The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Scene Change

Scene Being Changed: (Chbosky 202-213) The scene being changed is the day that Sam, Charlie’s love interest, leaves for college. The previous night, things had gotten intimate between her and Charlie, but Charlie freaked out when she began to touch him. That night, he had a dream about his Aunt Helen touching him the same way that Sam did. On the day that Sam left, Charlie returned home and reality sank in. Here, we realize that Charlie had “gotten bad again;” He had lost all of his friends, he had no one to comfort him, and he was beginning to think that the dream he had about his Aunt Helen was an actual memory. Charlie stops his letter, and doesn’t write again until two months later, when he is released from the hospital. In his last letter, it is revealed that his Aunt Helen had molested him repeatedly. He tries not to focus on this too much, and uses his last letter to emphasize his friends and family being there to help him in his recovery. By the end of the story, Charlie realizes something beautiful: “Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there (Chbosky 211).” Charlie stays true to his words, and decides to stop writing letters so he could participate more in life. Charlie finishes his story knowing he was satisfied with his life, and even if there came a time when he wasn’t, he would be happy soon enough.

How it’s Being Changed: In the novel, Charlie was found in his “bad” state by his family. Luckily, Charlie had done no self-harm. In the change, Charlie’s parents will have come a little too late to save him. The epilogue will be written from Sam’s lamenting perspective, and is meant to be the first letter of many in a possible sequel for The Perks of Being a ...

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... me, Mary Elizabeth calls me, Alice and Bob… most importantly it’s what Charlie called me. That’s why I’m writing to you. Charlie’s family told me recently that Charlie had been writing to you in the last nine months before the incident. It sounds to me that he saw you as just as good a friend as he saw me, Patrick, and everyone else.

And because you were such a close friend to Charlie, it makes it that much harder to tell you what happened. Please, let me ask you a question: Why would someone who had so much to look forward to in life, had so many people that loved and cared about him, end it all with slashes on each of his wrists? I know that you can’t answer that question, and neither can I. But maybe it’s better that we don’t know.

Till next time,

Sam

Works Cited

Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket, 1999. Print.