“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

By: Stephen Chbosky

Response By: Christine Glidden

Life is like a puzzle. There are smooth pieces that represent the easy times in life and there are rugged pieces that reflect the difficult aspects of life. There are times in life, when you can’t put the pieces together because you question who you are. Everyone is incomparable; some have more rugged edges than others because of scarring events or where they came from. “We can’t choose where we come from, but we can choose where we go from there.” Stephen Chbosky portrays his artistic perspective on life, through the novel “Perks of Being A Wallflower” to open the eyes of young readers to understand the components of life that make up personal identity through realistic fiction.

Chbosky uses the emotional appeal “pathos” to show the eminent view of pain and its influence on a person’s life. Through Charlie, the main character, Chbosky displays a ray of events that affected his interactions with people. Uniquely, Chbosky portrays Charlie’s lack of confidence through personal journal entries. This stylistic choice is very exclusive to the novel. For example Charlie writes,“ Please don’t try to figure out who I am, and I really don’t want you to do that.” By using this journalistic setup, the reader is able to understand the mechanics of Charlie’s paranoia and personal emotions.“ This evokes a reoccurring theme of Charlie’s loss of identity. Through his journals, he finally is able to feel that he is worthy again and isn’t alone in life.For instance,” So, if this does end up being my last letter, please believe me that things are good with me, and even when they’re not not, they will be soon enough.” Charlie begins to finally question, experiment and discover the components of life that are not easily shown on the surface. Charlie was faced with scarring events such as his best friend killing himself and his Aunt Helen sexually molesting him at a young age. Through the journal entries, Charlie is able to establish his identity through recognizing these events, but not letting theme define who he is. 

The novel does contain frequent references to gloomy events, but it makes many positive events heartwarming causing the juxtaposition effect. Chbosky  changes the tone of the novel from gloomy to blissful to show how someone’s life can be both happy and sad. The change of tone also plays a role in the theme. Charlie’s struggle with “loss” allows him to discover himself. Chbosky says,“ Things Change. and Friends Leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.” This quote is fitting because Charlie’s style of writing becomes more mature as the novel goes on. Charlie’s attitude not only changes from beginning to end, but also his sophisticated approach towards life is changed through writing.Adversely, Chbosky’s strength is his ability to unwind specific details regarding Charlie, and to eventually make all the puzzle pieces come together.

In order to separate the negative events from the positive, the author uses dynamic characters. By using a dynamic character like Charlie, the author is able to change him in the course of the story. He uses situational irony to contradict the event that is expected. The plot of the story, leads the audience to expect a particular resolution, but instead a different perspective is presented. For example Charlie loses all of his friends based off of one untrustworthy act. This was a minor setback for Charlie’s life, but after apologizing after several weeks, he recognized the importance of friends that he would never take for granted ever again. Based on the events that occurred in Charlie’s life, one can infer that the ending would be negative, but that was not the case. Incidentally, Charlie realized that loss is a part of life, but it doesn’t define your life.

Chbosky uses stylistic choices to portray various themes throughout the novel. These themes are depicted through emotional journal entries, tone shifts and plot development. Chbosky influences teenagers to look beyond the surface and establish themselves.

Although some critics may respond to the book as intermittent and boring, the novel validates a teenager’s questioning on a day to day basis. The novel acts as a scope for not only Charlie, but the reader to discover his or her identity through personal doubt. Once  you know what you are not, you can discover what you are.“ The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” portrays an unforgettable message that will touch young teenagers forever.