The Perks Of Being A Wallflower: Movie Analysis
Past childhood scars affect the present and future
Unresolved issues from one’s childhood have an effect on their mental wellbeing when they enter adolescence. This can be seen from the character Holden in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger and Charlie from the movie “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. This is shown through unresolved issues from their childhood, their coping mechanisms to deal with their issues, and how deeply they let the issues affect them.
To begin, Holden and Charlie both have unresolved issues from their childhood. They both have suffered loss and other traumatic incidents that have an effect on them later in their lives. Holden’s first unresolved issue is suffering …show more content…
the loss of his younger brother, Allie. When Holden is doing Stradlater's descriptive writing assignment for him, he decides to write it about Allie’s baseball mitt: “The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat”(Salinger 39). This proves that Holden is not over Allie’s death because Holden is still obsessing over Allie. Holden always subconsciously has his brother on his mind, and he could’ve chosen any room or scene to describe, but he chose to write about his brother because has not properly grieved his brother’s death and cannot stop thinking about him. Holden’s second unresolved issue is the sexual assault he suffered as a child. When Holden is asleep in Mr. Antolini’s home, he is awoken by his former teacher stroking his head. Holden quickly departs and then tells the reader that: “That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid” (Salinger 193). This novel is set in the 1950s and homosexual pedophilia was not discussed. Holden brushes off the fact that he has had multiple unpleasant encounters with men who are significantly older than he is, and pushes the distressing experiences aside. Holden is not dealing with his emotions and is bottling them up which leads to his mental breakdown. In addition, Charlie’s primary recurring distress is caused by the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. Charlie was sexually abused by his Aunt Helen for multiple years, and is so traumatized by his exploitation that he does not remember that he was abused until he has his first sexual encounter. Once Charlie remembers what his aunt had done to him, he breaks down and ends up in the hospital. Charlie only subconsciously knew that his aunt had abused him; his aunt scarred him so badly that his brain hid the distressing series of events from his conscious thoughts. In addition, Charlie’s other problem that he did not properly deal with is the loss of his best friend, Michael, to suicide. After the school dance, Charlie becomes intoxicated and tells Sam about his friend Michael who took his own life. Charlie says, “I kinda wish he’d left a note, you know what I mean?” Charlie still has not fully processed the loss of his friend, and is continually trying to understand why someone close to him would take their own life. To conclude, Holden and Charlie both have unresolved problems from their childhood. They both suffered the loss of someone close to them, and also were molested. These issues, which have been left without solutions, affect them later in their lives.
Furthermore, both characters have coping mechanisms to help them with their mental health issues caused by their troubling pasts.
Holden's primary coping skill is being negative and pessimistic towards everything. He always looks at the negative side of things. When Holden is on a date with Sally, he tells her that his school is full of phonies and he does not like the social system: “Everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques. The guys that are on the basketball team stick together, the Catholics stick together, the goddam intellectuals stick together, the guys that play bridge stick together” (Salinger 131). Holden lashes out and convinces himself that the world is against him, and that he is better off by himself. Holden tells himself that the world is full of phonies so he does not have to realize that he is alone. It is easier for Holden to be alone because he hates everyone instead of the truth; he is alone because he will not let anyone in. Holden is negative as a result of not properly healing from the issues he faced when he was younger, and uses his pessimistic views to push people away so he can protect himself. This way, he does not have to deal with anymore unwanted distress. Holden’s second coping strategy is writing. Holden fails all of his classes except English at Pencey, and this is because Holden uses writing as a way to release his emotions. Holden is a very insightful character, which gives him an interesting perspective on things. Holden sees and feels things that others do not, and notices small details. When Holden visits Phoebe's school, he notices that someone had written something vulgar on the wall. Holden is very upset by this, and he tells the readers: “While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written ‘[F*ck] you’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy” (Salinger 201). This proves that Holden has a different perspective and attention to detail. Holden has such a diverse thinking
pattern that he needs to release his emotions that are caused by all the beautiful, terrible, distressing images that he sees. Holden recounts all of his thoughts from the week leading up to when he was placed in the hospital. Writing lets Holden release all of his thoughts, and it is a coping mechanism. Similarly, Charlie’s key coping mechanism is writing. Charlie writes letters to an anonymous person whom he confides in. He shares his thoughts and insights on life. At the end of the film, Charlie writes: “I was in a bad place before I started high school. And you helped me. Even if you didn't know what I was talking about, or know someone who's gone through it. You made me feel not alone.” This demonstrates how Charlie’s writing is a successful coping mechanism. Charlie was lonesome before he started high school, and was able to tell this person his emotions and problems. Writing letters became an outlet for Charlie, and made him feel like someone was listening to him. Another crucial coping strategy that Charlie uses to help him deal with his unresolved issues is spending time with his friends. When Charlie causes tension between Sam and Mary Elizabeth, Patrick tells him to stay away for awhile. Later, Charlie writes: “I haven’t seen my friends in 2 weeks. I’m starting to get bad again” Charlie was having trouble even when he was with his friends, but they would distract him from the awful thoughts he was having. When Charlie stopped spending time with his friends, he had time to be by himself and think, which overwhelmed him. This proves that Charlie’s multiple friendships that he cultivated helped him to cope with his mental illnesses. As shown above, Holden and Charlie both have different skills to help them cope with their unresolved issues from their childhood. Their ways of coping help them in the short term to manage their issues, but in the long run, the issues left without solutions affect them later in their lives.
Holden and Charlie both have unresolved issues from their childhood that deeply affect them later in their lives. Holden lets his anger caused by his past define him. He is a loner who is very pessimistic and lets his feelings define him. Holden lets his emotions of depression and anger, (caused by issues from his past), take over. Holden closes himself up and does not let anyone in. He chooses to see everyone’s flaws as a problem instead of accepting them as reality, and will not come to terms with the way the world is. When Holden is saying good bye to Pencey Prep, he is standing on the hill watching the football game from afar. Holden is standing on the hill and instead of enjoying the game, he is preoccupied with the burden that is his depressing thoughts. Holden’s mental illnesses cause him to be consumed with negative thoughts and creates the idea in Holden’s head that everyone is a ‘phony’. However, Holden finishes his story before he leaves the hospital, so there is no way of knowing whether or not Holden has moved on from his past. Charlie believes that he is at fault for his aunt’s death, and is constantly drowning in the guilt that he feels. When Charlie reaches his breaking point, he calls his sister and says: “I killed Aunt Helen, didn’t I? She died getting my birthday present so I guess I killed her, right? I’ve tried to stop thinking that but I can't. She keeps driving away and dying. I can’t stop her. I’m crazy again. I’m just thinking, what if I wanted her to die, Candace?” Charlie was so affected by the abuse that he suffered that it caused him to become mentally unstable. Charlie believes that he caused his aunt’s death because she would not have died if Charlie had never been born: she would not have to buy him a birthday present. Charlie also feels that because he wanted the abuse to stop and that he wanted his aunt to die that his thoughts caused her death. Charlie never received help for the awful exploitation he underwent as a child, and it greatly affected his mental health and overall wellbeing. Furthermore, Charlie overcomes his traumatic past and heals his scars. After Charlie gets out of the hospital and is reunited with his friends, he explains in his final letter that: “I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. You stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder.” After receiving help in the hospital, Charlie had the tools that he needed to help him move forward after he remembers the terrible agony his aunt had inflicted on him. In conclusion, unresolved issues from one’s childhood has an effect on their mental wellbeing when they enter their adolescence. Holden and Charlie demonstrate this through the unresolved issues that they have from their childhood, their coping mechanisms to deal with their issues, and how deeply they let the issues affect them. It can be perpetually scarring for children to live through traumatic experiences, and is extremely difficult, though possible, for them to recover.
Unresolved issues from one’s childhood have an effect on their mental wellbeing when they enter adolescence. This can be seen from the character Holden in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger and Charlie from the movie “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. This is shown through unresolved issues from their childhood, their coping mechanisms to deal with their issues, and how deeply they let the issues affect them.
To begin, Holden and Charlie both have unresolved issues from their childhood. They both have suffered loss and other traumatic incidents that have an effect on them later in their lives. Holden’s first unresolved issue is suffering …show more content…
the loss of his younger brother, Allie. When Holden is doing Stradlater's descriptive writing assignment for him, he decides to write it about Allie’s baseball mitt: “The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat”(Salinger 39). This proves that Holden is not over Allie’s death because Holden is still obsessing over Allie. Holden always subconsciously has his brother on his mind, and he could’ve chosen any room or scene to describe, but he chose to write about his brother because has not properly grieved his brother’s death and cannot stop thinking about him. Holden’s second unresolved issue is the sexual assault he suffered as a child. When Holden is asleep in Mr. Antolini’s home, he is awoken by his former teacher stroking his head. Holden quickly departs and then tells the reader that: “That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid” (Salinger 193). This novel is set in the 1950s and homosexual pedophilia was not discussed. Holden brushes off the fact that he has had multiple unpleasant encounters with men who are significantly older than he is, and pushes the distressing experiences aside. Holden is not dealing with his emotions and is bottling them up which leads to his mental breakdown. In addition, Charlie’s primary recurring distress is caused by the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. Charlie was sexually abused by his Aunt Helen for multiple years, and is so traumatized by his exploitation that he does not remember that he was abused until he has his first sexual encounter. Once Charlie remembers what his aunt had done to him, he breaks down and ends up in the hospital. Charlie only subconsciously knew that his aunt had abused him; his aunt scarred him so badly that his brain hid the distressing series of events from his conscious thoughts. In addition, Charlie’s other problem that he did not properly deal with is the loss of his best friend, Michael, to suicide. After the school dance, Charlie becomes intoxicated and tells Sam about his friend Michael who took his own life. Charlie says, “I kinda wish he’d left a note, you know what I mean?” Charlie still has not fully processed the loss of his friend, and is continually trying to understand why someone close to him would take their own life. To conclude, Holden and Charlie both have unresolved problems from their childhood. They both suffered the loss of someone close to them, and also were molested. These issues, which have been left without solutions, affect them later in their lives.
Furthermore, both characters have coping mechanisms to help them with their mental health issues caused by their troubling pasts.
Holden's primary coping skill is being negative and pessimistic towards everything. He always looks at the negative side of things. When Holden is on a date with Sally, he tells her that his school is full of phonies and he does not like the social system: “Everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques. The guys that are on the basketball team stick together, the Catholics stick together, the goddam intellectuals stick together, the guys that play bridge stick together” (Salinger 131). Holden lashes out and convinces himself that the world is against him, and that he is better off by himself. Holden tells himself that the world is full of phonies so he does not have to realize that he is alone. It is easier for Holden to be alone because he hates everyone instead of the truth; he is alone because he will not let anyone in. Holden is negative as a result of not properly healing from the issues he faced when he was younger, and uses his pessimistic views to push people away so he can protect himself. This way, he does not have to deal with anymore unwanted distress. Holden’s second coping strategy is writing. Holden fails all of his classes except English at Pencey, and this is because Holden uses writing as a way to release his emotions. Holden is a very insightful character, which gives him an interesting perspective on things. Holden sees and feels things that others do not, and notices small details. When Holden visits Phoebe's school, he notices that someone had written something vulgar on the wall. Holden is very upset by this, and he tells the readers: “While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written ‘[F*ck] you’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy” (Salinger 201). This proves that Holden has a different perspective and attention to detail. Holden has such a diverse thinking
pattern that he needs to release his emotions that are caused by all the beautiful, terrible, distressing images that he sees. Holden recounts all of his thoughts from the week leading up to when he was placed in the hospital. Writing lets Holden release all of his thoughts, and it is a coping mechanism. Similarly, Charlie’s key coping mechanism is writing. Charlie writes letters to an anonymous person whom he confides in. He shares his thoughts and insights on life. At the end of the film, Charlie writes: “I was in a bad place before I started high school. And you helped me. Even if you didn't know what I was talking about, or know someone who's gone through it. You made me feel not alone.” This demonstrates how Charlie’s writing is a successful coping mechanism. Charlie was lonesome before he started high school, and was able to tell this person his emotions and problems. Writing letters became an outlet for Charlie, and made him feel like someone was listening to him. Another crucial coping strategy that Charlie uses to help him deal with his unresolved issues is spending time with his friends. When Charlie causes tension between Sam and Mary Elizabeth, Patrick tells him to stay away for awhile. Later, Charlie writes: “I haven’t seen my friends in 2 weeks. I’m starting to get bad again” Charlie was having trouble even when he was with his friends, but they would distract him from the awful thoughts he was having. When Charlie stopped spending time with his friends, he had time to be by himself and think, which overwhelmed him. This proves that Charlie’s multiple friendships that he cultivated helped him to cope with his mental illnesses. As shown above, Holden and Charlie both have different skills to help them cope with their unresolved issues from their childhood. Their ways of coping help them in the short term to manage their issues, but in the long run, the issues left without solutions affect them later in their lives.
Holden and Charlie both have unresolved issues from their childhood that deeply affect them later in their lives. Holden lets his anger caused by his past define him. He is a loner who is very pessimistic and lets his feelings define him. Holden lets his emotions of depression and anger, (caused by issues from his past), take over. Holden closes himself up and does not let anyone in. He chooses to see everyone’s flaws as a problem instead of accepting them as reality, and will not come to terms with the way the world is. When Holden is saying good bye to Pencey Prep, he is standing on the hill watching the football game from afar. Holden is standing on the hill and instead of enjoying the game, he is preoccupied with the burden that is his depressing thoughts. Holden’s mental illnesses cause him to be consumed with negative thoughts and creates the idea in Holden’s head that everyone is a ‘phony’. However, Holden finishes his story before he leaves the hospital, so there is no way of knowing whether or not Holden has moved on from his past. Charlie believes that he is at fault for his aunt’s death, and is constantly drowning in the guilt that he feels. When Charlie reaches his breaking point, he calls his sister and says: “I killed Aunt Helen, didn’t I? She died getting my birthday present so I guess I killed her, right? I’ve tried to stop thinking that but I can't. She keeps driving away and dying. I can’t stop her. I’m crazy again. I’m just thinking, what if I wanted her to die, Candace?” Charlie was so affected by the abuse that he suffered that it caused him to become mentally unstable. Charlie believes that he caused his aunt’s death because she would not have died if Charlie had never been born: she would not have to buy him a birthday present. Charlie also feels that because he wanted the abuse to stop and that he wanted his aunt to die that his thoughts caused her death. Charlie never received help for the awful exploitation he underwent as a child, and it greatly affected his mental health and overall wellbeing. Furthermore, Charlie overcomes his traumatic past and heals his scars. After Charlie gets out of the hospital and is reunited with his friends, he explains in his final letter that: “I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. You stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder.” After receiving help in the hospital, Charlie had the tools that he needed to help him move forward after he remembers the terrible agony his aunt had inflicted on him. In conclusion, unresolved issues from one’s childhood has an effect on their mental wellbeing when they enter their adolescence. Holden and Charlie demonstrate this through the unresolved issues that they have from their childhood, their coping mechanisms to deal with their issues, and how deeply they let the issues affect them. It can be perpetually scarring for children to live through traumatic experiences, and is extremely difficult, though possible, for them to recover.