Recently, I finished reading the popular young adult novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, due to all of the hype about it on social media websites. This book, a #1 New York Times bestseller, is off-beat and at times dark, but has a dry, witty sense of humor and an intelligent execution. It tells the story of Charlie – a fifteen-turning-sixteen year old freshman (he missed a year of school after his aunt, Helen, died) – and how he attempts to overcome his social awkwardness, befriending an odd group of seniors in his school. Over the course of the year, he learns to open up and come out of his shell; to really feel like he's living in the moment. Simultaneously, he tries to figure out what's wrong with him – why he is the way he is. In his last letter to the unknown “friend”, it becomes clear that this book shows how the smaller moments in life – those times when you're riding in a car with your friends listening to music, or hanging out and drinking champagne, or even seeing a musical you've seen ten thousand times – those are the moments that help. Those are the moments that make you feel whole. Or, rather, infinite.
This is first significantly shown on page 38, when Charlie, Sam, and Patrick are in Sam's pickup truck on the way back from Bob's party. Sam stands up in the back of the truck when they go through the tunnel, and a song starts playing. Charlie says, “A beautiful song called 'Landslide'. When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” This shows that a moment of pure happiness, pure joy, can be stretched and elongated into something that will last with you for the rest of your life. What Charlie means when he says “infinite” is that he feels complete; that in this moment he is PRESENT. He is real, and he is there, and it's his friends and his life that are making him feel such unrestrained glee.
This theme then occurs on page 58, when Charlie explains how cynical his grandfather is and how much he drinks. However, he also talks about a point in time when his brother was driving his grandfather home, and how is grandfather began speaking softly about how much he loved his two daughters (Charlie's mother and aunt). He also talks about how his grandfather watched his brother make a touchdown in his college football game and, how he started quietly crying. This is extremely important, as it shows how in that one moment, the grandfather felt his efforts in raising Charlie's mother and Helen were not for nothing. He finally realized that nobody in his family was ever going to starve again, or work inhuman hours for a small pay, or every feel true sadness and despair at how their life was going. In that small moment of watching his grandson play football, he finally felt that his life was worthwhile.
The final appearance of this theme is on pages 160 and 161. Patrick, who has had a bad fight with his secret boyfriend Brad (due to Brad's father catching them kissing and subsequently beating Brad), takes Charlie out on the town, and the end up on a small hill, Patrick trying to keep the mood light. Then, Patrick kisses Charlie, and after Charlie says it's okay, he does it again. The scene plays out like this: “We didn't do anything other than kiss. And we didn't even do that for very long. After a while, his eyes lost the glazey numb look from the wine or the coffee or the fact that he stayed up the night before. Then, he started crying. Then, he started talking about Brad. And I just let him. Because that's what friends are for.” This shows that even the small act of letting someone kiss you, or just simply being there for them and listening to their story, can help the other person figure out how to work through their pain. This is what happens to Patrick, as he eventually gets over the sadness of his loss of Brad due to Charlie's sympathy.
In conclusion, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is an astounding book that completely absorbs the reader in Charlie's world; in the trials and tribulations of being socially awkward and alone. However, it also makes you feel triumphant in a way – even through all of this, Charlie manages to come out all right in the end, due to those small, intimate moments, where he truly feels alive. This starts when he first feels infinite on that truck drive, continues with his revelation about his grandfather, and concludes with his being there for Patrick. It's incredible, because this all comes to fruition in the end; when Charlie stands in the back of the pickup truck and listens to the song, as he fully realizes that he is THERE, and he is alive, and he can do anything. I feel this is an important lesson that people today need to learn; to really LIVE our lives, instead of watching them go by and only standing to the side as a mere supporting character. After reading this book, I think that everyone will want to go out and “participate”, just like Charlie.
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