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The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Essay

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Passivity in The Perks of Being a Wallflower There are many life lessons to learn from in Stephen Chbosky’s, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. One of them being, “Do as you wish. Be as you are”. Charlie, the protagonist of the novel, is a high school freshman just trying to fit in. Throughout the novel he is faced with many difficulties as a teenager. He had an abusive past, he does not have any friends and he suffers from severe anxiety and depression. Thus, causing him to be socially uncomfortable and very passive. Although he does make some friends, he still continues to live a very passive lifestyle. Not only does his passiveness affect him, but it affects the ones around him as well. Charlie’s passive outlook on life shows when he chooses to analyze situations rather than …show more content…

However, she had a boyfriend at the time so he never told her how much he liked her. Little did he know, Sam really cared for him as well. By not telling Sam how he really felt, he was hurting himself because he really did love her. “I am really in love with Sam, and it hurts very much.” (Chbosky 49). Loving her hurt because he assumed that she loved someone else. Instead of telling Sam how much he really cared about her, he pretended that he liked another girl which only led to larger issues. At the end of the novel Sam questions Charlie’s feelings by asking him, “Did you want to kiss me?” he answered with a simple, “Yeah”. She then asked him, “Then why didn’t you?” and he responded by explaining, “Because I didn’t think you wanted me to.” (Chbosky 200). Sam, upset with Charlie for not saying and doing what he felt, said, “You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things.” (Chbosky 200). This quote tells Charlie that he can no longer live passively and call it a life. He had to say what he felt and do as he

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