...Courtney Vargas C. Abbott English 102 May 2, 2013 The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Which is better, the movie or book? Being nominated for awards from groups such as Toronto International Film Festival, Writers Guild of America for Best Adapted Screen Play, and Detroit Film Critics Society for Breakthrough Artist, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, and winning Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Film and Boston Society of Film Critics for Best Supporting Actor, it is no wonder that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is described as a “heartfelt and sincere adaptation that is bolstered by strong lead performances” (Rotten Tomatoes, 2012). Just as far as the movie goes, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story to remember. Stephen Chbosky is not only the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower book, but is also the director of the movie. Taking place in the early 1990s, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story of a teenager who is starting high school and his experiences through his freshman year. Charlie, the protagonist, is a loner entering high school and shortly after entering his school he essentially gets adopted into a group of smart, outcast seniors. His two best friends in the group Sam and Patrick, “seniors, stepsiblings, and self-defined misfit toys” (Chaney, 2012), give Charlie the time of his life his freshman year meeting new people through parties, football games, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and trying new things that most high school students...
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...During Stephen Chbosky film, ‘The perks of being a wallflower’ the theme belonging is represented throughout the entire movie, as the protagonist, Charlie faces issues with belonging at school, home and in general society, he just doesn't belong, he's soon become a wallflower. The term belonging is a state of being a member of a group or organisation. It is the sense of being a part of something, to be accepted, to be loved and cared for, to have the comfort and support of someone. Charlie struggles to fit into any particular group at school, he watches other people talk and socialise, but doesn't join in himself. Throughout this essay, i will demonstrate how, ‘the perk of being a wallflower’, illustrates the theme of belonging. ‘The perks...
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...novel loving fans will like, is a whole different story. The novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephan Chbosky, and the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, directed by Stephan Chbosky, follows the letters of an “outcast” teenage boy, Charlie, as he weaves his way through his first year of high school, from finding friends, to heartbreak, and all the way to dealing with the past. The plot of the novel is written very well, when it was transferred over to the movie though the director left out some key plot pieces like, Candice’s pregnancy and abortion, Sam’s heartbreak, and Charlie’s story of being hit by his father once. Each key piece if included would have added nicely to the overall theme representation. Character representation was also a factor that was done poorly in the movie, Charlie, the main character, was lacking depth and connection. The novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephan Chbosky, and the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, directed by Stephan Chbosky, have very similar ideas and topics but they differ from each other in pieces of the plot and character representation, which results in the movie version lacking depth and development of theme. Even though the novel will never be just like the movie and the director cannot keep every part of the book in the movie, certain pieces of the plot are necessary and in The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie this is true, many of essential plot pieces were missing, affecting...
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...The novels the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky are both coming of age novels. The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by sixteen year old Holden Caulfield. Holden is very judgemental, especially when it comes to people he has categorized as phony. The perk of being a wallflower is set in the 90s and is narrated by Charlie who is a freshman in high school. Charlie is quiet, keeps to himself, and does not enjoy being the center of attention. As most adolescents attempt to find their place in the world they often find mentors to help guide them through conflict. Both Holden and Charlie search for the meaning of their lives, go through conflict, and find someone to help guide them. Both novels are coming of age books because the main characters search for meaning in their life. Holden has trouble staying in one place for too long, for example he has been expelled from four schools. This is because he is constantly searching for his perfect world that has no phonies. While he is trying to find a place with no phonies or adults he says: I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. (Salinger 173) Holden is describing to his sister Phoebe...
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...The “Wallflower” on the Big Screen “…And in that moment, I swear, we were infinite.” When I knew that Stephen Chbosky’s moving and illustrious novel will have a movie adaptation, I was real skeptic about it. With the overly mainstream use of infamous books as a direction for Hollywood films this generation, and being an aficionado of the book itself, I hoped that The Perks of Being a Wallflower will be done justice. Or else, I’ll be shouting, “No, damn you, Hollywood. Is nothing sacred to you?,” like Ezra Miller did in his Jimmy Kimmel Live! guesting. After watching the movie though, my wish was granted, sort of. Perks as a movie did not fully lived up to its original published form, but it was still able to leave its audience with a tug at the heartstrings. The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells about Charlie (played by Logan Lerman), who enters his first year of high school while coping with the suicide of his only friend in middle school, Michael and is pretty much trying to “participate” with the rest of the world. He also writes to his “friend,” an unknown persona whom he describes as nice though they’ve never actually met. However, high school isn’t so kind to him. If not neglected, he gets bullied. Luckily, Charlie befriends his English teacher, Bill, who believes in Charlie’s talent in writing. Charlie also makes a friend out of seniors, Patrick (Ezra Miller), who he approaches first in a football game which is his attempt to overcome shyness...
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...The Perks of Being a Wallflower analysis The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the famous book written by Stephen Chbosky about the 15-year-old boy Charlie, who is both the main character and the narrator in the story. Charlie is writing a bunch of letters to his “friend” who we do not know but Charlie is telling this friend absolutely everything he experiences throughout his first year of high school. These experiences include both friends, love, family and death. As mentioned Charlie is a 15-year old boy who is just about to start high school. At first he seems to be confused about his feelings because he says on page 3 that; “I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.” He is also a strong person, even though he has a breakdown towards the end of the book, but he is still standing tall despite the fact that his best friend Michael shot himself and his Aunt Helen molested him as a child and died in a car accident. Charlie is a very observant person, he talks a lot about his family and his friends and how they are doing and that is what makes him a wallflower. Just like Patrick says to Charlie; “You see things and you understand. You’re a wallflower.” Charlie never says much but he sees things and he is aware of everyone’s feelings, like when he sees his sister’s boyfriend hitting her and then tells his teacher, Bill about it. He is also very sensitive and cries easily. He dreams about Sam naked and most boys would...
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...The perks of being a wallflower In these letters we learn about his family and friends. He begins his letters off by talking about his friend, Michael who has committed suicide. He describes how much he misses him, and about how he and this other girl, Susan, used to be best friends. However, things change, and she stops talking to Charlie after middle school. Then he goes on to describe his family. His family consists of himself, his mom, his father, his brother, and his sister. There are also the outspread relatives that they only see on holidays and his Aunt Helen. His Aunt Helen was his favorite person in the whole world. However, she got in a terrible car accident and passed away. His father is a very proud and strong man. He has an attitude of whatever he says goes. His mother is usually very quiet and lets her husband handle problems. She is a bit emotional, and loves her children very much. His brother is a freshman at Penn State University, and loves cars and models. He is now a football player at school and can only be part of Charlie's life at big events, like family events, holiday dinners, etc. As for his sister, she and Charlie never seem to really get along. She is a senior in high school and has a secret boyfriend throughout the novel. Her boyfriend becomes a secret due to an incident with her boyfriend hitting her and her parents finding out. They eventually breakup however, because she gets pregnant and he dumps her. She graduates second in her class. There...
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...Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower is, on the surface, a typical coming of age story about a boy going through the ordeals of high school and the trials he encounters, but it deviates from the norm with its introverted protagonist, Charlie. We follow Charlie’s journey as he navigates his first year of high school through a series of letters he writes to an unnamed friend. Stephen Hawking once stated that “Quiet people have the loudest minds,” and Chbosky’s Charlie proves this quote to be true. He spends more time thinking and observing his surrounding than actively participating with others. Charlie’s passive nature negatively impacts his life by preventing him from developing relationships and obtaining happiness. In a way,...
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...1. Dating: In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie deals with the conflict of having a crush on Sam, and trying to figure out how to deal with his crush. Charlie deals with the conflict of his emotions, but does not just want to fall in love with someone. This is evident in the novel when Charlie states, “It’s just that I don’t want to be somebody’s crush.” Conflicts: Dating In The Perks of Being a Wallflower all of Charlie’s friends are dating except for him. Patrick is dating Brad even though their relationship is secret and Sam is dating Craig. Charlie really doesn’t like the fact that Sam is dating Craig because he doesn’t think Craig is the right person for Sam. “I want Sam to stop liking Craig…It’s just that Craig doesn’t really listen to her when she talks. I don’t mean that he’s a bad guy because he’s not.” (48). It seems as if Charlie wants what is best for Sam however he may be pointing out Craig’s flaws only because he’s in love with Sam and wants her to date him. Friendship Friendship is something that has been difficult but means a lot to Charlie, ever since his best friend Michael committed suicide. “And I think it’s sad because Susa ndoesn’t look as happy. To tell you the truth, she doesn’t like to admit she’s in advanced English class, and she doesn’t like to say ‘hi’ to me in the hall anymore.” (7). Charlie notices a lot about Susan during his first couple of days of school because she is one of the only people he knows. Charlie seems lonely in the...
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...The Perks of Being a Wallflower As teens or young adults you are still trying to figure out who you are and what you have to offer the world. There is so much pressure around teen’s every day of their lives. They do not know what is the right or the wrong choice, but certain influences and relationships help determine the choices they make. They need guidance and someone they can talk to, like a non-parental adult. This is an adult who wants to make a difference in the life of teens, and is someone they can rely on for support. Non-parental adults can come from many different socially-defined contexts: Teachers, coaches, or extended family. These adults play a tremendous role in teens lives’, which is exemplified well in Bill, a male adult character in Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Chbosky, Stephen: Pocket Books UK, 2009) is a novel set sometime in the late 1990s, and focuses on the life of a fifteen year old boy, Charlie. He is a high school freshman, who is painfully shy, but also a very raw, real, vulnerable, and honest character. Throughout the book you see Charlie develop many different relationships. In fact, Charlie finds himself battling some moments of depression and he might not have found his way out without those relationships. An example of a non-parental adult that really impacts Charlie throughout his first year in school would be his English teacher, Bill. Bill recognizes Charlie’s intelligence and writing...
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...The perks of being a wallflower ”The perks of being a wallflower” is a novel written by Stephen Chbosky. It is the first of his novels and it was published in 1999. It contains 231 pages of adolescent fiction about teenagers and their encounters within school, sexuality, violence, parties and much more. This report starts with a summary of the book, descriptively introducing the prime characters and setting while leading to the conclusion At first, we’re introduced to Charlie the protagonist, who seems to be a rather smart, yet troubled boy. He’s 15 years of age and a recently freshman in High School. The novel is written in letters, starting with Charlie sending out letters to an anonymous receiver, while only giving his first name, to also remain unknown. Charlie doesn’t have many friends, considerably due to his major intellect compared to the other kids. He had a friend named Michael, who unfortunately killed himself for a reason Charlie didn’t know. He actually wondered a lot how Michael could avoid talking to him about his problem, which surely must’ve had a huge impact on his mental state of mind. Charlie and Michael used to do sports together, just to have something to do, not because they urged to, but because there wasn’t much for them elsewhere. Now, Charlie is pretty much alone and as for girls, Charlie doesn’t really know how to communicate with them either. The first person for Charlie to really talk to is a senior named Patrick who people calls “Nothing”....
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...In the past year I have enjoyed reading the Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I originally picked the series because I love the fantasy and science fiction genre. Fantasy and science fiction novels give me the ability to teleport inside another world. This series will always have a special place in my heart because I found my "book double", as I like to call it. A book double is a character that you see yourself in; they are a character you can live vicariously through. Tessa from the Infernal Devices is my book double because she is driven, intelligent, independent, loves reading, and does not follow social norms. The Infernal Devices is set in England during the late-1800's. In the beginning of the first book Tessa discovers that...
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...How are male and female relationships represented in The perks of being a Wallflower and The great Gatsby? In both of these books the leading female roles play the damsel in distress, there are a lot of influences on why this happens, all of which become apparent throughout the novels. Beginning with The perks of being a Wallflower, Sam who is the leading female character is dependent on her current boyfriend Craig. Daisy, the lead female character in The Great Gatsby is in a similar situation in which she is besotted with Tom. In both of these novels and in most stories in which male and female relationships are the main focus, the woman tends to pick the man who treats her badly as opposed to the hero. In The perks of being a Wallflower Sam stays with Craig because she thinks that she is in love with him and that he feels the same, the reality is quite different. Charlie the main male character notices that this is not the case. “He would think that the reason the photograph was beautiful was because of how he took it, I would know the only reason it was beautiful was because of Sam” Charlie does not refer to Craig by his name, he calls him ‘He’ this shows how he dislikes Craig because he doesn’t like to say his name. It also shows the opposites, Charlie is younger than Sam so he is quite innocently viewing the situation and thinking how Craig is treating Sam badly by doing this whereas Craig is older than Sam and more mature, he sees his work as something to be proud of...
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...“Everyone’s identity develops over time with the life changes they choose or have forced upon them.” This is evident through the characters of Paul Crabbe and Charlie Kelmeckis in Peter Goldsworthy’s 1989 novel ‘Maestro’ and the 2012 film ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. Paul is the narrator and protagonist of Maestro while Charlie is the narrator and protagonist of Perks. Both the book and the novel are written as memoir, or in Charlie’s case letters, and focus on the protagonist’s transition from youth to adulthood. The Identity of Paul is constantly developing throughout the novel, as new experiences unfold throughout his life. One example of this is the death of Keller and Paul’s responsibility for it. Paul feels responsible for Keller’s death due to his insensitivity towards Keller’s fondness for him. This is proven through...
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...areas: intrusion, numbing, avoidance, and arousal (Barnett & Conway, 2012). The individual may feel impulsivity, aggression, alcohol/drug use, and dissociations as a result of the disease. This paper will summarize how the movie, “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” depicts the life of Charlie, a teenager who suffers from PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder can stem from any traumatic event such as, sexual abuse, witnessing violence, critical life-threatening illnesses. PTSD is characterized...
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