The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Essay
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Rough Draft
School can seem like a blood bath, and jumping in from the coziness of middle school to the dog eat dog world of high school can seem terrifying. It definitely is for the introverted and socially awkward Charlie, who must navigate through his freshman year of high school. Yet he gets help from his amazing new best friends Patrick and Sam. Charlie experiences many of his firsts, facing head-on the struggles and effects of drug abuse, teen pregnancy, suicide, confused sexuality, mental illness, and more. It’s not pretty, but it’s real. Due to the novel’s delicate material, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky has impacted modern-day society by revealing, not sugarcoating, the truth about common teenage struggles. In order to better explore this topic, the novel’s use of subjects like sexual abuse and individuality must be analyzed. The lives of teenagers aren’t always happy days filled with friends and sunshine. Yet many novelists aren’t too keen on sharing this darker, more realistic perspective on …show more content…
adolescence. For example, sexual abuse is prominent in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie who struggles mentally due to abuse from his aunt when he was a child oftentimes finds himself struggling with fits of depression. He is able to describe his feelings of utter helplessness when he confesses that “I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning” (Chbosky 94). Charlie is telling the reader of how he is tired of having to live skeletons in his closet. While he does make wonderful friends that help him to see the value in his life, his past will always haunt him. He finds himself triggered when he is touched, and has a mental breakdown when Sam makes an advance on him. Overall, sexual abuse isn’t seen as much or as realistically as it should in novels today. Everyone has felt excluded sometime in their life, and no one wants to be unpopular. This is why it is the social norm to be think, act, and be like the popular crowd and not to let your personality shine too brightly in fear that you might stand out as being different. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the troublesome trio of Charlie, Patrick, and Sam let their freak flags fly and don’t care what others think of them. In fact, “Patrick actually used to be popular before Sam bought him some good music” (43). Instead of pretending to be someone they are not, they embrace their individuality and further solidify their friendship because of it. They embrace the geekiness of their obsession with the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and become an odd, yet charming group.
Charlie, along with so many teenagers, faces the realities of sexual abuse.
It is not only traumatizing, but can affect them for many years to come. Additionally, popularity can be seen as one of the most important things in an adolescent's life. When they aren’t popular, though, it can lead to The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky show common teenage struggles that aren’t always well represented in modern-day society. Overall, this novel helped society to realize that these issues are real and can’t be sugarcoated. Charlie describes it all, saying “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be” (Chbosky 3). Life is confusing, and this specific work of literature is a valuable in understanding the society of high school. Not everything teenagers face is pretty, and young adult fiction should reflect
this.
School can seem like a blood bath, and jumping in from the coziness of middle school to the dog eat dog world of high school can seem terrifying. It definitely is for the introverted and socially awkward Charlie, who must navigate through his freshman year of high school. Yet he gets help from his amazing new best friends Patrick and Sam. Charlie experiences many of his firsts, facing head-on the struggles and effects of drug abuse, teen pregnancy, suicide, confused sexuality, mental illness, and more. It’s not pretty, but it’s real. Due to the novel’s delicate material, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky has impacted modern-day society by revealing, not sugarcoating, the truth about common teenage struggles. In order to better explore this topic, the novel’s use of subjects like sexual abuse and individuality must be analyzed. The lives of teenagers aren’t always happy days filled with friends and sunshine. Yet many novelists aren’t too keen on sharing this darker, more realistic perspective on …show more content…
adolescence. For example, sexual abuse is prominent in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie who struggles mentally due to abuse from his aunt when he was a child oftentimes finds himself struggling with fits of depression. He is able to describe his feelings of utter helplessness when he confesses that “I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning” (Chbosky 94). Charlie is telling the reader of how he is tired of having to live skeletons in his closet. While he does make wonderful friends that help him to see the value in his life, his past will always haunt him. He finds himself triggered when he is touched, and has a mental breakdown when Sam makes an advance on him. Overall, sexual abuse isn’t seen as much or as realistically as it should in novels today. Everyone has felt excluded sometime in their life, and no one wants to be unpopular. This is why it is the social norm to be think, act, and be like the popular crowd and not to let your personality shine too brightly in fear that you might stand out as being different. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the troublesome trio of Charlie, Patrick, and Sam let their freak flags fly and don’t care what others think of them. In fact, “Patrick actually used to be popular before Sam bought him some good music” (43). Instead of pretending to be someone they are not, they embrace their individuality and further solidify their friendship because of it. They embrace the geekiness of their obsession with the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and become an odd, yet charming group.
Charlie, along with so many teenagers, faces the realities of sexual abuse.
It is not only traumatizing, but can affect them for many years to come. Additionally, popularity can be seen as one of the most important things in an adolescent's life. When they aren’t popular, though, it can lead to The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky show common teenage struggles that aren’t always well represented in modern-day society. Overall, this novel helped society to realize that these issues are real and can’t be sugarcoated. Charlie describes it all, saying “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be” (Chbosky 3). Life is confusing, and this specific work of literature is a valuable in understanding the society of high school. Not everything teenagers face is pretty, and young adult fiction should reflect
this.