The Perks of Being a Wallflower Essay

The book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is about a boy named Charlie entering the 9th grade. He had just experienced the trauma of his best friend killing himself, and on top of that was still saddened by the death of his aunt Helen. On the first day of school he only made one friend, his English teacher. A little later on he became friends with two seniors, a boy named Patrick and his step-sister Sam. They continued on to show Charlie their world of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, their many intriguing friends, the tunnel in which he felt, what he calls, infinite, and much, much more. He still looked back to the passing of his aunt and was depressed for almost all of the time, until he was introduced to the world of drugs, cigarettes and drinking. He had always been in love with Sam since the day they met but never got the chance to date her, due to the fact of age difference, and that she wasn’t interested in someone so meek and shy. But she ended up being his first kiss and, right before she left for college, they went a little farther.

But as they were, Charlie didn’t like it because it reminded him of his aunt Helen. And that’s when he remembered that she molested him as a child. He ended up still being depressed but has gotten better because he made a lot of friends, and even thought they are all going off to college, they are still going to keep in touch, and now he is trying to participate more, as his English teacher advised him to do. I loved this book. I believe that this book is very easily relatable to teens experiencing high school life, even though I would say none of us have experienced this ourselves. But even though I didn’t, I still feel like I did. In the end it felt like all the puzzle pieces finally fit together and I understood how he felt, the shock. The whole book I was made out to feel so sorry for aunt Helen. But I also felt sorry for Charlie for having to deal with it at such a young age. But now it has shifted, I have such a strong hate towards her now.

Charlie had to go threw so much and he didn’t even do anything in the first place. What she had done will now live with him for the rest of his life and he can’t do anything about it. I now feel a thousand times more sorry for Charlie. What was also admirable was how Charlie wanted everyone else to be happy and to understand all of life’s complications. It reminds me of myself a lot, and that’s another reason I felt so connected to this book. I learned that I shouldn’t linger on the past; I should move forward with life and not let life’s obstacles stand in my way. You never want to be stuck in the mud when it comes to life, because you may miss out on many amazing opportunities. Also that I should be confident in myself and not let anyone put me down. And I should never, ever put anyone else down because you never know what they are going threw.