Being A Wallflower

Overview of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the main Character, Charlie.
Anthony Cortes Overview of Main Character
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about a freshman in high school, named Charlie. Charlie was bullied in middle school for being a bookworm. He wants to change this since he is now entering high school. Charlie is the typical shy new kid at high school and he misses his best friend, who had committed suicide. Charlie’s freshman year does not start out great because the only person whom he seems to have a connection with is his advanced English teacher, Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson likes Charlie and sees that he is the only person in his class who really enjoys literature and is not just trying to do well as a
means to get a good grade. Charlie writes letters to an imaginary friend to express his feelings, and has a history of mental illness. He eventually makes friends with two seniors, Patrick and his stepsister, Sam. Charlie ends up revealing to Sam about his friend who had committed suicide so Patrick and Sam introduce Charlie to their small group of friends, Mary Elizabeth, Alice, and Bob who all consider themselves misfits. Even though this group is accepting of him, Charlie admits he still doesn’t know how to act around people. Charlie ends up falling in love with Sam, but he does not have the self-confidence to date her, also it does not help that Sam is already dating a college student named Craig. Sam reveals some of her past to Charlie and tells him that she was molested as a child. Charlie’s blackouts, letters he writes to his imaginary friend, and his flashbacks of his past and his conscious and subconscious ways of coping seem to go away the more time he spends with his friends.
Overview of Movie
Charlie’s new friends introduce him into a social world and he seems to be expressing feelings of happiness when he is with them.
He begins experimenting with sex and drugs ends up dating Mary Elizabeth but he does not know how to break up with her so when their relationship comes to and end Patrick asks Charlie to stay away from the group of friends for a while. A few weeks pass and he still is not in contact with his friends. This seems to bring out his mental illness and provokes it to show itself again. He starts experiencing more and more flashbacks to the night when his aunt died, which he feels guilty for. Patrick ends up getting beat up by his ex lover, Brad, and his friends and Charlie intervenes and reunites with his friends. This whole event makes Charlie’s and Patrick’s relationship closer and they share a kiss but Charlie does not seem to react to it and Patrick breaks down and express his sadness to Charlie. Sam finds out that her boyfriend Craig had been cheating on her so she decides to end the relationship. As the end of the school year gets closer Sam finds out that she has been accepted to Penn State so she gets a going away party. Charlie helps her pack her things and she asks him why he never asked her out they share a kiss after but Charlie pulls away when she touches his thigh. She asks him what went wrong and he ignores it and tells her it was nothing then they go on like nothing happened. The following day, Charlie is upset as Sam leaves for school
and as soon as he gets home he starts getting flashbacks about his Aunt Helen touching his thigh. Charlie then calls his sister, Candice and tells her that he blames himself and claims that it’s all his fault that their aunt is dead and tells her that he wanted her to die. His sister gets the police involved and they arrive before Charlie gets the chance to hurt himself but he ends up blacking out when they get to his house. He wakes up in the hospital and his doctor, Dr. Burton, reveals to Charlie’s parents that his Aunt Helen was sexually abusing him and that the reason why Charlie represses those memories is because he blames himself for her death. When he finally gets out on the hospital Sam and Patrick visit him and take him out to a restaurant. The movie ends with them driving into a tunnel while they play a song that they played when they first went through it and Charlie things about his life and kisses Sam once more and stands up and screams as they leave the tunnel.