WRITER 82

Above is an image, which I feel is representative of Charlie’s life in Chbosky’s “The Perks of being a Wallflower.” The image is of a little boy who looks somewhat lonely. Also, the boy looks like he’s thinking about something. I think this image is closely linked to Charlie’s life for a couple of reasons.

First of all, Charlie appears to be doing as much as he can to avoid being alone. This is something that Charlie makes clear after his sister tells him that he can’t watch a movie with her and her boyfriend. “I knew she wanted to be alone with Erik, but I really wanted to have some company” ( Chbosky, 148). Charlie, for various reasons, struggles with loneliness throughout the story.

Second, the fact that the boy appears to be thinking is representative of Charlie who rarely quits thinking. In fact, Charlie thinks so much that he describes his mind as playing “hopscotch” (Chbosky, 98) at times.

Finally, the picture connects to Charlie because it symbolizes the childlike aspect of his personality. Charlie, although he’s depicted as an intelligent individual, appears to have emotions more typically found in younger children. A passage in “The Perks of being a Wallflower” that depicts Charlie through a childlike light is when he says, “I felt so sad. I didn’t know what was going on. Mom was trying to be really nice because when I get like this, she is the one that tries real hard to keep things calm” (Chbosky, 77-78).

In all, I feel as though this image of the lonely child is representative of the childlike vulnerability that affects so much of Charlie’s life in the story.

The following sites are ones that offer information about loneliness and advice for dealing with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loneliness

http://www.webofloneliness.com/

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/loneliness.html