The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Archetypes Essay
On average, one person commits suicide every 16.2 minutes. Nearly 30,000 Americans commit suicide every year. Shock, social isolation and feelings of guilt can be greater when it’s caused by suicide than when it 's caused by other types of death. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Charlie endures the fear of getting close to people after the suicide of his friend, Michael. We’ll explore Charlie’s archetypes, his fears, the defense mechanisms used, and Charlie’s dreams. Charlie Kelmeckis allows his archetypes to move him from the person he was, to the person he desires to be. Through the duration of the movie, and Charlie’s freshman year he varies from many archetypes. Charlie’s main archetype is the everyman, his desire being to belong. A couple of
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weeks into school, he met a senior named Patrick during shop class. At the football match Charlie and Patrick recognized 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 quote recognizes how relationships can form a sense of belonging and how they have the ability to improve someone’s happiness. Charlie seeks for this feeling after feeling so alone, disconnected from everything and everyone. Charlie confronts his English teacher, Mr. Anderson with the question, “Why do good people choose the wrong people to date?” This bring out the magician inside of him, he’s curious as to why Sam is choosing the wrong guys to date in an attempt to inform her that she deserves better. As his feelings for Sam grow, he becomes the lover, looking for intimacy. He tries to make a relationship with Sam by making her mixed tapes, and kissing her. When Charlie started high school he had no friends and he spent his whole summer alone. Once he started letting people get close to him, allowing himself to make new friends, he started to relax, and his fear of letting people get close starts to slowly disappear. Along with Charlie changing, we see him overcoming his fears. To lessen the fear and anxiety of starting high school alone, Charlie starts writing letters to a stranger, someone he heard was nice but has never met in person. One of his fears turns out to be as much about the fear of loss as about the joy of being accepted. Charlie 's in love with Sam, who is going to go away to college at the end of the year and, is involved with another guy. And Charlie is so traumatized about his dead friend that he can 't feel the bliss of togetherness without simultaneously seeing it all slip away. He longs, he says, to believe in something infinite. We follow Charlie as he copes with heartbroken friends and family, personal past demons and his nagging fear of loneliness and depression. Charlie is a wallflower seeing and hearing everything and trying to figure out what to do with it. Charlie writes, “I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I 'm still trying to figure out how that could be” To Charlie the thought of losing someone close to him again is to much to bear, he is incapable of handling death well. He allows his fears to control him and these fears run through him every minute of everyday. Charlie utilizes defense mechanisms to hide how damaged and broken he is from the world around him. To deal with the anxiety Charlie experiences, he employs defense mechanisms. Charlie uses dissociation to escape the world. Charlie says, “You see, I haven 't really talked to anyone outside of my family all summer.” He starts his freshman year with no friends, and doesn’t try to make any until his first football game since Michael’s death. Charlie shows the defense of altruism. He goes about this by constantly offering himself up to help others. Sam confesses to Charlie how poorly she did on the SATs, so he offers to tutor her. Which helps him overcome his fear of getting close to people, during this process Sam and Charlie become closer. Something Charlie set out to do was to love and get closer to Sam. Since he defends himself with sublimation, his fear is a major set back. Great philosophers once said you dream because your guards are down during the dream state, your unconscious has the opportunity to act out and express the hidden desires. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.
Charlie reflects on Michael, his memory, “To dream that your memory is getting or has been erased means that you must let go of the past in order to move forward with your life. You are stuck in an unhealthy cycle” Charlie not being able to allow himself to move on and invite new people in his life leaves him in this cycle of loneliness he can no longer endure. He often states how he is longing for something that is infinite “Infinity in your dream represents time and longevity.” Meaning he desires something that will last for a long time. Towards the end of the movie, we see Charlie contemplating suicide. “The dream suggests that you are saying good-bye to one aspect of yourself and hello to a whole new you. It is symbolic of a personal transformation or a new stage in your life.” Charlie is saying good-bye to the part of himself that has been so fearful. He states, “I don 't know if I will have the time to write any more letters because I might be too busy trying to participate.” Once Charlie moves on from Michael’s death, it allows him to truly live
again. Stephen Chobsky’s book/movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower illustrates how Charlie is fearful to get close to people after his best friend, Michael’s suicide. Charlie’s archetypes changed, helping him move on from Michael’s death. He learned to overcome his fears, and allowed his defense mechanisms to being him closer to the people he desires most. Charlie finally learns what it means to be alive. “This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” When Charlie says this he’s experiencing that this is that once-in-a-lifetime feeling when all of the pain and heartache in your life just melts away and leaves you with a sense of profound peace.
Works Cited
weeks into school, he met a senior named Patrick during shop class. At the football match Charlie and Patrick recognized 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 quote recognizes how relationships can form a sense of belonging and how they have the ability to improve someone’s happiness. Charlie seeks for this feeling after feeling so alone, disconnected from everything and everyone. Charlie confronts his English teacher, Mr. Anderson with the question, “Why do good people choose the wrong people to date?” This bring out the magician inside of him, he’s curious as to why Sam is choosing the wrong guys to date in an attempt to inform her that she deserves better. As his feelings for Sam grow, he becomes the lover, looking for intimacy. He tries to make a relationship with Sam by making her mixed tapes, and kissing her. When Charlie started high school he had no friends and he spent his whole summer alone. Once he started letting people get close to him, allowing himself to make new friends, he started to relax, and his fear of letting people get close starts to slowly disappear. Along with Charlie changing, we see him overcoming his fears. To lessen the fear and anxiety of starting high school alone, Charlie starts writing letters to a stranger, someone he heard was nice but has never met in person. One of his fears turns out to be as much about the fear of loss as about the joy of being accepted. Charlie 's in love with Sam, who is going to go away to college at the end of the year and, is involved with another guy. And Charlie is so traumatized about his dead friend that he can 't feel the bliss of togetherness without simultaneously seeing it all slip away. He longs, he says, to believe in something infinite. We follow Charlie as he copes with heartbroken friends and family, personal past demons and his nagging fear of loneliness and depression. Charlie is a wallflower seeing and hearing everything and trying to figure out what to do with it. Charlie writes, “I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I 'm still trying to figure out how that could be” To Charlie the thought of losing someone close to him again is to much to bear, he is incapable of handling death well. He allows his fears to control him and these fears run through him every minute of everyday. Charlie utilizes defense mechanisms to hide how damaged and broken he is from the world around him. To deal with the anxiety Charlie experiences, he employs defense mechanisms. Charlie uses dissociation to escape the world. Charlie says, “You see, I haven 't really talked to anyone outside of my family all summer.” He starts his freshman year with no friends, and doesn’t try to make any until his first football game since Michael’s death. Charlie shows the defense of altruism. He goes about this by constantly offering himself up to help others. Sam confesses to Charlie how poorly she did on the SATs, so he offers to tutor her. Which helps him overcome his fear of getting close to people, during this process Sam and Charlie become closer. Something Charlie set out to do was to love and get closer to Sam. Since he defends himself with sublimation, his fear is a major set back. Great philosophers once said you dream because your guards are down during the dream state, your unconscious has the opportunity to act out and express the hidden desires. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.
Charlie reflects on Michael, his memory, “To dream that your memory is getting or has been erased means that you must let go of the past in order to move forward with your life. You are stuck in an unhealthy cycle” Charlie not being able to allow himself to move on and invite new people in his life leaves him in this cycle of loneliness he can no longer endure. He often states how he is longing for something that is infinite “Infinity in your dream represents time and longevity.” Meaning he desires something that will last for a long time. Towards the end of the movie, we see Charlie contemplating suicide. “The dream suggests that you are saying good-bye to one aspect of yourself and hello to a whole new you. It is symbolic of a personal transformation or a new stage in your life.” Charlie is saying good-bye to the part of himself that has been so fearful. He states, “I don 't know if I will have the time to write any more letters because I might be too busy trying to participate.” Once Charlie moves on from Michael’s death, it allows him to truly live
again. Stephen Chobsky’s book/movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower illustrates how Charlie is fearful to get close to people after his best friend, Michael’s suicide. Charlie’s archetypes changed, helping him move on from Michael’s death. He learned to overcome his fears, and allowed his defense mechanisms to being him closer to the people he desires most. Charlie finally learns what it means to be alive. “This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” When Charlie says this he’s experiencing that this is that once-in-a-lifetime feeling when all of the pain and heartache in your life just melts away and leaves you with a sense of profound peace.
Works Cited