This novel is a collection of personal letters from a boy named Charlie to an anonymous person. Charlie is fifteen, and is a freshman in high school. In these letters he describes everything that happens to him: all of his first times, the complicated journeys of his friends Sam and Patrick, his love to Sam and his greatest hobby – observing other people’s lives.
The language is kept fairly simple, which makes it possible for everyone to understand the most difficult thing in this world: teenagers; A.V. Club says that it is because “The Perks of Being a Wallflower speaks to the growing-up experience not only smartly but also with a true-to-teendom emotional flair” (Eakin, 2012). Charlie talks about many things, depicts his biggest fears, the times he tried drugs, got drunk and was insanely happy. His life is filled with quite a few various symbolical places and moments: this essay is meant to tell about some of them.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays a huge part in Charlies life. For many, it is not just a show, it’s a way of life, something that gives a peculiar sensation of freedom and unity. For Charlie in particular, this movie becomes a link to the hefty majority of happy moments: he got to perform Rocky, be on stage with Sam, wear a feather boa and be a genuine part of something special, all of it reflected in his single phrase: “I had the best time I ever had in my whole life.” (Chbosky, 1999, p. 62).
Other two major things for Charlie are books and music. The thing is, Charlie is who he is – a wallflower; he mostly observes life and rarely understands how to take part in it or relate to people with their own perceptions. A user of The Guardian beautifully described it in her review: [Charlie is] Stuck in the middle of trying to live life and to run away from it” (2013).
Thus, he takes books as maps, and each book is a new experience, new characters to relate to, new things to think on. He even has a “personal” teacher at school that helps him to learn how to read properly and how to make sense of his feelings and of those everyday things this boy encounters.
Same goes for music – every song is special, every separate melody is a symbol of something peculiar in his life, and just like Charlie lives through his days, he lives through every song. Charlie needs to learn how to separate things, filter information that comes to him and to figure out the real feelings his mind generates: both books and music help him to achieve this.
The only symbol that truly stands out among the other ones is the tunnel. Which is pretty interesting, since Charlie himself thinks this way. He takes quite a lot of time analyzing moments he has had in the Fort Pitt Tunnel, through which he goes three times: once on his own, and the other two with his best friends Patrick and Sam.
For Charlie, this tunnel is practically a passage to magic, a personal way to feel life, and, most importantly, feel his own presence in it. Among the other things, tunnel also serves as a symbol of growing up, coming through the childhood right into the adolescence.
In his last letter Charlie describes how he feels, and the progress he has made is very clear in these words: “It was me standing up in that tunnel with the wind over my face. Not caring if I saw downtown. Not even thinking about it. Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite” (Chbosky, 1999, p. 120).
After all, Charlie has finally learned to appreciate life and realized that he is a part of it.
References
Chbosky, S. (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster Inc.
Eakin, M. (2012). How does the The Perks Of Being A Wallflower hold up to adult eyes? A.V. Club. Retrieved from: http://www.avclub.com/article/how-does-the-ithe-perks-of-being-a-wallfloweri-hol-85228
User ThePinkElephant. (2013). The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky –review. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/jul/22/perks-being-wallflower-stephen-chbosky-review
