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How Is Holden Presented In The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

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As illustrated in the Catcher in the Rye and the Perks of being a Wallflower, teenagers are generally different from how they appear to be. The protagonists of both of the books – two teenagers named Holden and Charlie – struggle with their inner dark memories. Holden’s classmate commits suicide and his brother dies because of leukemia. Charlie’s best friend commits suicide and his brother dies of leukemia as well. Holden’s and Charlie’s traumas can not be compared with each other’s trauma’s difficulty and harshness because they have difficult and incomparable childhood traumas. However, one must realize that not only their traumas are different, but their ways of dealing with their traumas are different as well. Type of sharing their feelings …show more content…

There is an example from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie plays a game with his friends while Mary Elizabeth -who is Charlie’s girlfriend- sits next to him. Charlie’s friend say: “Kiss the prettiest girl in the room on the lips.” (Chbosky 144) Charlie kisses Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth. It gets very big issue. Because Charlie did kiss Sam, Mary Elizabeth gets really angry and cry. “Mary Elizabeth [She] walked quickly out of the room and into the bathroom.”(Chbosky 145) This fake does not succeed and Mary Elizabeth leaves him. It proves that being a faker does not bring success sometimes listening to the brain can be better than listening to heart. In The Catcher in The Rye there is a same behaviour again. Holden loves Jane but he goes away with Sally. Holden says, “I mean about going away somewhere, to Massachusetts and Vermont and all.” ( Salinger 149) In this quote Holden offers to Sally to go anywhere with her even though he loves Jane. Charlie and Holden seem like they love one girl -even Charlie has a girlfriend- except Sally and Sam but they make a fake and they be interested in with other girls more than their love but this is not okay for them it turns into a problem for

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