The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Research Paper

Selen Kuzay

Dr. Jason Mark Ward

Study Skills and Research Techniques 134

26 April 2017

The Effects of a Wallflower Inside a majority of teenagers there is craving to be desired, a hunger to be needed and an attempt to be seen. However, a smaller majority of teenagers distance themselves, avoid being in the spotlight and have no other place in society but the sidelines. As the controversy over teenagers and their rational needs grows, I find The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is an important literary work that should be read by not only the teenagers in the spotlight but also teenagers on the sidelines. The story goes through a series of problems teenagers face daily such as depression, anxiety, social status superiority,

As Patrick, Charlie’s first friend in high school, states: “You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.” This quiet shell he possesses and his understanding of what’s been seen, is what makes him the wallflower of the novel. With the recent suicide of his best friend and the horrific death of his aunt in the past, he develops depression and has a hard time being himself around others. As a way to cope with the stress and anxiety coming from his depression, he starts to write a series of letter to a ''friend'' though throughout the story the so called friend never writes back nor does the reader learn who it is. As the novel progresses we watch Charlie open up and even make new friends at school but his coming out of his shell does not last long. Soon complications in his own life, family life, and the lives of his close friends come about and he does not know how to handle them. The complications include topics such as abuse due to same sex relationships, rehab, loneliness, rejection from piers, and a unexpected abortion. Slowly these complications start to take up his mind and affect his depression severely soon causing

How can we expect teenagers to hold back from this need when adults never stop striving for a better image of how they are perceived? As Heidegre states: ''Recognition is also crucial to the process of socialization and identity formation.'' (365). In Chbosky's novel each of the characters go through journeys of self-awareness and a type of identity formation that is effected by their surroundings and the way they socialize with each other. Charlie, the protagonist of the novel, goes through one of hardest transitions from having only one friend to none, then no friends to some, and finally from some friends back to none. This transition later affects the way he reacts to and recognizes his problems. As Heidegre also states: ''In order to develop a personal identity an individual is dependent upon recognition from different concrete and generalized others.'' (365). Throughout the story, the readers watch how Charlie is able to find himself and break out of his quiet shell with the recognition his friends give him. Charlie has his first kiss and girlfriend, gets high at a party, is the lead actor in a group performance of ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' and even stands straight up on his feet in fast moving car. These are normally not what a person who keeps to himself would do. With this in mind, we can see how Charlie's personal identity develops from the kid on the sidelines to the kid in the spotlight,