Stephen Chbosky Case
Essay Preview: Stephen Chbosky Case
Report this essay
​Recently, I read the story “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, by Stephen Chbosky. This was a young adult story, and an Epistolatory story. It is a young adult story because it is written to relate to teenagers and young adults. It is an Epistolatory story because it is written in the form of letters from the main character. The story is about a boy named Charlie. He is in his freshman year of high school, and he is the wallflower of the story. He is very shy and unpopular. The story is about how Charlie grows as a person and is able to overcome his place as the wallflower of the story.
​This story takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It takes place in different places, such as school, his home, and with his friends. The setting as a whole is a suburb. The settings affect the main character because it is hard for him to adapt. He gets bullied in school, and he is too shy to talk to anybody outside of school. The settings make it hard for Charlie, the main character, to open up to anybody. This might be why he is writing to a complete stranger the entire story.
​There are several major characters in this story. Charlie is the main character, and the other major characters in the story are his friends Sam, Patrick, his girlfriend Mary Elizabeth, his English teacher Bill, his best friend Michael, and his Aunt Helen, both who died. Charlie is a wallflower. A wallflower is a very shy person, who does not open up to anyone. This usually makes them unpopular since people think they are weird, which is what happens with Charlie. Charlie is also very intelligent. He is always thinking about what is happening in his life, or in life in general. He has many different plans for his future, but does not really work at them. Although he has many different thoughts, not many people would understand them, and he does not want to share them with people. Patrick is a senior in high school, and Sams step-brother. He is the first person Charlie has the courage to talk to in school, and Patrick introduces Charlie to Sam. Sam is the girl that Charlie likes, but he does not tell her his feelings for a while. It turns out that Sam likes him back. Mary Elizabeth becomes Charlies girlfriend, but he does not like the relationship because it is very one-sided. That, and he does not like her as much. Bill is Charlies English teacher. Bill becomes a friend to Charlie by encouraging him to keep writing, and by helping with his personal problems like his sister being abused by her boyfriend. Michael was Charlies best friend who committed suicide. In the beginning of the book, Charlie is struggling with his fear of going to high school alone since Michael was his only friend. Aunt Helen was Charlies favorite family member. He loved her so much that he blamed himself for her death, and even tried to hide his pain of being molested by her. These characters all help Charlie by the end of the story, and teach him what to and what not to do with his pain. My favorite character was Charlie because of his strength. He has been to so much mentally and even physically, that he might have committed suicide like his friend Michael did, but he learns to get past his pain and become a strong young man.
​The plot of the story is about Charlie entering high school and having to deal with being a wallflower. Charlie is very scared to enter high school after his only friend, Michael, committed suicide. He is also haunted by the memories of being molested by his Aunt Helen, who died on his birthday. Charlie blames himself for her death, even though it was not his fault. Charlie becomes friends with Patrick, and his step-sister Sam. He also finds a good friend in his English teacher, Bill. Bill sees Charlies intelligence and wants