Perks of Being a Wallflower is often referred to a “coming-of-age” novel and seems to cover all tribulations and complications that every teenager faces, but are all these themes discussed in the novel actually normal for a teenager to go through? Death, depression and sexual abuse are not uncommon occurrences in society, but they are lot to endure all at once. Charlie goes through or is affected by all of these things throughout the entirety of the text. The death of his aunt and friend, and the history of sexual abuse in the lives around him both had a massive effect on Charlie and his mental health, and were paramount in the development of his depression and sculpting who he is today.
At the start of the novel, within the first letter, the …show more content…
Charlie’s depression often made him feel like he was weird and unable to live a normal life. He could not always connect with his feelings, which made it hard for him to concentrate and clear his mind. Eventually, after things started getting even worse for him, Charlie went back to seeing a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist made him talk about difficult things and attempted to help him work through them, but often it just resulted in Charlie overthinking things and stressing out. Throughout the text Charlies mental states deteriorates, his thoughts are become darker and more concerning, his actions become unnecessarily risky. With everything going on, his overthinking, Sam leaving, and the emerging memories of childhood, he cannot handle it physically or mentally anymore. He shuts down and breaks down, and everything just crumbles around him. Depression has had a massive impact on Charlie’s life, and it continues to even after he starts to recover, it really is one of those things that will stay with a person …show more content…
About 10-20% of people experience sexual abuse in their life, but that does not mean that is a normal thing to ever have to go through. The way people deal with it varies, and future relationships are always affected by it. Sam was abused by her father’s friend when she was a child, then in high school she dealt with it by sleeping around and using sex to get over it. She gained the ability to function and to have relationships that were normal for the most part, her emotions rarely getting in the way. Because of her past she is a lot more sensitive about the issue, and is very understanding when Charlie cannot go further with her. Aunt Helen dealt with her issues differently, after being sexually abused by someone close to her family, she goes on to be in relationships with people who do the same thing kind of things to her. She gets involved with drugs and drinks a lot, she also spends a lot of time in hospital. But sometimes victims go on to become abusers themselves, this is what Aunt Helen did to Charlie. Charlie is a victim of sexual abuse as well, molested by his aunt. He did not actually deal with his problem instead he repressed the memory almost completely, to the point he could not handle anymore. This is probably the biggest reason as to why Charlie has such a huge breakdown in the end of the book. It is not always easy to see that Charlie is also victim, but there are
At the start of the novel, within the first letter, the …show more content…
Charlie’s depression often made him feel like he was weird and unable to live a normal life. He could not always connect with his feelings, which made it hard for him to concentrate and clear his mind. Eventually, after things started getting even worse for him, Charlie went back to seeing a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist made him talk about difficult things and attempted to help him work through them, but often it just resulted in Charlie overthinking things and stressing out. Throughout the text Charlies mental states deteriorates, his thoughts are become darker and more concerning, his actions become unnecessarily risky. With everything going on, his overthinking, Sam leaving, and the emerging memories of childhood, he cannot handle it physically or mentally anymore. He shuts down and breaks down, and everything just crumbles around him. Depression has had a massive impact on Charlie’s life, and it continues to even after he starts to recover, it really is one of those things that will stay with a person …show more content…
About 10-20% of people experience sexual abuse in their life, but that does not mean that is a normal thing to ever have to go through. The way people deal with it varies, and future relationships are always affected by it. Sam was abused by her father’s friend when she was a child, then in high school she dealt with it by sleeping around and using sex to get over it. She gained the ability to function and to have relationships that were normal for the most part, her emotions rarely getting in the way. Because of her past she is a lot more sensitive about the issue, and is very understanding when Charlie cannot go further with her. Aunt Helen dealt with her issues differently, after being sexually abused by someone close to her family, she goes on to be in relationships with people who do the same thing kind of things to her. She gets involved with drugs and drinks a lot, she also spends a lot of time in hospital. But sometimes victims go on to become abusers themselves, this is what Aunt Helen did to Charlie. Charlie is a victim of sexual abuse as well, molested by his aunt. He did not actually deal with his problem instead he repressed the memory almost completely, to the point he could not handle anymore. This is probably the biggest reason as to why Charlie has such a huge breakdown in the end of the book. It is not always easy to see that Charlie is also victim, but there are