Niya Cephas-Perks of Being a Wallflower

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I can honestly say that my initial reaction to this book and the overall hype of it and the movie was completely incorrect. People around me and the things I read on social media really glazed over the fact that this was an extremely heavy book. The reason I didn't want to read this book back in high school was simply because most of my friends would describe it as "a book about love and betrayal and finding one's self". But now that I read it, it was obviously 10001+ themes than just those overused ones. The book dealt with extreme social interactions such as domestic violence, gay bashing, rape, drug/alcohol abuse, etc. Some if not all I would say are social interactions that adolescence may deal with as they are developing. 

I feel as though Charlie being labeled as a wallflower has a deeper meaning to it. Throughout the book we see as Charlie is held accountable for the secrets of the people around him, i.e; Patrick & Brad kissing at the party, Charlies father crying over a movie, his sister's boyfriend hitting her, and so on and so forth. Although Charlie doesn't reveal anyone's secrets I feel as though why he doesn't is simply because he was sort of raised like that. His mother being extremely voiceless and only stating her opinion when need be. His father being the head of the household voicing his opinion because he has to but not commenting on anything else. So as a result Charlie gained these submissive tendencies without even realizing it. Not only being raised to keep quiet but I can see how him being molested by his aunt Helen at a young age just added on to his developmental issues and emotional disorders. He grew up not resenting his aunt but he idolized her and remembered her as one of the best people in his life. I do wonder a little bit why he suppressed those memories until doing something sexual with Sam although throughout the book he encountered many sexual acts. But I guess one would argue back that what happened with Sam was basically the same thing his aunt was doing and that caused him to have that traumatic flashback. 

All in all this book was pretty good and not what I expected it to be. I do have some questions that I didn't seem to answer myself throughout the read. Charlies experience with his aunt, did he not realize the violation and only saw it as an expression of platonic love? Because throughout the book we saw as he willingly submitted to whatever the other wanted to do with him for the sake of developing a relationship. And did that ultimately shape his view of relationships by defining them through the extreme intimacy and choosing to ignore his own desires just to please the other? I apologize if my wording didn't make sense but over all this book made me think and question topics that I have never questioned before. Oh and another thing I will ask is I know this book was written to relate to YA who may experience these things however the events that took place in these books and the timing seemed a little off. Like the way Chbosky packed all these traumatic events into 9 months made it feel a little unrealistic.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2016 at 2:33 PM

    You have a very deep understanding of this novel. It was definitely heavy, holding a lot of emotional traits that not every adolescent experiences. It takes us to a deeper emotional state because we, at least we as by the majority, cannot relate to everything that happens within these nine months. It does almost seem unrealistic because it draws a bit of every issue an adult may see in an adolescent. There are a vast ocean of themes that this book holds and I would love to see you delve into them - your thought processes and writing captivates me.
    I didn't consider the perspective of his "wallflower" personality being passed on to him as traits from his parents, but it does hold power in the novel. Charlie was an extremely submissive character, and he did let much more happen to him than he should have allowed. Great blog.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 15, 2016 at 4:28 PM

    Niya, I agree with you completely as to why Charlie was labeled as a wallflower. In my post I also talked about how he had to deal with the pressure of all the secrets people expected him to keep, while being mentally destroyed in a way on the inside from what happened while he was little. My question to you is do you think that there are perks to being a wallflower after reading the book? In addition, I would have to disagree with you when you say that Chbosky having all the events happen in such a short amount of time is unrealistic. In my opinion, depending where and how you grow up, life can really come at an YA that fast. Especially once you get to high school. I think Chbosky wanted to portray to YA readers how in high school life just comes at you really fast and you're exposed to a lot of new things; which I feel is true.

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  3. UnknownSeptember 16, 2016 at 8:50 AM

    I like the way that you relate Charlie as the wallflower and Charlie as the secret keeper. It's as though one begets the other. But I believe it also shows Charlie as being trustworthy to the other characters and that allows them to open up to him whereas they might not feel as open with others.

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  4. UnknownSeptember 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM

    I love your idea about how Charlie may have learned his submissive behaviors from his parents. I tend to examine personality formation as largely influenced by our environments, so I think it's interesting how that you pointed that out.

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  5. UnknownSeptember 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM

    I love your idea about how Charlie may have learned his submissive behaviors from his parents. I tend to examine personality formation as largely influenced by our environments, so I think it's interesting how that you pointed that out.

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  6. Lucy McElroySeptember 16, 2016 at 2:35 PM

    I agree with you, when I heard people talking about the movie before I'd ever seen it, I thought it was just going to be another one of those sappy love stories. As soon as I started reading the book, I realized that Charlie had some sort of traumatic experience because he was so distressed around intimate situations. It's a lot deeper than it's generally thought to be. I think he repressed those memories of being molested BECAUSE of what you said, that he'd always been taught to keep a secret. He's been taught to internalize everything.

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