Examples Of Transcendentalism In The Perks To Being A Wallflower

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that came to light in the 1820s. It was a movement that challenged the basic everyday life of society such as intellect and religion. A famous Transcendentalist named David Henry Thoreau wrote many acclaimed works. In Walden, Thoreau talks about how he lived his life to find if it had any meaning. Similarly to Thoreau, in the movie, The Perks to Being a Wallflower, a young man named Charlie, started high school with the same mindset, to find himself and what life meant to him. Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a novel that shows the life of a boy named Holden who, like Thoreau and Charlie, is questioning himself and everything around him. Thoreau, Charlie and Holden are searching for what makes

Growing up, Charlie faced two difficult loses that changed his life by getting him admitted in the hospital. As a young boy, he lost his aunt in a car accident, and in middle school, he lost his best friend who shot himself. That Fall, Charlie walks through the doors his first day of highschool, and he sees how all the people he used to talk to and hang out with treat him like he’s not there. While in English class, Mr. Anderson, Charlie’s English teacher, notices that Charlie knew the correct answer, but he did not want to speak up and let his voice be heard. As his first day went on, Charlie met two people that would change named Sam and Patrick who took Charlie in and helped him find himself. When his friends were leaving for college, they took one last ride together in the tunnel and played their favorite song. The movie ends with Charlie reading aloud his final letter to his friend, “This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story, you are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder, when you were listening to that song” (Chbosky). Ever since the first day, Charlie realized that his old friends and classmates conformed into the average high schooler and paid no attention to him. Sam and Patrick along with Mr. Anderson, changed his views on life and helped him come out of his shell. Charlie found a

Holden has been to three different boarding schools before he attended Pencey. At Pencey, Holden was rooming with Stradlater, who Holden thought lived his life as a secret slob and a moran. Stradlater and Holden do not see eye to eye on most things. One Saturday night, Stradlater had plans to go on a date with Holden’s friend Jane. Jane was very close to Holden and Holden knew that Stradlater would try and put the moves on her just like he does on every other girl. After the date, Holden and Stradlater are talking and Stradlater ignores his questions. Their conversation gets heated and it results in Holden cutting up his face and then exiting his room and entering Ackley’s. Ackley, who is asleep, gets woken up by Holden and Holden asks if he can spend the night in his room. As they both lied in their beds, Holden asks Ackley, “‘What’s the routine on joining a monastery?’”(Salinger 50). After Ackley gets mad for Holden asking questions, Holden changes his mind about the monastery, “Aah, go back to sleep. I’m not gonna join one anyway. The kind of luck I have, I’d probably join one with all the wrong kind of monks in it. All stupid bastards. Or just bastards.” (Salinger 50). Holden believes that the world is full of bad, crumby people even in the places that have good people. Holden wants to get away from people like