The Perks of Being a Wallflower  

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age epistolary novel written by American novelist Stephen Chbosky. It was published on February 1, 1999 by MTV. The story is narrated by an introspective teenager who goes by the alias of "Charlie." He describes various life experiences through a series of letters to an anonymous stranger. In 2012, Chbosky, acting as director, adapted the novel into a film, which starred Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and Emma Watson.

Set in the early 1990s, the story follows Charlie through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. Charlie is the eponymous wallflower of the novel. Intelligent beyond his years, he is an unconventional thinker; yet, as the story begins, Charlie is also shy and unpopular.

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Plot summary

Fifteen-year-old Charlie is about to begin his freshman year of high school—without his best friend, Michael, who committed suicide one month before the narrative begins. In an attempt to cope with Michael’s death and his own anxiety of entering high school alone, Charlie begins writing letters to an anonymous stranger. Charlie does not feel that he can lean on his parents or older siblings for support because they never truly understand him. He laments that the only relative that he ever felt close to was his Aunt Helen, who was killed in a car accident on his seventh birthday.

At school, Charlie befriends two seniors, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick. He soon develops romantic feelings for Sam, but he believes that he has no chance with her. Sam and Patrick introduce him to many new experiences and a group of upperclassmen friends. Charlie writes about situations that he gets into with his new friends, including going to parties, driving through his town's tunnel and feeling "infinite," seeing and performing in Rocky Horror Picture Show, going on his first date, and trying various drugs. After one party, where Charlie takes LSD, the police find him passed out in the snow. In a conversation with the police and his parents, Charlie reveals that he often has visions, which implies that he is not mentally well.

Bill, Charlie's English teacher, also plays a significant role in his life. After giving Charlie a C grade on his book report, Bill begins lending him books to read outside of class and encourages him to write essays about them. He then critiques the reports to help Charlie develop better diction and syntax; with this guidance, Charlie's writing improves in the book's later letters.

Despite his feelings for Sam, Charlie briefly dates Mary Elizabeth, another girl in their clique. She takes him to their school's Sadie Hawkins dance, and they go on a few dates. At first, Charlie does not mind how one-sided their conversations are. Even so, after Mary Elizabeth buys him a book of poems, he senses a change in their relationship that he does not like. In a game of Truth or Dare at a party, Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. He kisses Sam, which officially ends his relationship with Mary Elizabeth. Patrick then decides that Charlie should stay away until their relationship drama calms down.

Sam also starts a relationship with an attractive older boy named Craig. Charlie does not think that Craig appreciates Sam; he explains that if Craig took a good photo of her, he would think that it was good because of the way he took it, instead of the fact that Sam was in the picture. Sam and Craig soon break up, after Sam learns that Craig had been cheating on her with numerous girls.

Later in the novel, Charlie writes about Patrick's relationship with Brad, the quarterback of the football team who is secretly gay. One day, Brad's dad catches Patrick and Brad having sex in the basement and Brad's dad beats up Brad in front of Patrick. A week later, Brad returns to school and during lunch, calls Patrick a "faggot." Patrick reacts by throwing a fist, which escalates into a physical fight between Patrick and Brad's friends. Charlie bravely comes to Patrick's rescue and fights Brad's friends. Taught how to fight by his older brother, Charlie seriously hurts two of Brad's friends which ends the fight. Charlie helps Patrick up and warns Brad's friends that if they ever hurt Patrick again that he will blind them.

As things continue to build up on Charlie, he's happy once Sam and all of his former friends start talking to him again, even Mary Elizabeth. After their prom and graduation, Charlie laments how Sam will soon be away at college while Charlie still has three years of high school to complete. The week before she leaves for school, Sam hangs out a lot with Charlie and the whole group. She even asks him to dance slow with her at a night club at one point, sensing that Charlie has romantic feelings for her. The night before she leaves, Charlie stays alone with her to help her pack. Sam then tells him that he can't just sit on the sidelines and let everyone "do things" while he can't. Sam thinks it's sweet that Charlie cares for her, but she is angry that he didn't come out with his feelings when they were together, such as the night club. Charlie then kisses Sam, and they begin to have sex, which Charlie describes as "beautiful." However, Charlie gets nervous when Sam reaches down his pants, and confesses he isn't ready. Sam says that's fine. That night, Charlie has a dream that Aunt Helen is doing the same things to him that Sam did.

After a disturbing family secret surfaces that Charlie's Aunt Helen had molested him prior to her death, Charlie has a severe mental breakdown and is hospitalized. Still, his final letters close with a feeling of hope and determination. Even if he does not have the power to choose where he comes from, Charlie will choose where he goes in the future.

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Literature

In the novel, Charlie's English teacher assigns him various books to read. Charlie describes them all as his favorites.

The book also references a book of poems by E. E. Cummings, The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts, a book by Anne Rice, and an autobiography of a woman who was a character in Reds, most likely Emma Goldman. The poem "A Person/A Paper/A Promise" by Earl Reum is also mentioned.

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Film

The novel references these films and TV series...

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Music

The novel references these songs:

Other music groups and artists are mentioned without reference to a specific song, including Village People, Blondie, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, The Slits, and Billie Holiday.

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See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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