The two texts, both Bill Bryson's a short history of nearly everything, and Stephen Chbosky's Perks of being a wallflower, explore responses emitted when beings are given emotional and intellectual stimuli. This can be seen through both Bill Bryson's use of Narration throughout his book, and through the use of Narration in Perks of being a wallflower, through Charlie, where we can see everything he experiences through both his thoughts and voice. Especially during scenes that depict Charlie writing to someone unnamed about how he feels. Although both texts explore different ideas of discovery they, both explore different themes of the idea of discovery, with a short history of nearly everything, focusing on the themes of Intellectual …show more content…
In charlie we see him learn about his emotional discovery of the past, and through the quote: “I'm both happy and sad, and still trying to figure out, how that can be.” We learn that he has trouble defining who is, and is still trying to find himself in the world. It is through Charlie’s use of narration and writing letters to the unnamed person, that we learn about him. How he’s emotionally unstable, he doesn’t trust people easily, and how he’s in love with Sam. It’s through the use of close up camera angles, lighting and acting ability that we see the character of Charlie come to life, and learn about his friends and himself through emotional discovery.
As well as having well thought out, and academic discoveries presented within his work of nonfiction. Bryson also presents the ideal, that academic and intellectual discoveries can be completely accidental and surprising, this is seen through Bryson's, writing on the discovery of cosmic background radiation. Through the quote: “Although Penzias and Wilson had not been looking for cosmic background radiation, didn’t know what it was when they found it, and hadn’t described or interpreted its character in any paper, they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics” This quote showcases the idea that important discoveries can be
Charlie, also has a peculiar speech pattern. Despite being a young teenager, his language is somewhat outdated; and he has a sardonic sense of humor. He shifts from “fancy” vocabulary to a more simple type of speech on a regular basis. In his first letter of Part 4, he describes someone’s face as “ashen”; but he had previously described his family members using the words “nice” and “fat”. Surprisingly simple speech from someone so seemingly contemplative. He, Charlie, is also very “matter-of-fact” about things. He does not say things that he does not believe to be true; and if he’s unsure, he states his ignorance as a fact. This is easy to see in Part 1 when he states, “I am really in love with Sam, and it hurts very much,” like it was an immovable thought or an unchangeable
Charlie is very far from what most people call normal: he is shy, introverted, awkward, independent, paranoid, confused, respectable and kind; showing many examples of this throughout the book. He keeps to himself for the most part and is constantly in his own head. Aside from the many negative traits he also has many attributes: he is a loyal friend and listens to the people he talks to, he is a caring person and comforts those in need. However he has his flaws as well: Charlie can get very angry and upset at others which causes him to lash out with violence or sadness, he is extremely sensitive, crying frequently and constantly questioning himself. Several of his peers labeled him as nerd or a weirdo, which damaged
There were many psychosocial and environmental factors that Charlie faced for axis 4. One of these environmental factors would be that he still lives in the house that he lived in with his family. This is what caused the flashback of his family. Another factor is the loss of his career. He used to be a successful practicing dentist. He now has no career and lives off of settlement money and money from the government. He has very little social interaction. He doesn’t confide any of his feelings in friends. All of these things cause distress and impairment in Charlie’s life.
Charlie’s friends even take advantage of how nice he is. They always make him the root of their jokes. When Charlie asks a barber shop owner to move his illegally parked car, the owner laughs at him and just throws him the keys to the car and tells him to move it himself. The whole town takes advantage of Charlie though, not only his friends. In the supermarket a woman asks to cut in front of him inline and then ends up having a cart full of groceries. This is Charlies breaking point. He starts tensing up, you can tell something is happening. All of a sudden he starts talking in a different voice, and finds vagaclean in the woman’s cart that cut in front of him. So to take his anger out on her he gets on the store microphone and announces she has vagaclean in her cart. We learn this new personalities name when he is drowning a young girl in the water fountain who disobeyed him earlier. When the girl says she is going to tell her father on him, he announces that he is Hank. After this change in personality he starts going
The thing that was exaggerated in the movie was when Charlie said my aunt didn’t hurt me, she always loved me, we were great friends, why did she have to die, it was all my fault she was getting my birthday present, it was all my fault she died, she was such a good friend. The thing that was embellished was what happen in the movie after Charlie was being treated by a medical faculty, and after his parents found out what he has been hiding all these years, he learned that even though you can't change where you come from, you can always choose where you go from that point on. Charlie realized that he is alive and that he can do anything he wants to. His friends Sam and Patrick helped him believe that with the tunnel experience. Existence precedes essence: Charlie can go about his goals and dreams and live life to the fullest, living an authentic life. He knows he is going somewhere and that somewhere will take him so, many places and make existence on the world that much more meaningful. He can do what he wants. It's his life, and he's in full control- no one can stop him. He is
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
Discovery is the process by which our lives are enriched, a discovery is a transformative process that influences the values and perceptions of an individual, group or even the world, it is through discovery that we grow and begin to view our lives in a new way. Both Rainbows end written by Jane Harrison and Rabbit Proof Fence directed by Phillip Noyce both support this statement through many techniques such as Flashbacks, Camera Angles, Music, Foreshadowing and Literary Techniques. This is displayed mainly though the characters Nan Dear from Rainbows End and Molly Craig from the Rabbit Proof Fence, both of these characters make the most powerful transformative discoveries as they already had set opinions from the beginning.
Charlie is seen to feel hopeless and depressed, evident in the scene where he calls his sister for help over the phone. It is at that point when he is thought to have attempted suicide
To begin with, ignorance in certain situations is bliss and sometimes not knowing the whole truth is better than knowing all of it. This is certainly the case for Charlie because in the beginning of the novel Charlie's intelligence is very low and he doesn't understand what is going
Conformity is a dominating theme from start to finish and seen in several of the characters, but Charlie falls victim to this often. Beginning with him meeting Sam and Patrick, it can be said that he never says no to anything, he just goes along with it to stay friends. Two prime examples of this are: the drugs/drinking and the relationship that Mary Elizabeth forced onto Charlie. The first example is the drugs and the drinking; perceived as conformity, since they did not force either of the items down his throat. Identification is changing personal beliefs to be like the influencer, which is a primary motivator for Charlie’s actions. Charlie is compliant when Mary Elizabeth forces a relationship onto him, which is another example of conformity. Compliance motivates by either a reward or a punishment and in this case, both motivate Charlie. He states in the movie that he just accepted being her boyfriend
Throughout the novel Charlie’s personality and intelligence level changes a lot. In the beginning Charlie is happy, has friends, he’s retarded, and can’t remember a lot of things. “I fergot his last name because I dont remebir so good.” (Keyes 2),
Nothing tosses a young people into the throngs of despondency snappier than feeling like a pariah in your own surroundings. This story delineates so well what the characteristics of a redemptive and helpful group in real life resembles. Sam and Patrick see Charlie for his identity: a misfit toy. To be sure, he is only that, yet Sam and Patrick now this since they are, as well. Those two hold the mirror to Charlie and model for him what his character implies as a misfit toy. His community group grasps him for his blames, his past, and gullibility, and shows him how to most completely live into this personality and
As we get to know Charlie as an individual and witness him maturing and finding his feet in the world, we discover the extent of his troubled past. Through these letters to an anonymous source we are told of how he was institutionalised after the death of his adored Aunt Helen, how he suffers from episodes of depression, and although he doesn’t mention his late friend Michael very often, it is obvious how his suicide had a profound effect on Charlie. It left him reeling and questioning Michael’s reasons why he would commit such a tragic act. Charlie experiences flashbacks and towards the end of the novel, a series of incidents send Charlie spiralling into his most severe bout of depression ever. He discovers a number of repressed memories that, although shock the reader, help explain his mental turmoil.
His meltdown in Alan's office one could have seen from a mile away, with it the ultimate heralding of displacement for Charlie's pain, and final straw to let Charlie live his life alone. (Displacement is but one of many defense mechanisms that involves shifting aggressive or hurtful emotions away from one’s self to a more “acceptable” or less threatening outlet.) Yet for most who watched the movie most likely, Charlie didn't get immediately better right away to their surprise. In honest words taken from an episode of House I once watched, he uttered a line that rings particularly true in this circumstance: "We tell ourselves it helps. To make [them] talk about it. To help... heal. When all you've done is make [someone] cry." After Charlie's reveal of his true past he seems to be by all standards progressing. That is until he sets out to kill himself, if not by his own gun then a police officer's. In all three main areas of his mental make-up Charlie has been both affected and ravaged, his entire being but a husk of what he accomplished four years prior. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is illustrated through Charlie as a life-changer, a psychological diagnosis that alters your entire core of being without proper therapy or treatment. (Diagnosis in
The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a fiction epistolary (meaning the story is presented through letters) novel written by Stephen Chbosky. The 224-page book shows the adolescent obstacles such as drug use, sexuality, and love that the protagonist, Charlie, faces throughout the story. The novel is made up of letters written by Charlie to an anonymous friend. In his letters, he discusses his challenges as a “wallflower.” I chose this book because several of the challenges Charlie goes through, I can relate to. Although many of Charlie’s experiences I have never experienced, you can feel the vulnerability and sadness in Charlie’s letter which makes the book feel very personal.