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Name

Class

Professor

Date

Coming to Age

The movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows the life of Charlie up to the extend until which Charlie, whose voice narrates to the audience, his experiences. Film is set at a time when the protagonist is developing into an adult and has a vast experience from the past which plays a role in shaping his ideas in future. The ideology that Charlie has of the world surrounding him and the perception of the world depends on the things that happen which shape those ideas. Some of the instances make Charlie a better person than before while other things that occur to him threaten to destroy him as he faces all the emotional turmoil that comes with growing into an adult. While movies have been portrayed to feature information that is derivative of the real world, Charlie shows that movies could represent factual events in real life. Charlie goes through emotional, physical and sexual transformations through going through events that allow him to come of age through those experiences. The film explores the importance of going through life changing events that could potentially seem to present an individual with dark and traumatizing experiences with the understanding that other people face similar predicaments and it is part of being an adult.

Although the narrator does not explain to the audience at first, it is possible to note that Charlie is different from everyone else and it is later revealed that he had been sexually abused by Aunt Helen.Such is told when he is messing with Sam. Unfortunately, Charlie had only realized that he was being assaulted by someone who was supposed to protect him as a child. These experiences shaped Charlie’s habits and his abilities to live through daily ordeals. In one of the flashback scenes, Charlie finds it difficult to deal with the abuse and thinks about inflicting pain on himself while in the kitchen. Charlie is only able to come to terms with having been sexually assaulted by Aunt Helen in future when he lets the audience into his thoughts. From the screenplay, the audience understands that Charlie is coming of age when he is shocked that he was being molested. Aunt Helena had been doing things to him as a child, and Sam had done the same things with him hence making him uncomfortable. He remembers from a dream how Helena would do it and it came to him that he had been molested. Therefore, realizing that he had been molested changes the way he looked at women as he lets Sam know that he is not willing to participate in those sexual activities. Besides, while he had watched a date rape during his brother’s birthday, he had overlooked the issue and now being at the center of it made him want to do more than be a passive wallflower.

Secondly, like all other peers and adults, Charlie wanted to be accepted into social circles such as those of Scooby Gang but as he is toasted into the group he rethinks what he stands for. Coming of age in form of acceptance is also present in the film Prospect when the main character, Cee, kills the other hunter who had attacked Ezra. As she takes on that role, she earns more respect and acceptance from Ezra second character who was almost always regarding her as weak. According to Charlie, he did not think anyone noticed him or even liked him. The reason that leads up to his acceptance is that he had seen a date rape and kept quite. Patrick accepts him as part of the gang while proposing a toast. Patrick claims, “You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand" (1.10.108) and “'To Charlie'" (1.10.112) so as to celebrate him for what they considered a virtue (Chbosky). However, from the look on Charlie’s face, he is not satisfied as a wallflower. There is a sense of guilt in how he handled the occurences. The events seems to change Charlie from his wallflower nature and provokes him into abandoning his habit. It is logical to think that Charlie begins questioning his stand on the boy that forced the lady to perform sexual acts as a lady, Patrick kissing him and his aunt molesting him. At last, the mental pressure on Charlie becomes unbearable and he breaks down and is sent to hospital.

Charlie throughout the film is engaged in a sort of confession and one way communication exchange that at the end of the day changes him into a more confident individual. He confesses that he wishes he had found a better way to break up with Elizabeth. The scene is similar to John Updike’s A & P as the author notices that in a group of girls and suggest one girl thinks she has it all but never quite makes and another third lady looks like the queen and is the most attractive (Updike, 3). One of the little confessions Charlie makes is the thought that Sam deserves better love and is the most attractive girl in the room. From the beginning to the end of the movie Charlie is always writing letters to the audience on his thoughts. As he writes the letters, the character opens up to his own thoughts and somewhat those inspire and change him. Tellingly, writing his thoughts out enables the writer to grow from a wallflower into a more life-engaged person. At the end of the film, Charlie claims that he is not sure he will be writing anymore because he has grown from a wallflower to a participant. In the letter he claims, “He had become more active in his life and decided to take actions that concern his happiness and that of others. Unlike his inexpressive past, the new character has grown out of his element. Facing life as a wallflower and taking action to write letters and narrate to the audience has enabled him grow into a more mature person ready to take on life. Being a wallflower had a deeper meaning than being a doormat for Charlie after he made confessions through the letters. Expressing his state of mind is one of the eventful contributions to his maturity and growth.

In the climax of the film just before the end comes with the breakdown of the character who succumbs from both external and mental pressures. The main protagonist had experienced Charlie calls the sister and confesses that he thought he had killed Aunt Helen because he wanted her dead and because she got an accident while going for his birthday gift. Charlie’s friend had committed suicide the past year and he had been traumatized from dealing with it. Besides, joining high school was far more stressful than it was in middle school. Charlie found it hard to be accepted by the people around him as he was considered a wallflower. The breakdown changes the way Charlie sees things in two ways. First, he understands that he is not the only one who is going through similar challenges. Besides, he realizes the importance of participating in life rather than watching and letting it go by. Breaking down occured due to the mounting of pressure that had not been eased. Thinking about staying quiet when someone was date raped and putting the interests of other people before his personal interests weighs on him and he finally curves in. The transformation Charlie goes through during the time he breaks down to his mental and emotional turmoil enables him to appreciate other pleasures that life offers such as friends and family.

Conclusively, the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower digs into the physical, mental and emotional development of the character Charlie together with other teenage friends. There are physical occurrences and emotional events that make Charlie more aware of his emotions as an individual. While the character throughout the movie is a passive observer and prefers to look at things from the outside. However, certain events change how Charlie perceives things around him and completely change the decisions he make. For instance, when Sam is touching him and they kiss, he remembers of the same experience with Aunt Helen and realizes he had been assaulted. Furthermore, observing a date rape occur and keeping silent makes him question his decision. He transforms into an adult through realizing he has sexual feelings for Sam but attempts to keep them silent until when his emotions carry him away and he decides to talk about it. Charlie’s point of maturity comes when he agrees that will probably not write because he is going to participate more in life. Accepting that he had been assaulted and coming to terms that the emotional, physical and mental turmoil he experienced was nothing out of the normal creates a mark on his life. Charlie is stable and happier than he had been in the rest of the film in the ending scenes when he is in love with Sam. From the film, it is possible to see the two clear sides of life where, anxiety and depression about issues arises and accepting that facing such issues could occur to everyone and not succumbing to pressure.

Works Cited

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, Perf. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller. 2012. 2012.

Prospect. Directed by Christopher Caldwell, and Zeek Earl, Perf. Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, Pedro Pascal. 2018.

Updike, John. "A & P." Understanding John Updike, pp. 1-12.