Book Analysis of 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'

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Recommended: Coming of age themes in literature

In the year of 1991 on the 25th of August, a soon-to-be freshman high school student begins to write and mail letters to an unidentified being whom the student only refers to as ‘Friend’. The writer calls himself ‘Charlie’, replacing the names of the people in his life with fake ones, and while nothing is clear on who he really is and whom he is writing to, through these letters Charlie ends up pouring out all of his heart, mind and soul into his in-depth journal entry-like letters. Starting off high school as an outcast, Charlie is a complete outsider with only his advanced-English teacher Bill as a friend, but things slowly start to spin around for him as two extraordinarily different seniors known as Sam and Patrick enter his life and take Charlie under their wing. Strange yet exciting new experiences such as drugs, first dates, abuse, family drama, and friends fly into Charlie’s life as he begins to discover more about himself, the world, his past and the art of growing up itself. Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a rich, fulfilling experience in itself that defines what it is like to be an introverted teenager in the 90’s.

RETELL:

What is the main theme of the story?
What is the genre of this book?

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is an epistolary novel (a book composed of a series of documents usually in the form of letters or diary/journal entries), and I believe that it is a perfect example of a ‘coming-of-age’ book.

The story starts off with 15-year-old Charlie writing to his Friend about how scared he is about high school, and has quite a negative, frightening image of it most likely due to the fact that his only best friend Michael had committed suicide not too long ago. At this point, it is...

... middle of paper ...

...into the character development of a character.) In a nutshell, Charlie used to be an introverted, shy, inexperienced guy afraid to acknowledge the darker periods of his life, but after experiencing the wondrous events thrown at him, he begins to loosen and open up and accept every part of himself, acknowledging that no matter what happens he will and should be okay. *NOTE: LOOK BACK AT RETELL*

CONCLUSION:

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” simply put was a novel about growing up, yet really, the book had so many hidden messages, conceptions and ideas that really changed my perspective on certain areas in life. I was able to relate and reflect on the book, and the story itself is one I will never forget. I would recommend this book to maybe a slightly older audience than our grade, and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a novel I will definitely be reading again.

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