Depression In Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Living a life of depression correlates to a life with no real meaning. Adolescent depression is a mental and emotional disorder that is no different from adult depression. Social and developmental challenges faced by teens are the defining factors in which we see some differences between the two. Taking an in depth look into depression shows that high levels of stress and anxiety are what causes some teens to have symptoms of depression. Studies show that up to fifteen percent of children and adolescents have some symptoms of depression. There isn’t a single known cause of adolescent depression, but there are factors that can lead to depression. These factors can include hormone differences for adolescents compared to adults, traumatic early

Charlie’s English teacher Bill, his father, and his older brother are men who he looks up to during his maturity. Charlie tries to emulate them, but finds that he is very different from them. Charlie struggles to understand love, and why people date the wrong people. His English teacher gives him an explanation, “we accept the love we think we deserve” (Chbosky, Perks of Being a Wallflower). Charlie also struggles to understand why his sister greets her boyfriend with acceptance and affection after he saw him hit her. He begins to question what it takes to be a man after this incident. Charlie again sees violence from his grandfather, who once hit his mother and aunt when they were children. Now Charlie himself holds onto a deep aggression that he tries to suppress. Charlie’s growing up becomes an intriguing detail of “Perks of being a Wallflower” because he has to overcome and accept the fact that he was sexually abused by his aunt. This leads to the question, how can Charlie view himself as a strong man after being taken advantage of by a woman that he loved? The answer to this became depression for Charlie. He has relapses and negative thoughts towards society as a whole, and is afraid to endure love because his first experiences brought him a pain that will carry on throughout the movie, and portrays how he lives his life to cope

He is against anything that is “phoney,” and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflects his own lost childhood. All the people featured in Holden’s stories are a child or a man influenced by a child. All of the adults are not informed by love and innocence, but are by definition phonies and prostitutes in Holden’s mind. Holden is the kind of person who feels sorry for the teachers who have to flunk him. He fears for the ducks when the lagoon freezes over, for he is a duck himself with no place to go. His mental breakdown is a direct result of his inability to come to terms with adult reality. Holden is afraid of growing up and competing in an adult world. For example, Holden admires and respects his older brother D.B, but also resents his brother because he has a successful career writing movies. “He’s out in Hollywood being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies” (Salinger 176). Competing with his older brother leaves Holden discouraged when he says such things for example, “As a matter of fact, I’m the only dumb one in the family” (Salinger 179). He is indicating that “dumb” means more than lacking of intelligence, but that he is the worst at everything and therefore lacks the courage to cooperate in an adult world. Holden also makes senseless plans to run away from having to live a cooperative life in society. His first