Perks Of Being A Wallflower Psychological Analysis Essay
A Developmental Analysis of Charlie Charlie is the main character in the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Throughout the film, he goes through immense developmental growth. His growth can be studied in a variety of ways, including but not limited to biological changes, psychosocial development, and cultural development.
Physical and Biological Issues
Charlie goes through physical changes throughout the film. He is a high school freshman, meaning he is in middle adolescence; middle adolescence spans from ages fifteen to seventeen (Hutchison, 2013). Puberty typically ends during middle adolescence. The biggest component of Charlie’s physical changes is the onset of puberty, which brings about the desire to explore sexual relationships. One way that Charlie explores his sexuality is through dating girls. Due to the hormonal shifts occurring in his body, Charlie begins to feel attracted to others. He explores this by kissing Mary Elizabeth when they go at her house after the school dance; they also come close to engaging in other sexual activities before they are interrupted and have to stop (Chbosky, 2012). Charlie’s desire to engage in intimate activities shows that puberty and the hormonal changes that come with it have made it …show more content…
This comes from not being very socially competent. Social competence is the idea that people have the ability to effectively interact with their peers and others (Hutchison, 2013). Charlie struggles to form relationships with others because he does not know how to approach others. Even though he engages in interactions with Sam and Patrick frequently, he still feels like they are not all friends; Charlie realizes that they are his friends once they clarify to him that they see him as a friend (Chbosky, 2012). The fact that Charlie is not able to see that he has friends until his friends clarify for him shows that he could still learn more about how to improve his social
Physical and Biological Issues
Charlie goes through physical changes throughout the film. He is a high school freshman, meaning he is in middle adolescence; middle adolescence spans from ages fifteen to seventeen (Hutchison, 2013). Puberty typically ends during middle adolescence. The biggest component of Charlie’s physical changes is the onset of puberty, which brings about the desire to explore sexual relationships. One way that Charlie explores his sexuality is through dating girls. Due to the hormonal shifts occurring in his body, Charlie begins to feel attracted to others. He explores this by kissing Mary Elizabeth when they go at her house after the school dance; they also come close to engaging in other sexual activities before they are interrupted and have to stop (Chbosky, 2012). Charlie’s desire to engage in intimate activities shows that puberty and the hormonal changes that come with it have made it …show more content…
This comes from not being very socially competent. Social competence is the idea that people have the ability to effectively interact with their peers and others (Hutchison, 2013). Charlie struggles to form relationships with others because he does not know how to approach others. Even though he engages in interactions with Sam and Patrick frequently, he still feels like they are not all friends; Charlie realizes that they are his friends once they clarify to him that they see him as a friend (Chbosky, 2012). The fact that Charlie is not able to see that he has friends until his friends clarify for him shows that he could still learn more about how to improve his social