Title: The perks of being a wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky Date of Publication: February 1, 1999
Publisher: MTV books
Summary: The book The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky begins with a letter by the main character who is Charlie to someone, explaining how he is glad that there are people like them in the world. He then goes on talking about his family and his friend Michael who committed suicide. After Michael committed suicide he was impacted very negatively because then he too wondered if he had family problems like him. He describes his mother as a lady who often goes to the cemetery, his father as very stern man, but that cried during an episode of MASH, his sister a girl who is mean to boys and lastly his brother who is a football player. Through his first days of high school he begins reading different books his teacher gives him. As he gains confidence in his teacher he admits to him that his sister’s boyfriend hit her. His teacher tells his parents and his sister is outrageously angry at him. Charlie makes two new friends which are Sam and Patrick. He learns they are both siblings and that Patrick is having relations with the schools quarterback, Brad. He explains how he spent thanksgiving with his mother’s side and Christmas with his father’s side. Charlie reveals a secret on why around Christmas he is always very sad. He blames himself for the death of his aunt Helen. On his 7th birthday she went out to buy him a second Birthday gift and died in a car crash.
Charlie tells about how the holidays are always the same with family fights. On Christmas day he attends Sam and Patrick’s party and they exchange their secret Santa’s. In this party Charlie also gets his first kiss by Sam. On New Year he attends another party where he decides to try a new drug called LSD and since then he’s been having weird allusions. On February 8th he explains how he has his first date with Mary Elizabeth who invited him to the Sadie Hawkins’ dance. He also participates in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show where he first caught Mary Elizabeth’s attention. Mary Elizabeth keeps calling Charlie every day after school and on all their dates all she does it talk. Patrick and Charlie begin spending more time together and they share many stories and secrets. During the end of the story Patrick, Sam and Mary Elizabeth graduate. Charlie ends his last letter by saying that he is getting better and starting to find himself. Also that he is glad that there is someone out there listening to him.
Quotation: “He’s a wallflower” (Chbosky 37).
Quotation context: I chose this quote not only because it is my favorite but the fact that it gives meaning to the title. As I began reading this book I didn’t fully understand what a wall flower was, until I reached page 37. This is when Charlie goes to his first party and sees Patrick and Brad messing around up stairs. Then when Patrick comes down stairs he makes a toast to Charlie and says “He’s a wallflower” (Chbosky 37). When Charlie asked why that was he said because “You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. ” (Chbosky 37). Patrick was referring to the fact that Charlie seen him and Brad but didn’t say anything to anyone. This helped me realize the type of character Charlie was. He was very humble and inexperienced with the older crowd. This quote also helped me realize that at the end of the book he had changed and grown. He was still a wallflower but much wiser and more experienced.
