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
This quote was chosen because Charlie desires to be loved, treasured, and essentially wanted like any human being would, but unfortunately his love was received in the wrong manner.
Charlie was known to have the personality that was always bright and talkative. Charlie had the lowest skill level out of all his “friends” and he didn't understand how real friends should treat one another so he never thought anything of it. Charlie felt good about himself but he wanted to be smart and know what his friends and other people around him knew. He was ready to learn and he wasn’t scared because he pushed fear away; he just wanted to know what it was like to comprehend what was going on in the world. The
Also Charlie is one of the most menial kids around he would never go with Jasper if he didn’t have courage. All of the choices Charlie makes impact his life in some way for example; if he didn’t go with Jasper his life would be normal, but because of one simple decision his life changed forever with the fact that he hid a body hovering over him at all times.
In this passage, Sam, heartbroken from a breakup with Craig, decides open up to Charlie about her feelings. Sam then attempted to have sex with Charlie but Charlie refused without knowing why he refused. This quote signaled the transition into the climax of the story because it reveals Charlie’s traumatic past with his aunt, an event that had influenced Charlie to become who he is in the story.
At this moment Charlie looks at love at a deep perspective and thinks about how rejection would hurt him and his
and I still want to be smart. Please. please let me not forget to read and write,” (10,11) By looking at this evidence, we can see that he was scared of what was going to happen to him, and had no choice but to leave his loved ones. Some may say, however, that Charlie had a choice, and he hurt the ones he loved because he wanted to.
Proof of this can be seen when Sam asked Charlie why he did not approach her after she broke up with Craig and he said “... i thought your being sad was much more important to me than Craig not being your boyfriend anymore. And if it meant that i would never get to think of you that way, as long as you were happy i was okay” (Chbosky 200). Charlie tends to put others before himself in spite of how it might hurt him. He may have developed this personality due to the caring family that supports him at home and because his aunt Helen that loved him endlessly. Due to this influence it teaches Charlie to become loving and empathetic towards others as well.
Charlie has already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime, and is still struggling with depression, in Arizona, due to the traumatic experiences she’s encountered. Charlie Davis is a character of few words because of her long episodes of disassociation with the world around her. Because Charlie suffers from selective mutism and has a shy personality, which makes her feel different from others around her, there are parts of the novel in which the Charlie Davis is left silently perceiving- and even actively disconnected- from the world around her. I can tell that she feels disconnected and silently observes because she says, “I cut all my words out. My heart was too full of them” (Page 4).
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
Although Charlie records his adventures with his new friends in the letters, his writing also reflects the larger personal problems that he deals with everyday. Charlie worries about how other people perceive him but, as the book continues, Charlie’s mental stability becomes clearer. Being with Patrick and Sam, Charlie is introduced parties, drugs, and rock music. For the first time in his life, Charlie knows what it really means to have good friends. I believe that “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower” is critical to
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
The number of teenagers who experience symptoms of depression because of school or school related activities in 2018 has grown exponentially since the Perks of Being a Wallflower was written because of the changes in technology and the views of how one’s life should be lived. What many people don’t realize is that many people face the battle of depression alone even though they are giving signals that say they need before they’re too far gone to be saved unscathed. Charlie’s story is a perfect example of this since he begins the book out seeming normal or as close to normal as someone like Charlie can be but ends up hospitalized because he was a threat to himself and he was invisible to everyone else. Charlie’s desperation for trust is portrayed in the very first line of the book.
After falling out with his friends because of his mistake with Mary Elizabeth, Charlie became even more depressed than he was before Sam and Patrick. He turned to smoking as a way to grieve at the loss of his friends and the loss of his previous life. Charlie becomes ever out of it. When his sister needs him to drive her to the abortion clinic, he feels important and depended on and as he reported this was the first he felt needed. This repercussion with his sister helped him
Charlie is a strange character as He is a very reserved but sometimes does not think much of the choices he is making. Charlie was dating Mary Elizabeth, Charlie had begun to get upset by the way she was acting, but refrained from telling her his emotions, when the situation came where Patrick asked him to kiss the prettiest girl in the room, he decided to kiss Sam besides Mary Elizabeth. This action is an example of Charlie’s passiveness affecting his social life as he has trouble expressing himself and telling others how he really feels about things, Sam questions him about this nearing the end of the book. Charlie’s passive-aggressive personality ruins relationships with his peers, him hiding his feelings lead to situations building on top
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