Classics Corner: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky; An Insightful Look Inside One Year of a High-School Boy

Classics Corner: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky; An Insightful Look Inside One Year of A High-School Boy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is not a big plot-filled novel. Instead it is filled with different various incidents which contribute to the characterization of an introverted teen and his complicated relationships with family, friends, and girlfriends.

Charlie writes letters to an unnamed ”Friend.” The Friend is never revealed and there are even implications that he doesn't exist. Instead the letters give Charlie a chance to unload his deepest emotions and confused thoughts about the world around him.

Most of Charlie's entries consist of his friendship with Patrick and Sam, a quirky brother and sister who welcome Charlie with open arms and encourage him to be more outgoing. He is still grieving over the suicide of a friend and has a hard time relating to people but Patrick and Sam help bring him out of his shell.

With Patrick and Sam, Charlie embraces new things like driving down tunneled bridges while listening to classic rock. (In a terrific passage, Charlie does this and remembers how he “felt infinite.”) They also love to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Charlie at first feels out of place with the crazy costumes, bizarre audience participation, and Patrick’s portrayal of Frank N’Furter and Sam's as Janet. But he eventually adapts and becomes a proud “Time Warp”er.

He also gets involved in his friends’ complicated love lives and that bleeds into his own. He discovers that Patrick is gay when he catches him in an embrace with Brad, a closeted football player. Patrick and Brad’s relationship is hidden until Brad’s abusive father finds out. Brad, in an attempt to push Patrick away, joins in a bullying incident that puts Patrick in the hospital.

Sam and Charlie also have relationship issues. Over the course of the book they date other people but begin to realize they feel that they are more than friends. This moment climaxes when Charlie goes to a party with Sam, her boyfriend, Craig and his current girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth. During an intense time of drinking, drugs, and game of Truth or Dare, Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl at the party and he kisses….Sam. Needless to say his relationship with Mary Elizabeth does not last.

There are also other characters who help shape Charlie’s coming of age journey. There's Bill, Charlie's English teacher who recommends novels for the teen to read like Camus’ The Stranger and Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. Charlie also does extra credit essays on what he reads to share that love of literature with Bill finding a kindred spirit in his teacher.

There's Charlie's sister who is involved in an abusive relationship. When Charlie accidentally reveals this, she becomes furious with her kid brother and continues her relationship in secret.

Then there's Aunt Helen, Charlie's favorite relative. She is long dead but she still remains a part of Charlie's life. She haunts his memories as he remembers her death in a car accident on her way to get him a birthday gift. He also remembers that she had some difficult unspoken incidents in her past that caused her to withdraw from others except Charlie. Opening up his feelings for Aunt Helen reveal some of Charlie's current difficulties with relationships.

There is one revelation about Aunt Helen which is brilliantly foreshadowed and leads to a definite change in Charlie's behavior and relationships. However, for an important plot point, it’s placement in the second to the last chapter make the revelation and aftermath a little rushed. It would have served better to be in the middle of the story where the aftermath would be central to Charlie's development.

However, The Perks of Being A Wallflower is one of the best examples of the life of a teenage boy and the complexities that go into those years when we are still trying to figure out who we are and who we are going to become.