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Belonging: the Perks of Being a Wallflower

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Belonging: the Perks of Being a Wallflower
The perks of being a wallflower
Source: Fictional novel
Release date: 1st February 1999
Author: Stephen Chbosky
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a set of fictional diary entries written by Stephen Chbosky. Charlie is the adolescent narrator who is in his tenth year of high school. Charlie decides to write anonymous letters to someone simply because he wants someone to listen and to not question his thoughts. The letters began after his only friend Michael committed suicide.
Not belonging to a community can cause alienation and marginalisation. When Charlie started High School, he knew nobody. Starting at a new school shortly after his best friend died contributed to Charlie’s rational thoughts. ‘Some kids look at me strange in the hallways because I don’t decorate my locker, and I’m the one who beat up Sean and started crying about it after he did it’. The reflective tone and accumulation explain to the audience why he does not belong to a group within his school community. A couple of weeks into school, he met a senior named Patrick during shop class. At the Saturday football match Charlie and Patrick recognised each other and slowly began to develop a relationship. ‘The nice thing about Big Boy was the fact that Patrick and Sam didn’t throw around inside jokes to make me feel like an outsider’. The euphoric quote recognises how relationships can form a sense of belonging and how they have the ability to improve someone’s happiness. Belonging is often the result of sharing common values. In result of Sam (Patricks sister) having such an outgoing personality, Charlie began to learn about their simular interests. ‘Sam and I began to really get along, just like Harold and Maude in the book Mr Anderson just asked me to read’. The simile helps identify their relationship and indicate that this may develop during the book.
Throughout the book, Charlie grows closer to Patrick and Sam. While trying to belong to a new community, he starts to understand that

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