The Perks of Being a Wallflower Book Analysis

The book The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky features a handful of Characters who go through deighlightfull and troubling times which help discover who they truly are. One of the main groups, Charlie, Patrick, and Sam are highschoolers who unintentionally help each other explore who they are and who they want to be through parties and other experiences that leaves them feeling like a different person, whether it be a good change or a bad one. All three of these characters change in some sort of way, whether it was painfully obvious or not, sometimes having more of a drastic change than others. Both Sam and Patrick go through good and rough places in their time as seniors, however Charlie develops a lot about who he is as a person just from his first year of highschool and who he hangs out with. Charlie is a withdrawn individual and doesn’t often show who he truly is because he wants to do only what will make others happy without regard for his own well being, he is often emotional towards the ones around him and sensitive, and he has trouble being honest to others and often doesn’t act the way he wants to.

Charlie wants to make the people around him feel good about themselves even at the cost of his own feelings. In the book, Charlie says “I am really in love with Sam. and it hurts very much” (ChBosky 49). The quote helps display the idea of Charlie being more concerned about how others feel than what he feels himself, putting Sam’s feelings and words ahead of anything he may want to say or do. Charlie has feelings towards Sam throughout the whole book doing his best to not act upon those feelings due to what she said, eventually having months go by and still believing in those words. It ends up coming back at him for not acting upon how he felt earlier, with Sam being honest on how Charlie acts and how he is never truly there for the ones who need him the most, being there just as a shoulder but never as an arm or torso. Throughout the book Charlie is constantly putting his feelings and actions aside to make up for how his friends feel and act, having it backfire ruptly the one time he was true to himself and in front of others. Charlie puts his emotions to the side in order to do what he believes is best for the ones he is close to which often leads to build up in feelings and need to let it all out.

Charlie is extremely emotional to a lot of outside stimulants which leads him to being a sensitive individual. “I should store up as many great details as I can, so during the next terrible week, I can remember those details and believe that I’ll feel great again. It doesn’t work a lot, but I think that it is very important to try” (Chbosky 103). Charlie knows something will bring him back down to the place he never wants to be, a dark place he may never find a certified way of leaving. Something will also bring him down, whether it be due to the holidays coming around or an unforeseen event, there will be something every year.  Charlie even goes as far as promising to never cry again for anything not worthy of it to someone who meant a lot to him at the time, however he has trouble following through. Charlie lives in a state where there will always be something to get under his skin, something to drag him down to a dark place, something to ruin his mental state no matter what. Being extremely emotional towards much of his daily life, it leaves Charlie to be withdrawn from society and keep much of his thoughts to himself. Charlie can be extremely sensitive which can often lead to being untruthful to people unintentionally or with honest intentions, doing what will have the most neutral outcome a majority of the time. 

Charlie has a hard time being honest to others and even to himself, often not acting the way he wants to. Throughout the book, Charlie can be seen thinking in ways in which he acts what he wants to but ends up going in another direction, typically in ways meant to benefit others. “Then, he started talking about Brad. And I just let him. Because that’s what friends are for” (Chbosky 161). The quote takes place during the period in the book where Patrick and Brad hit a rocky place in their relationship to the point where they break away from each other. Patrick begins to hang out with Charlie and with the current situation unfolding, Charlie finds himself almost as a replacement to Patrick where eventually they end up kissing and Charlie doesn’t try and stop him. Charlie was doing his best to help Patrick through a rough time but wasn't being true to himself for later in the book he emits to not wanting to do it to Sam. Charlie went through a lot to try his best to make Patrick feel better, disregarding his own thoughts, however at the time Patrick needed something else. Patrick needed someone to help him get through a tough time, not someone who acted as a  replacement. 

Charlie finds himself in good and rough places in the book, ultimately leading him to be a withdrawn individual who isn’t honest with others most of the time. Throughout Charlie’s time in The Perks of being a Wallflower, he learned more about himself than he may have wanted to. Charlie is a highschooler who will almost always put others ahead of himself, sometimes harming himself in the process mentally and physically. He also finds himself quite sensitive and lets his emotions take control all through the book, sometimes being helpful and other times for the worse. Finally, Charlie is never quite honest with the ones he truly cares about even when he wants to be the most. With all of these attributes combined, Charlie ends up being withdrawn individually along with being sensitive. Charlie went through a lot to end up as who he is and sometimes others need to go through more, however developing an identity is an essential part of living, something different for an individual, something to make someone unique.