What It Is Like To Be A Wallflower

774 Words2 Pages

A wallflower is someone who prefers to be on the outside of the crowd; someone who hears, sees, and understands things that nobody else does. Stephen Chbosky writes a powerful and intriguing novel showing that “… even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” (Chbosky 211). The Perks of Being a Wallflower, published in1999 by Gallery Books, is simply extraordinary. Stephen Chbosky is a screenwriter, director, and novelist. The Perks of Being a Wallflower has also been made into a major motion picture staring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson; Stephen Chbosky was the screenwriter and director for this movie as well. The Perks of Being a Wallflower will show the reader what it is like to be a wallflower.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a novel about a boy named Charlie, a high school freshman, who suffers from rape, depression, the suicide of his only friend Michael, and the death of his Aunt Helen. Charlie is nervous about his first day of high school; he writes letters to an unknown friend. Charlie is not a social butterfly, but a wallflower. On the first day of school Charlie instantly clicks with his English teacher Bill; Bill gives Charlie the prerogative to read and write about Bill’s favorite books outside of class. In shop class Charlie acknowledges a senior, Patrick, who is good-humoredly making fun of their shop teacher, making the freshman feel more content. Patrick is secretly gay and dating the quarterback of the football team, his name is Brad.
One night Charlie decides to go to a football game but he doesn’t really know why. Charlie and Michael used to go to football games in middle school eve...

... middle of paper ...

...ng to Brad about not coming out and they start beating him up. Charlie comes in to defend Patrick and knocks one of the people out. The group starts talking to him again since he expiated for kissing Sam by saving Patrick’s life.
Towards the end of the year, Sam breaks up with Craig because she truly loves Charlie. Sam and Charlie are kissing and Sam touches the inside of his leg. Charlie stops and starts thinking of his Aunt Helen. When Sam and Patrick leave for college Charlie starts getting flashbacks of Aunt Helen. He calls his sister Candice and says that he is the reason Aunt Helen died. Charlie was taken to the hospital where the reader finds out what traumatizing event happened to Charlie. Charlie stops writing letters so that he can participate in life.

Works Cited

Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being A Wallflower. New York: Gallery Books, 1999. Print.

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