for his mature attitude towards finding new friends and moving on from the death of his friend Michael. Charlie really needed to start interacting more with people, during the story we find out that Charlie misses having a friend and that being alone can be difficult and cause negative effects “It would be very nice to have a friend again. I would like that even more than a date”. I think
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.
Likewise, friendships with Sam, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth, and Bob help Charlie recognize his positive attributes. This allows Charlie to acknowledge the value he brings to the world. The reader sees Charlie come into himself and become comfortable with who he is. You see this at the end of the novel on page 213, when Charlie states, “So if this does end up being my last letter, please believe that things are good with me, and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough.” This demonstrates the advancements Charlie has made with himself.
Semiotic ideas connect and allow us to dissect many aspects of the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. One important semiological idea is that of “The Lacanian Model”. Through this model, a subject undergoes events that lead them towards the entrance to the symbolic order and the birth of Desire. According to Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, entrance into the symbolic order is predicated as steps that include, birth, territorialization, and lack, the imaginary, signification, and the entry into the symbolic order. The entrance into the symbolic order is marked by a succession of losses and is defined by lack.
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.