The story the Perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky tells us about the life of a boy named Charlie through letters written by him to an anonymous person. It takes place in Charlie’s town and Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids have to face in high school - how to make friends, family tensions, experimenting with drugs, a first relationship - but he also has to deal with his best friend's recent suicide.
At the end of the story, Charlie suffers a breakdown due to the fears of all his friends leaving for college. He is found by his parents in the living room, watching the television, which wasn’t even on. His parents talk to him and try to get his attention. His father even slaps him to try to get him to notice them. This is unusual because his father had horrible experiences when beaten by his stepfather and never hits. However no matter what they do, Charlie neither moves nor acknowledges anyone. He is sent to the hospital for two months and once he is released he feels much better. He gets help and
Since the story is mainly about Charlie’s experiences and not of the form of a traditional story there is no main conflict. However one major thing wrong with Charlie is that he is easily influenced and isn’t himself a lot of the time. He tries to do only what he thinks or knows people want him to do instead of what he wants. He thinks that he is helping people feel better and is being a good friend.This isn’t the case however; Charlie is just being dishonest with his friends by not being himself and doing things for him instead of for others. For instance although Sam has feelings for Charlie too, she feels that she can’t be with him. She feels that he acts like a shoulder to cry on but sometimes she needs someone to hug her and tell her its ok. She feels that instead of just listening, he needs to do things based on the way he feels.
After reading the story you end up liking the main character Charlie, very much. He is very honest which causes problems for him later on. He admits to Sam the day after he meets her that
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