Don't you want somebody to love..

On the night that Charlie and his friends get together to exchange their Secret Santa gifts and regular Christmas presents, Charlie gets his first real kiss. The thing is, it comes from Sam and it adds to the idea that for only the third time since his aunt Helen died, someone said “I love you”; the last two times where his mother, so those don’t even really count.
The whole kiss is set up by a revealing story from Sam that makes the meaning of the kiss all the more important. Charlie learns from Sam that her first real kiss came from an adult male- a friend of her uncle. It was a forced kiss and it was more like a molesting kiss than anything else. The idea is disturbing enough that Sam can’t help but cry while she tells the story which starts Charlie crying as well. In the end, Sam decides that she needs to kiss Charlie. He has never been kissed by a girl and Sam wants to make sure that if you are going to receive your first, most memorable kiss, one you will never forget, it should not be forced, it should not be scary; it should be from someone you love and who loves you.
She asks Charlie to forget about her ‘boyfriend; Craig for just a minute and that they can’t ever “be together like that” and she kisses Charlie.
Just the thought that someone cares enough about him and his future and how the wrong experiences early in life can shape you entire future is a Christmas present enough for Charlie that in the end, no material gift could have even been better.

Thanksgiving and Football

Anyone that has an extended family knows what holidays can be like, and Charlie’s are no different. The constant bickering that starts after the drinking is what eventually becomes a major war. Leading the battle is Charlie’s grandfather, his mother’s father, who is very bitter and usually outspoken. Charlie talks about Thanksgivings of the past where the arguing was the worst and people insulted each other until it was time to go home.
This Thanksgiving ends up being the best one yet and it all seems to come together due to the fact that Charlie’s brother is not able to be home for dinner with the family. Instead, he is in his college’s annual football game and with that game taped, Charlie’s family makes the best of not having their oldest son around.
Ironically, the idea of someone missing from the family gathering actually brings the family closer together. During the replaying of the game, everyone, his grandfather included, sit around the TV and cheer on their family member. No one says a bad thing. Most people are smiling.
In the end, when everyone is sitting around the table talking about what they are ‘thankful for’; Charlie says the football game because everyone was quiet and no one fought. His Aunt Helen adds an “Amen” to it and it seems to make everyone realize that by fighting all these years, they have missed out on the joys they have now as a family. It took the youngest member of the group to point it out to the rest of the family.

Perks of Being a Wallflower Video Montage

When are the glory days?

Charlie’s brother is a major college football player. He clearly will have what Charlie describes as “glory days”, those times where he will look back at his football playing an be able to recall times what are worthy of stories.
Charlie’s dad played college and high school baseball and he has “glory days” and he tells about his homerun ball in his high school state tournament game back when he was a sophomore. The best part about it is that he never has to exaggerate to make the story glorious; he just has to tell it.
When Charlie looks at he dad’s yearbook photograph, he sees a person who is happy and secure as well as rugged and satisfied. He wonders if he will have glory days and then realizes that he may actually be living them right now. If that is true, then he is happy about it, but sad too that they are not a glorious as his dad’s stories.
He does however think that one day, his own kids will look at his yearbook photo and think that he was much happier then than they ever will be, but he promises himself that he will tell them that they are in their glory days and are as happy now as he was in those photos. Your glory days are what you make of them.

Looking for love in all the wrong places

It’s been no secret that Charlie likes Sam in a way that goes beyond friendship even though she has told him that they could never be a ‘couple’. That makes it even harder for Charlie as he begins to mature and truly feel the pains of wanting Sam in his life as more than just a friend. Before Thanksgiving, Sam begins to see a guy named Craig who is much older than him and even older than Sam. Charlie thinks the guy must be 21 because he drinks a lot. Charlie explains that Sam met Craig while playing in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and that Craig is actually a nice guy, but different. In a bit of selfish regret, Charlie wishes that Sam would break up with Craig but it’s hard to tell if it s because he is falling in love with her or because he wants to protect her. This idea comes from the one description of Craig that makes Charlie not like him: Craig’s sense of what love and beauty are.
Craig takes pictures and he is really good at it. But when he takes pictures of Sam, he never sees that the pictures are beautiful because Sam is in them, he sees them as beautiful because he took them. He thinks that it so the wrong kind of love that Craig expresses and that Sam misinterprets, but he doesn’t want to butt in. Instead, he hopes that one day he can take a picture of Sam to show her how beautiful she is regardless of how the picture comes out. By the end of the entry, Charlie realizes, through a conversation with his sister, that love has a way of making people blind. His sister secretly dates a guy that their father disapproves of because he has a temper and hit her, but she continues to overlook that and sees the guy anyway. In the end, Charlie sort of understands, but overall, he finds that because of their situations, he cares about each of them even more.

You really are..

In early November, Charlie explains the whole idea behind the relationship between his friend Patrick and the football team quarterback, Brad. The story in itself is really simple, Patrick always liked Brad and Brad, who has a reputation for being a tough football player secretly, had feelings for Patrick but didn’t show them to keep up his image.
After several parties, where Brad would pretend to be more drunk or high than he actually was, Patrick and Brad finally got it out to each other that they liked one another. The relationship was good, but it had to be hidden so that Brad could continue to be who he was around school and in front of other kids and his parents. He continued to drink and smoke and even got high before school. Patrick could tell that part of this was to hold up the disguise of not being sure he wanted to be in a relationship with Patrick another part was to use as an excuse for the things that happened them if hey were caught together and the another part seemed to be so that Brad could cope with the idea that he could never truly be himself around others and it hurt him to hide.
Eventually, Brad’s drinking got worse and Patrick made the decision to help Brad get assistance. It meant he would see less of Brad, but it also meant Brad would be okay on many level.
Charlie learns that it’s tough being yourself if you have to hide who you really are. He also learns that people are not who they always claim to be and also that sometimes they are better or different than whom they claim to be. In the end , he realized that when you care about someone, you will risk everything to help them survive in the world they live in, even if it means you have to get hurt in the end.

Being a Wallflower...

In late October, Charlie attends a party with Sam and Patrick where he truly learns the meaning of being someone’s friend. In a world where adolescents find it hard to reach out and find a person they can trust, Charlie learns that he can be that person by simply being himself. A the party that a friends of Patrick’s holds, an older guy named Bob, Charlie comes across as the most interesting part of the crowd because he is younger than the rest and less experienced in partying. The attention Charlie gets allows him to be more himself and the security of that makes him more certain of who he is in his world. He mentions that as they walked through the door Sam and Patrick hugged Bob, and then, even, “Bob hugged me!” The feeling of acceptance was overwhelming for Charlie, but comforting as well.
Later at the party, Charlie refuses to drink some beer and finds that the older kids “seniors I think” don’t make fun of him for not drinking, but instead respect his decision. Another thing that Charlie finds interesting is getting to meet Brad, the football team quarterback, whom he had always just seen from a distance in the school hallways. Meeting him in person made him realize that he is just a regular person too.
After a while, Charlie ends up getting high, by mistake, after eating some brownies with pot in them. As Sam takes care of him, he wanders off through the upstairs of the house and finds Patrick, with Brad, together. The situation startles Brad, but Patrick smooths it over and Charlie goes back downstairs. The whole incident, which could have been blown out of proportion, becomes a turning point for Charlie. In a mature way, he considers his friend Patrick’s situation, and Brad’s, and keeps from judging what he saw. It pays off too. Later that night, Patrick says about Charlie to the others at the party, “He’s something, isn’t he?” and “He’s a wallflower… You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.” Charlie says that he didn’t think “people thought things about me”. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even “know they looked” at him. However, the lesson learned that evening, about respecting others, caring about what others feel is important to them, and simply being there for your friends, although it makes you more like a wallflower than a person, makes you the person you always wished you could be.

Being Perky

Stephen Chubosky's first novel, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, has been often compared to J.D. Salinger's Catcher In the Rye for its approach to explaining teenagers and their issues throughout maturation.

This book is set up a little differently, as it is more of a diary or journal of letters that Charlie, the main character, has mailed off to someone, someone he says he was recommended to write to because he/she "listens". Charlie has several good experiences combined with some bad ones. He has disagreements with kids in school for being nerdy and different. On the other hand, he has an interesting relationship with his english teacher, Bill, who allos Charlie to call him by his first name and tells Charlie that he has a lot of potential.

I chose this novel particularly because of its unique outlook on teenagers learning a lesson or two the hard way. It may be a shorter text, however, it will still serve its purpose as I look at what the author really has to say about adolescence.

That's the Ticket

With the chocolate sale over, Brother Leon and the school are thrilled. The relief is amazing for the kids, but Archie seems unsatisfied. Oddly enough, in the final tally, 50 boxes of chocolate remain unsold – Jerry’s 50. Archie decides to give Jerry a chance to be ‘part of society’ and at the same time, giver Jerry a chance to get back at Janza for his attack on Jerry. This will prove the toughest test for Jerry.

The fight goes all wrong for Jerry and perfect for Archie. Janza gets hit a few times but Jerry gets the worst of it. At one point, Jerry sees an opportunity to strike Janza and end the fight, but when the chance arrives, he comes to a huge realization. As he hears the crowd booing him, he glances around to see Archie smiling with Carter at his side. Off in the distance, far enough away, Brother Leon watches from a hill and does nothing to stop the scene. Jerry realizes he has lost his real fight. He had become just as bad as all of them. He bought into exactly what he resisted. He desire for revenge made him no better than Archie, Leon, or anyone. As he learns this, he adds that he did not ‘disturb the universe’, he ‘damaged’ it. In doing so, he damaged himself too.

Janza’s final, wild attack on Jerry ends the fight. Only Goober runs to Jerry’s side as he lay punched out. Jerry became a symbol, just like he has wanted to be, but it was all wrong. He was the symbol of what happens when you dare to be different in the face of a corrupt society run by cheaters. For Jerry, it is defeat. For those that understand his fight, it may be a victory. For even though Jerry failed, he teaches the rest of us that one must at least try to be victorious and not just accept what the world hands you. Jerry teaches us all that we have a voice and that voice should be heard, even if it is small, weaker than the rest, and falls on deaf ears.

Interesting Facts

As I was surfing the world wide web looking for some background information on the author, Robert Cormier, of The Chocolate War, I found that this book comes up as The American Library Association's list of "The Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books in 1999-2000", coming in the top 5. With many mixed reviews, it is commonly recognized as "one of the best young adult novels of all time" (Wikipedia). However, critics also took notice the novel's crude language and obscene teen-age gestures. Regardless of the critics point of view, the story brings to surface several of the modern day problems that teenagers encounter on a daily basis, therefore, the story's themes are found to be important to adolescents growing to be adults.

Solitary Man

Jerry is now the laughing stock of the school, being physically abused and constantly on the butt-end of the jokes. Jerry seems to have a hold of what is being done by not allowing any of it to bother him. However, it is getting to him; he's starting to feel the mental anguish more then the physical. With this, Jerry begins to receive prank phone calls in the middle of the night that say nothing but a little chuckle. He is starting to feel the heat.

Jerry's 'Do I dare to disturb the universe poster' serves as an essential symbol in this novel. Once it was something to be admired, there in his locker. It reminded him of his quest - his mission to be an individual. Now, that poster is a mess - vandalized with ink smeared across it so that the words are hardly visible. He begins to question himself on the decisions he has made earlier when he was determined to "be different", by not selling the chocolates. Now, with all this abuse, Jerry starts to wonder if it is even worth the battle asking himself, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" and then quickly replies, "Yes I do, I do. I think." It is this point in the story that he is unsure of what position he wants to take, whether to give in to the abuse and get messed up, or be the "solitary man on the beach standing upright and alone and unafraid, poised at the moment of making himself heard and known in the world, the universe."(143)