There are no perks of being a wallflower
Am I too old to be reading young adult novels? Maybe. Are young adult novels no longer applicable in my life? Definitely not. The transition of middle school to high school, high school to college, college to work life are all very similar. They just differ in the time frames they take place. Two years ago, I saw a movie with a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and vampire-less Nina Dobrev. It was actually a really good movie, and I've wanted to read the book ever since. This past week, I finally got around to reading and finishing The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
And what did I learn from this experience? Well first, reading the book after seeing the movie has one fundamental flaw. I could not stop picturing the actors from the film while I was reading. Second, the values highlighted in young adult novels are ones that many young working professionals should take into consideration when transitioning from school life to work life. It seems that after all these years, we still just don't get it. That's why I have this theory that the majority of the human population never really leaves high school. And lastly, I learned that in life there are really no perks of being a wallflower.
Let me elaborate.
To start off with, I want to discuss these "values" I referred to. The thing about this book is that even though it's about a high school freshman, it deals with topics (suicide, sexual orientation problems, molestation, pregnancy, drugs, alcohol, mental instability, death, etc.) that are far beyond Charlie's age. These are issues that people can face at any time in their lives and are universally considered "deep stuff". And Perks does an amazing job realistically recounting how a high school freshman with a sad past, a supportive family, and a friend group consisting of seniors deals with all of these problems. In many ways, one could argue that Charlie's problems are #firstworldproblems. But as I have said so many times, and as Charlie even kind of says himself, we live in the first world so what kind of problems do you expect us to have? We all have problems, and just because there are starving children in Africa doesn't make our own problems right here and right now any less important. For a high school freshman, I think he really gets it.
Second, this book highlights the importance of having supportive friends and family. I recently broke up with a boyfriend who was always determined to do things by himself. He was never very good at accepting support. Whether it was because he thought it made him weak or because he didn't want to open up to people because he didn't trust them or for some other reason entirely, I still assert that it's no way to live. And Charlie went through a lot of tough stuff, none of which he would have really been able to get through if he didn't have those people around him to lean on and care for him. And especially in the working world, when there's no safety net of school, having a strong support network can make the difference between success and failure.
Third, the reason that I say there are no perks to being a wallflower is that even though Charlie learns a lot by listening, understanding, and being there for people, Sam helps him realize that he can't go through life just being an observer. As his English teacher Bill says, Charlie only really enjoys himself when he learns to participate in life (which takes him pretty much the whole book to do). This is a lesson that everyone needs to take with them. Life is not meant to be observed. It is meant to be experienced and lived.
Do you see why I think young adult novels are applicable at almost any age of transition?
Plus one of the things I loved about this book was that it referenced a lot of other coming of age stories like The Catcher in the Rye and Hamlet, both books I read in high school and loved. It was very meta like that, and I always enjoy stories that are self-aware or self-referential. There are also some pretty good song references as well.
Lastly, I just want to touch on something that makes Perks really unique. The entire book is written in letters to an anonymous friend from Charlie. I have seen diary entries, and I have seen stream of consciousness, but Charlie's letters are something else entirely. He mentions that he writes letters because there is a sense of communion with letters. There's a hope that someone out there is reading them, unlike a diary, which is pretty much one directional. On many levels, I totally get that. It's the same reason I have a blog. Because it's nice to know that out there somewhere, in the mysterious space that is the Internet, someone might just be reading the thoughts that I'm sharing. I don't need a reply or a response. I don't even need a confirmation that anyone is reading. Just the idea that someone could be reading, that I might be communicating my thoughts to another human being is enough.
Whoever thought a 15 year old high school freshman would be able to capture exactly what a 21 year old college new grad was feeling so well? Maybe I should be taking all my life advice from high schoolers, but that's probably not a good idea. Not all of them will be special like Charlie. He, like this book, is one of a kind.
And what did I learn from this experience? Well first, reading the book after seeing the movie has one fundamental flaw. I could not stop picturing the actors from the film while I was reading. Second, the values highlighted in young adult novels are ones that many young working professionals should take into consideration when transitioning from school life to work life. It seems that after all these years, we still just don't get it. That's why I have this theory that the majority of the human population never really leaves high school. And lastly, I learned that in life there are really no perks of being a wallflower.
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| http://www.englishmoviez.com/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/ |
Let me elaborate.
To start off with, I want to discuss these "values" I referred to. The thing about this book is that even though it's about a high school freshman, it deals with topics (suicide, sexual orientation problems, molestation, pregnancy, drugs, alcohol, mental instability, death, etc.) that are far beyond Charlie's age. These are issues that people can face at any time in their lives and are universally considered "deep stuff". And Perks does an amazing job realistically recounting how a high school freshman with a sad past, a supportive family, and a friend group consisting of seniors deals with all of these problems. In many ways, one could argue that Charlie's problems are #firstworldproblems. But as I have said so many times, and as Charlie even kind of says himself, we live in the first world so what kind of problems do you expect us to have? We all have problems, and just because there are starving children in Africa doesn't make our own problems right here and right now any less important. For a high school freshman, I think he really gets it.
Second, this book highlights the importance of having supportive friends and family. I recently broke up with a boyfriend who was always determined to do things by himself. He was never very good at accepting support. Whether it was because he thought it made him weak or because he didn't want to open up to people because he didn't trust them or for some other reason entirely, I still assert that it's no way to live. And Charlie went through a lot of tough stuff, none of which he would have really been able to get through if he didn't have those people around him to lean on and care for him. And especially in the working world, when there's no safety net of school, having a strong support network can make the difference between success and failure.
Third, the reason that I say there are no perks to being a wallflower is that even though Charlie learns a lot by listening, understanding, and being there for people, Sam helps him realize that he can't go through life just being an observer. As his English teacher Bill says, Charlie only really enjoys himself when he learns to participate in life (which takes him pretty much the whole book to do). This is a lesson that everyone needs to take with them. Life is not meant to be observed. It is meant to be experienced and lived.
Do you see why I think young adult novels are applicable at almost any age of transition?
Plus one of the things I loved about this book was that it referenced a lot of other coming of age stories like The Catcher in the Rye and Hamlet, both books I read in high school and loved. It was very meta like that, and I always enjoy stories that are self-aware or self-referential. There are also some pretty good song references as well.
Lastly, I just want to touch on something that makes Perks really unique. The entire book is written in letters to an anonymous friend from Charlie. I have seen diary entries, and I have seen stream of consciousness, but Charlie's letters are something else entirely. He mentions that he writes letters because there is a sense of communion with letters. There's a hope that someone out there is reading them, unlike a diary, which is pretty much one directional. On many levels, I totally get that. It's the same reason I have a blog. Because it's nice to know that out there somewhere, in the mysterious space that is the Internet, someone might just be reading the thoughts that I'm sharing. I don't need a reply or a response. I don't even need a confirmation that anyone is reading. Just the idea that someone could be reading, that I might be communicating my thoughts to another human being is enough.
Whoever thought a 15 year old high school freshman would be able to capture exactly what a 21 year old college new grad was feeling so well? Maybe I should be taking all my life advice from high schoolers, but that's probably not a good idea. Not all of them will be special like Charlie. He, like this book, is one of a kind.
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