In my life I have held many, movies, television shows and books close to my heart; usually this is so because the plot or the characters are relatable in some way. Although I tend to find myself identifying with many forms of media in one way or another, nothing can compare to my near idolization of Stephen Chbosky main character, Charlie, in the book, Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie is a shy, awkward teenager who meets a group of older students who show him a world of partying, music and guide him into a new way of thinking and viewing the world around him.
The reason why I hold this book so close to my heart is that I read this at a time in my life where I was also an awkward adolescent who was unpopular. After finishing this book I then passed it on to my own circle of outcast friends. By reading Perks of Being a Wallflower not only did my group of friends feel a sense of community among each other, we felt empowered by having a character to relate to.
The love my friendship group had for this book manifested in a form of vandalism when we were driving around a few nights before our high school graduation talking about what seemed to be everyone's favorite scene in the book. One quote from the scene my friend shouted out was, “ In that moment I swore we were infinite” (Chbosky, p. 39). Another one of my friends randomly suggested we spray paint, "we are infinite- love the class of 2007's outcasts" on the driveway of our high school parking lotto, “leave our mark”. After we all agreed to this act of vandalism we headed back to my house only to find some old sidewalk chalk, although we knew it would wash away we proceeded with our mission. The next day when I got to school it had rained and only a few letters were visible; even though no one would see our “statement” it is a night I will never forget.
Through the character Charlie, Chbosky captures the utter reality of a tumultuous adolescence and the quest for personal identity that comes in that stage in life. Since this novel was published by MTV books, it is no surprise that this book is geared towards teens. I feel that the search for a personal identity is high in this age range many teens may be looking for fictional characters to mirror their own lives after in some way.
Below: Link to The Perks of Being a Wallflower Amazon Page
http://www.amazon.com/Perks-Being-Wallflower-Stephen-Chbosky/dp/0671027344
This is a really well-chosen media text for this assignment. One further question that interests me about your account is the question of the target audience for this novel. It’s a little unclear to me whether this is intended by its publisher as a mainstream novel, or a youth novel. What do you think? Does that make a difference to how we should interpret the significance of the book? A couple of quibbles: author’s name is Chbosky, not Chomsky. Also, we needed a URL of some kind, maybe to the book’s Amazon page? You ready for the movie?
ReplyDeleteI will make those corrections right away! thanks and I can't believe that I miss spelled the authors last name.
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