The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is Stephen Chbosky’s first novel and was published in 1999. It is young adult fiction and a coming-of-age tale told from the perspective of Charlie, a freshman in high school. The epistolary novel is comprised of a series of letters that Charlie writes to someone he calls “friend,” although he has never met this friend in person. He makes it immediately clear that he wants to remain anonymous with this “friend,” which is why he claims to use generic names throughout the letters and never gives the recipient a return address. In this way, the novel functions like diary entries, chronicling the thoughts, feelings, and events in Charlie’s life.

Charlie sends the first letter during the summer before his freshmen year of high school. Among other things, his close friend’s suicide is what prompts him to write the letter because he needs someone to simply listen to him and understand what he’s going through. The last letter is sent during the summer after his freshmen year. In this way, the story’s timeline is linear and spans the course of a year in Charlie’s life. While Charlie navigates adolescence over the course of the year, his character appears static.

Throughout the course of the novel he remains a perpetual observer rather than an active participant in his own life, allowing the people around him to take control. This can be seen when Patrick, one of Charlie’s best friends, kisses Charlie. Charlie is not romantically interested in Patrick but lets him because Charlie thinks that’s what a good friend would do. This passiveness is also demonstrated when Charlie ends up dating Mary Elizabeth despite not wanting to, simply because she asked him out. By the end of the novel, the catalyst for Charlie’s behavior is revealed: his aunt Helen sexually molested him when he was younger. While Charlie had repressed this memory for most of his life, the trauma of feeling helpless as a child subconsciously impacted his reactions to the situations in his life ever since.

While the letter send with the revelation of Charlie’s sexual abuse as a child, the novel mainly focuses on the thoughts, feelings, and interactions that happen during his first year of high school. The novel opens with Charlie’s reaction to his best friend’s unexpected suicide. During this time, Charlie sees the school counselor and reveals that he has no idea why Michael killed himself since he seemed like a happy, normal kid. This inability to distinguish between happiness and sadness is a constant theme for Charlie throughout his relationships and experiences. He quickly becomes friends with two seniors, Sam and Patrick, and they introduce him to the adult experiences that move him from childhood toward adulthood. Much of the novel revolves around Charlie finding his identity through his friends and navigating the emotional ramifications of his childhood abuse.