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The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Essay

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Stephens Chbosky’s the perks of being a wallflower is by far one of the most touching and diverse books ever published. Set in the 90s, a decade remembered by many nostalgically, it focuses on the high school life of a number of teenagers. It discusses themes such as drugs, alcohol and psychological drama all while immersing its readers with the realistic progression of these events. The main character from whose perspective we view the story is Charlie, an emotionally troubled freshman, who after the death of his Aunt and the suicide of his best friend has become antisocial and emotional. The main character has a number of interactions with other secondary characters, such as, Sam and Patrick, who are his equally troubled friends and members …show more content…

We get to see his becoming a member of the group all while experiencing a number of emotional discharges, which with the help of his friends he overcomes. As good as this might sound, however, the interaction with the group thrusts Charlie into the world of parties, drugs and alcohol. We see Charlie experimenting with psychotropic substances such as LSD and marijuana, which he either stops using or starts using casually. In spite of all, however, Charlie maintains a strong friendship, which despite faltering sometimes seems to reemerge. Furthermore we get to catch a glimpse of Charlie’s family, which is as numerous as is dysfunctional. A person or a group of people in reality have good and bad moments and this is exploited to the full extent in the book. Charlie due to circumstance, created by him more often than not, enters a state of fear and depression most likely due to his overall psychological state. Charlie undoubtedly is a very unique character as he gets good marks and seems quite presentable but becomes every ones favorite when he is under the influence of drugs, which many times affect him negatively. The same pattern is followed with Sam, Patrick and the other friends of Charlie. Despite all that Charlie seems to be devoted to helping his friends, trying to be as honest and helpful as possible, although he seems to fail miserably more often than

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Charlie is a good student, he attends school regularly, has earned a perfect attendance certification and is a all-around good student. The issues Charlie faces at home is not being able to grow up with a positive role model. He never had the opportunity to be surrounded by a father figure. Adolescents can sometimes find it difficult to go through their lives and not being able to have a two parent household. Charlie made a rational choice on the night of the killing; 1) he was motivated to kill George because he felt like his mother was dead, 2)

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" As he watches and feels sorry for Jeffery and wants to do something to help or make everyone realise that Jeffery is the best out of all of the players. Charlie demonstrates his desire to stand up for justice and to use his voice to promote what he believes is true. This showing teen voice and empowerment in Charlie

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But when Charlie got the surgery, he realized when his intelligence was wearing off, he got super depressed but he powered through the depression. One quote from the book that indicates depression is “please... please let me not forget how to read and write.” (keyes 25). Even though he is forgetting how to read and write and he is getting depressed, he powers through the depression. On the last page he says “im taking a cuple of books along and even if i cant reed them ill practise hard and maybe i wont forget every thing i learned.

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Ultimately, his repressed memories of sexual abuse subconsciously played a role in his relationships and who he became as an individual. In fact, upon this realization Charlie decides he no longer needs to write to the mysterious stranger; believing he has control over his own life and that he is not defined by his past. For example, Charlie said “I keep quiet most of the time, and only one kid named Sean seemed to notice me” (Chbosky 7). In conclusion, there are perks if you prefer to not be the center of attention and the drawbacks as you maybe a target for bullies and miss out on opportunities, of being a

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Later on being, two best friends. Going through this with him was his “friends” Frank and Joe. Them two have always treated Charlie with such disrespect because them two would always pull jokes on him call him names but Charlie never noticed. Luckily he also had good people around him during this time like Miss.

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An experience that changes Charlie is when Charlie’s father dies. This experience changes him when he says, “When the undertakers came to wheel my father’s lifeless body out to the hearse, it was as if they took my childhood with them. Like other boys, I still wore ‘Knickerbockers’ in the schoolyard. I played ‘queenies’ and marbles too. But once the lessons were over, I returned home and stepped into the long pants of adulthood.

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1. The Perks of being a Wallflower is a story about a high school freshman named Charlie. Through the entire novel Charlie is writing letters addressed to an anonymous friend. In these letters, he talks about his journey throughout his first year in high school. Where he experiences everything for the first time – first dates, family drama, drugs and new friends. In other words; growing up.

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After reading the articles and complaints from parents about the use of inappropriate material in the classroom I think that it should be allowed for the purpose of educational use and if a book that is considered to be inappropriate is going to be read in class a note to the parents should be given just notifying them that their child will be reading that book in class. I don’t think it should be a note for a parent to sign to give their child permission to read the book, but rather a notification that they will be reading it. I don’t think that parents should be allowed to interfere with the school curriculum and change it for their child not to read a certain book because it would be denying them of the educational value and the powerful story it is expressing as said in the letter. The Perks of Being a Wallflower shouldn’t be seen just as an “inappropriate” book because of its “graphic sexual scenes” but rather as a book giving attention to the topic of mental health. The topic of mental health is often seen by many as not important as physical health or even ignored but “Perks” speaks about this issue and gives light to the subject.

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For example, on page 299, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide bright eyes of a child, uncertain but easy to please. And I had been laughing at him too. Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were laughing at him.” Here, Charlie was realizing that people were mean and rude to people who weren’t like them. That people looked down to people who were different than them or not as smart.

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My group had interesting observation about Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Perks which includes a series of letter written by the main character Charlie as he tries to negotiate being a teenager, friend and family. As we have all gone through our teenage years wherein in we had to negotiate friendship and family, we could relate the main character from the stand point of development. We all had or experience development during that period differently. A member of my group was a cheerleader, another a socialite, one was peer pressured, and me, a moderate wallflower in new situations.

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A trip to the doctor; a terror-stricken child fights off a persistent parent while a psychiatrist attempts to inject a needle into the child ’s vein. As the syringe unwaveringly enters the body, the life-saving serum is activated. At that moment, the child realizes the shot wasn’t so painful after all, relaxing as a Hello-Kitty band-aid is placed on their arm.

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He has the feeling inside him that he used to be great, and can’t live with the fact that he isn’t anymore. Charlie takes a chance at moving away, and starting over somewhere that doesn’t know who Charlie Gordon was. For example, “Thats why im going away from New York for good. I dont want to do nothing like that agen. i dont want Miss Kinnian to feel sorry for me.

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Gupta [1] Shrishti Gupta Ms.Kanika Dang English thesis paper 20th October, 2015 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stefen Chbosky ‘The perks of being a wallflower’ is a popular book read mostly among teenagers, it revolves around the life of an introverted boy called Charlie. This book is a rollercoaster of human emotions and an excellent portrayal of “misfits” as they struggle to find their place in the turbulent high school world. The readers have greeted this premise with empathy and understanding. Charlie’s haunting letters, addressed only to “Dear Friend,” bring readers straight to the heart of his struggles to fit in, to find the will to “participate” in life, and to cope with the realities of the larger world as he learns how to grow up. ‘the perks of being a wallflower’ is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Stefen Chbosky and published in 1999.

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