Research Paper On The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

It was a time of book-burning and close panic, which left Bradbury in disbelief that "[we] would go all out and destroy ourselves in this fashion'; (Moore 103). The writing of this novel was also an opportunity for Bradbury to speak out against the censorship of written literature that was taking place by showing the consequences of it. Bradbury believed that the censorship of books destroyed important ideas, knowledge, and opinions and restricted the world from learning about the problems of their culture. His writing came to show that without such knowledge, society could become very passive, which would make it vulnerable to the control and mind manipulating techniques of the government. Ironically enough, this book itself was subject to censorship on its initial release (Touponce 125). These political, social, and military tensions of the 50's lent to Bradbury's own tensions, calling him forth to alert the people of their own self-destructive behaviors.

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.

The Perks of being a Wildflower movie is a great demonstration on adolescence and childhood development as it portrays how much we as humans are effected by our early childhood years and how we struggle to make sense of life while navigating through adolescence. We are molded by our environment, but also shaped by the neglect or abuse we suffer as children. The traumatic experiences are life altering and if not dealt with can have dramatic outcomes for our future. The movie has a great story line and walks the audience through the character and identity development of an adolescence. Dissecting Charlies character will be helpful in understanding that part of a human’s life and development.

‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ follows shy and kind-natured Charlie Kelmeckis (Logan Lerman- Percy Jackson, The Butterfly Effect) as he enters high school alone, after the recent loss of his middle school best friend to suicide. Charlie gets befriended by seniors Sam (Emma Watson- Harry Potter-Beauty and the Beast) and Patrick (Ezra Miller- Justice League, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and finally feels accepted.

Within the last couple of decades, schools have been banning books due to the reoccurring problems in modern day time, like profanity. Use of language should not limit what a student can and cannot read. Fahrenheit 451, one of the many books that have been put into consideration for being banned because of disputatious issues. The story of a protagonist who finds joy in his job as a fireman, setting fire to illegally owned books and their owners homes. However, the fireman soon starts to question the value of his job and his life. Throughout the book, characters are left to deal with censorship, restriction, and put in life threatening situations. Although the novel contains reoccurring controversial issues, Fahrenheit 451 should be included in middle and high school curriculums because it allows teachers and students to freely discuss the importance of language use included in reality.

Witnessing or experiencing traumatic events are normally followed by stress reactions, but when those reactions continue for longer than a month that is when an individual is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, typically referred to by its acronym PTSD. Traumatic events include sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, near death experiences and a variety of other traumatic events. PTSD is characterized by three main symptoms: re-experiencing the event, avoidance of triggers, and increased arousal (“Symptoms of PTSD”). The novel, Perks of Being a Wallflower, is written in diary format which allows the reader to be exposed to Charlie’s inner thoughts.

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

In the English 110 class, we performed many tasks that are required to do in the class. The class also required us to read a book which was titled, The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Reading the book was to help us write an essay about the book. We wrote many essays in the class also each essay was a different type of essay. In total in the class we wrote 4 essays on different subjects and with different methods of writing of the essay. Three of the four essay I selected because it showed the seven different outcomes that are for writing. The seven outcomes are process, revision, critical reading, rhetorical analysis and argumentation. Then the others are researching, quoting, paraphrasing, and documenting sources plus

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

A motion picture normally has between 7,000 and 20,000 words depending on the type of movie (Tameri Guide for Writers, 2012). It takes the right words, in the exact right order and in the ideal situation, to create the right phrase that goes beyond the movie and into the hearts and lives of many. Similar in ways to how phobias and sometimes disorders are formed. It takes the right situation, at the right time, and the right circumstances for phobias and disorders to form. If there’s a line that fits this description in the Perks of Being a Wallflower it will have to be “We accept the love we think we deserve.” (Stephen Chbosky, 2012, The Perks of being a Wallflower) It’s a line from halfway through the movie, spoken during a conversation between Charlie and his English teacher.

The book may be all of the horrible things aforementioned, but it is also truthful. Stephen Chbosky did not hold back while writing this book, and he has painted a perfect picture of how life was when he was young, as well as shining light on the subjects nobody ever wants to mention, but many people face. Some of these subjects being drugs, homosexuality, and ever more pressing, surviving your teenage years. I do not believe that any teenager could say that their lives are perfect when asked. Everyone has problems, whether it be the kind shown in Perks of Being A Wallflower or others.

Negative topics such as bestiality, drug use, homesexuality, sexual abuse, suicide, domestic abuse, and depression are all found with the pages of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and outrage parents across the country(Outrich). Parents see the praise of this book as the glorification of rape, drugs, and more-when, in reality, the book does not glorify these horrific topics, but rather provides knowledge on them that educates readers about their impact on human beings(Reed). Concerning curious parents, The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been banned from multiple schools since 2003 and continues to be due to complaints and concerns from adults that have found out about it through their child reading it(Titus). While this is a major concern to certain parents, these parents should not to try to ban the book from teenagers who could actually benefit with the information from said

From the two novels, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we have read thus far several connections can be made either between characters or between the storylines themselves. One of the more obvious connections is how trauma plays a significant role in the “main” characters lives. Both of these characters experienced significant trauma early on in life that impacted how they acted throughout the following story. Charlie was influenced in his social interactions by the trauma he underwent in regards to his Aunt Helen. Holden has a similar experience with his younger brother Allie, who was also a significant person in the character 's life who they then lost at a young age. This

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky follows a teenage boy, Charlie, and those around him as they reveal their past to justify their present actions and feelings. As the characters all mature they learn that people cannot control where they come from or what has happened to them, but they can control what they become.

Everyone has a movie that helped them through a specific time in their life. Either they watched it over and over again, or it was related to what they are going through. Perks of Being a Wallflower is the movie that influences me the most. This movie is continuing to help me deal with my journey of being in high school. I relate to Perks of Being a Wallflower because I was a scared freshman, watched my senior friends graduate, and now I am the older sister to a freshman.