Perks of Being a Wallflower

The novel ‘The Perks ot Being a wallflower’ written by Stephen Chbosky tells the story of Charlie through his perspective of personal letters that he writes to an unknown friend. Chbosky writes about the issues one deals with in life such as finding out and accepting who you are and where you belong In the world. Charlie is an emotional character that has gone through difficult experiences and during the novel; the eader finds out about and shares the moments he experienced and can reflect in their own lives.

In the tlrst parts ot the novel, Charlie explains in his letters that he is starting hgh school in his freshman year and immediately brings up emotional topics such as Michael, his friend who committed suicide the previous year. On his first day of school, he becomes acquainted with his English teacher Bill and throughout the rest of the movie, Bill becomes someone that Charlie establishes a strong relationship ith and helps Charlie thorough his year of high school.

As Charlie finds Sam and Patrick who are seniors, he starts to work on his emotions and discovers pot, LSD and alcohol. Through his struggles to find himself, Charlie struggles with self-discovery, and personal struggle. The film tells the story of Charlie’s experiences growing up, dealing with his struggles and the relationship between himself and his Aunty Helen. While reading this novel and experiencing the pain Charlie went through, I realized ust how intense the emotions of someone who experiences this kind of trauma is.

Charlie grew up with the knowledge that his Aunty Helen was the most Incredible person he knew but In reality, charne had repressed the traumatizing memories of her out of contusion, pain and fright. Charlie was unwilling to revive the memory but his friend Sam that he connects with through out his freshman year helps him realize the pain. To be molested as a child is horrific but the fact that a family member took on such an action disgusted me.

The fact that it had such a big impact on Charlie’s youth made me think how horrible it would be to be in Charlie’s position. Stephen chbosky writes this novel to connect with the reader and especially teenage readers as the story deals with alcohol, drug experimentation, physical and sexual abuse and sexual orientation. It is an emotional battle that most viewers would not have experienced so the story is something that should be exposed to more audiences, as it is a problem in society that anyone can be exposed to. ‘