The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Psychoanalysis

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.

For my diagnosis, I diagnose Charlie with having clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The reason I believe that Charlie has depression and PTSD is because he had exhibits symptoms and certain behaviors throughout the film. According to Mayo Clinic (n.d.), Depression can be defined as one who has persistent sadness or anhedonia with an addition of other symptoms that can affect the person’s thoughts and behaviors. Mayo Clinic (n.d.) also lists a few signs/symptoms of this mood disorder which applies in Charlie’s case. Symptoms of depression can include suicidal thoughts, lack of energy, sadness, loss of interest, feeling guilty/worthless, anxiety, slow movements/speaking, and sleep disturbances (Mayo Clinic,

The book and the movie for The Perks of Being a Wallflower are extremely different, and I believe that the movie is much better than the book. The book is written much differently than the movie. There are lots of scenes that are in the book but not in the movie and that are in the movie not the book. The movie focuses less on the bigger, depressing topics than the book does. The characters in the movie are also much different than they are in the book. Their personalities are very different in the movie than the author described them as in the book.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming of age film about a 15 year old boy, Charlie, who has been through much trauma. As a freshman Charlie is left with no friends, because of the suicide of his best friend Michael, but he has the support of an english teacher who inspires his dreams of becoming a writer. Eventually, step-siblings Sam and Patrick discover that Charlie is lonely and in need of a friend, so they take him under their wing. Sam, Patrick, and their group of friends have much wisdom about life, because they are older, much of which they share with Charlie. Under the wing of Sam and Patrick, Charlie becomes more excited about life. Although, he still struggles with the side effects of past traumas, and dreads the day his new friends leave for their lives after high school.

‘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.

Throughout his diary entries, Charlie demonstrates an emotional attachment to his Aunt Helen. Although Charlie isn’t aware, Aunt Helen is in his subconscious: the part of the mind that an individual is not aware of but influences one's actions. According to Charlie, his aunt is his favorite person in the world. Aunt Helen lived under her sister's roof for her last few years of life after living a dreadful life. This woman was formerly molested by a family friend and when she revealed this information to her parents, the suffering didn’t stop because they saw it as a false claim and continued inviting this man over. This traumatic event led to an overuse of drugs, the frequent reentry to a hospital, a jobless life, and lastly the repeated sexual abuse of a young version of Charlie. Charlie develops a form of

His frustration grows after his friends start heading off to college and has a constant stressor from all the flashbacks he’s having, believing that he himself killed his Aunt. Charlie was close to his aunt as a child and it is obvious that aunt Helen was playing favoritism when it came to charlie. Aunt Helen gave him a special attention and she was kind to him, she told him that she understood him and he was special but this in a way was a ruse. Charlie repressed his memories of aunt Helen 's sexual assault but started realizing eventually, Charlie has a mental breakdown during his first sexual encounter with Sam and the realization of his past comes flooding in after she touched his leg similar to the way his aunt Helen did to him. He was sexually assaulted by his aunt and he tried forgot all of this and he tried to move on with his life but he saw memories that haunted him. This could be the possible reason and explanation as to why he said to her sister that he wished their aunt to die. Afterward, charlie is in a hospital after trying to commit suicide and must start accepting the truth to get past what happened. Charlie is often trying to please people and is always worried about how other people feel but never truly worries about himself, it could be that charlie is very caring but it is possible that charlie has had this way of thinking instilled in his mind: aunt help was very disturbed as charlie knew this and because of this he was constantly

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

Sociology is the scientific study of being behavior in human groups (Schaefer). There are very many examples of sociology in the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I view alienation, deviance, and gender roles to be the most prominent. This movie is about the struggles of a teenage boy named Charlie’s freshman year of high school. Charlie is seen as a social outcast and he just barely makes it through the year with the help of his best friends Sam and Patrick. Throughout the movie Charlie experiences most of the basic struggles of starting high school and some. This movie is very relateable since it gives a more realistic view of high school for some people. Charlie , and the audience, learns the importance of love and friendship in growing up in today’s society.

“This freedom, not only to choose what we read, but also to select from a full array of

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

At school, Charlie finds a friend and mentor in his English teacher, Bill. He also overcomes his chronic shyness and approaches a classmate, Patrick, and his stepsister Sam, become two of Charlie's BFFs. Charlie’s new found friends – Sam, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth and Bob - aren't exactly popular and are outcasts themselves. They are all seniors and often hang out at the Big Boy except Bob who doesn't go to school.

In the movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the main character Charlie is on a journey with his mental health. There are many high and low points, but it is obvious that he has a serious mental illness. Throughout the movie, Charlie shows many symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is defined as “A disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.” by the National Institute of Mental Health, and can be diagnosed through the DSM-IV method. Firstly, there needs to be signs of deviant behaviour. During the movie there are multiple occasions where Charlie blacks out and loses his memory. Whether it was drug, rage or anxiety included, this is still considered both deviant behaviour and a symptom of PTSD. Secondly, there needs to be signs of maladaptive behaviour. At the beginning of the movie, we see Charlie writing letters to his deceased best friend about his negative thoughts and feelings. While it is good to express these thoughts and feelings, it is not normal to articulate them to a dead person. He also experiences multiple flashbacks to the trauma he experienced from his Aunt Helen. Flashbacks are one the most common symptoms of PTSD, and can also develop other mental illnesses such as depression if not correctly treated. Lastly, there needs to be signs of personal distress, which can be seen when charlie expresses quilt about his Aunt Helen’s death before he has a blackout in the snow. When his feelings

was at a party) and voiced that you think that your Aunt Helen's death was your fault. Knowing