Setting

Time Setting
The story takes place in the 90s. Even though Charlie never mentions the year, readers
can guess which era it is based on Charlies lifestyle. Charlie also mentions several
popular culture references that indicate the time frame of the novel. Charlie and his
friends are involved in Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was very popular during the
90's.
Place Setting
The story takes place in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Within the state, the
author included several other settings to development the plot and characterization. For
example;
A) High School
Charlie is a student, hence he spends a lot of time in the school. Therefore, several
important incidents take place in Charlies school.For example, Charlie has to deal with
bullies for the first time in the school. Charlie also meets his future best friend, Patrick in
a shop class in the school. Besides that, Charlie also shows how much he cares about
about when he rescues Patrick during a fight in the school cafeteria.
B) Charlies House
Much of the story of Charlie takes place in his home where he lives with his parents,
older sister, and older brother. Since the family spends a lot of time together in this house,
most of their conversations and bickering take place here. It also worth noting that it was
in this particular house that Charlie bonded with Aunt Helen for several years before her
death.
C) Bobs House
This is where Charlie meets most of his new friends besides Sam and Patrick. In fact, this
is where Charlie learns how to socialize like normal youngsters because the tenants are
all friendly and welcoming. In Bobs house, Charlie is also introduced to many first
experiences. For example, this is where Charlie attends his first party and uses drugs for
the first time.
D) Big Boys Diner
Big Boys Diner is where most students in Charlies high school hang out after important
events like football games or school dance. In fact, this is where Charlie gets to know a
lot about Patrick and Sam

Characters
There are many characters in this novel and these characters are the family and friends of
our main protagonist Charlie. Each of these characters has somehow affected Charlies
life and his journey through the first year of high school.
1.0 Charlie
Charlie is a 15 years of high school freshman from Western Pennsylvania. He is the
youngest of child of three children. Charlie is a complex character with distinctive traits
that distinguish him from any other high schooler that is usually portrayed in literature.
An awkward loner.
Charlies awkwardness is mainly contributed by his quiet and shy nature. Due to his
awkward personality he is used to being a loner everywhere he goes. When he entered
high school he had no friends at all because his only true friend, Michael committed
suicide. Charlie has trouble making new friends mainly because he never attempted to
talk to any one. He craves social interaction but he usually waits for people to talk him
first.
It would be very nice to have a friend again. I would like that even more than a date.
- Charlie
Charlie has that inner voice that tells him never to stand out, that nobody could possibly
want to get to know him because he has the reputation of being a freak. In fact, he is
afraid of making new connections for the fear of losing them in the future. This is most
obvious during a school dance event. Charlie spends most of his time propping up the
wall, watching other people have fun and wishing he could take part but not knowing
how or feeling like he has the right to do so. His effort to break this social awkwardness
is first noticed when Charlie attempts a conversation with Patrick at the football game
and it resulted in a new friendship between him, Patrick and Sam. Charlie could not break
out of his awkwardness even after making new friends. Even after having made a
connection with Patrick and Sam at the football game, Charlie feels hesitant to ask to be
included in their fun. He has to push himself into making that first approach.
An emotionally distraught young man
Charlie enters high school with emotional baggages. He is mentally strained from having
to cope up with the recent death of his best friend Michael and the recurrent memory of
his dead Aunt Helen. In fact, he has also spent some time receiving psychiatric treatment
to manage himself. Charlie quickly gained the reputation of being a freak when he breaks
into a crying fit after beating up his bully. Besides that, Charlie also sometimes sabotage
his own happiness. For example, Charlie becomes extremely emotional during Christmas
and his birthday. Charlie becomes emotional because Aunt Helen dies years ago at that
particular time of the year. Charlies behaviourism shows that he is a mentally unstable

person.
Im really glad that Christmas and my birthday are soon because that means they will
be over soon because I can already feel myself going to a bad place I used to go
- Charlie
Observant
Charlie struggles with his obsession with observation. He has tendency to observe life
rather than participate in it. After making these observations, he indulges in over
analysing little details in his life. As a result, he is detached from his surrounding hence
making it hard for him to connect with people. For example during the school dance, he
observed how couples hold hands and danced to their favourite song instead of
participating in the social event. Hence, he is urged by Bill, Sam, and Patrick to
participate more and truly engage his acquaintances and companions. As his teacher Bill
says Sometimes people use thoughts to not participate in life. Another except that
demonstrates Charlies observant trait is as below:
Its strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book.
Also, when I write letters, I spend the next two days thinking about what I figured out in
my letters. I do not know if this is good or bad. Nevertheless, I am trying to participate.
Thoughtful and caring person
He cares deeply for others and it is portrayed many times by his actions. For example,
when Charlie and his new group of friends were exchanging gifts for Christmas, he took
a lot of efforts in preparing thoughtful gifts like mix tapes and funds for them. Similarly,
Charlie also cares deeply for his siblings as he always hopes that his brother will do
exceptionally good in college life and he watches out for his sister during the
homecoming dance even though she is sometimes very hostile towards him.
2.0 Charlies Family
2.1 Charlies father
Very strict in his parenting.
He is very protective over his family and children. This is seen when he discovered that
Charlies sister was slapped by her boyfriend. He made the effort to meet the boyfriends
family and talks to them about keeping their son away from his daughter. However, he
never resorted to hitting his kids.
He never touched my brother or sister. And the only time he ever slapped me was
when I made my Aunt Helen cry. Then he told me that he felt terrible for doing it. And he
was so sorry. And he would never hit me again. And he hasnt.

 He is a very proud man

He is a very proud man and doesn't really show much emotion except one time Charlie
walked into the kitchen and saw his father crying over a movie. He is also not
demonstrative when it comes to showing love gestures towards his children. But they
know that he loves them very much. Charlies paternal aunt also mentions that his father
is too proud to be in mid life crisis
2.2 Charlies Mother
Charlies mother is not mentioned often in the novel. Charlie mentions that his mother is
always on diet even though she is very beautiful. Besides that, she also has her fair share
of emotional turmoil as she faces the guilt of her sister Helens death and the lack of love
from her own father.
We also do know that she is a very quiet person. Whenever her husband disciplines the
children, she just sort of stays quiet and never speaks out but she always gets her way
when she speaks. The only time she speaks in the novel is when she hears her daughter
say, "He's my whole world." to which she replied Do not say that to anyone, not even
me!. This shows that Charlies Mother disapproves the idea of her children thinking of
an outsiders in such dependable way.
Charlie always mentions that his mother is quite emotional especially about her children.
A good example of this is at Charlie's sister's graduation, where she was crying and
hugging her two sons heavily. Besides that she also constantly worries about her
children's whereabouts and it always ends up upsetting her. For example,
" My brother finally called yesterday, and he cant make it home for any part of
Thanksgiving weekend because he is behind on school because of football. My mom was
so upset that she took me shopping for new clothes. "- Charlie
2.3 Charlies Sister
Charlie's sister is a senior in high school during the year Charlie becomes a freshman. She
is the middle child of the family and the most stubborn one. She keeps personal things to
herself, but is a very outspoken person when it comes to important topics such as
"women's rights" and "environment problems. Charlies sister is also a brilliant student.
She graduated second in her class as a senior only because she was too invested in a bad
relationship with a hopeless guy. However, she managed to get an academic scholarship
which proves her intelligence.
My sister is going to a small liberal arts college back East called Sarah Lawrence.
She almost didnt get to go because it costs a lot of money, but then she got an academic
scholarship
Charlies sister can be quite mean to her brothers. She is constantly bickering with the

oldest and never really try relating to Charlie. However, she cares about her brothers very
deeply even though she does not talk much to them except when bickering. When she
found out that Charlie is starting to smoke, she gets really upset. She tries her best to
convince him to stop smoking.
I want you to stop smoking, you hear?Because I really do love you- Charlies sister
2.4 Charlies Brother
Everyone is fond of him because he is the eldest child in the family. He made his family
proud when he entered Penn State University and played football for the team. Charlie
parents are especially very proud of his achievements. The family spends a lot of time
watching him playing football for his university on television. Since he goes to college,
he tries to visit home as often as possible, but it doesn't always happen as much as his
parents would want it to.
"My brother has not called home in a few weeks now, and Mom just keeps talking about
his grades and sleeping habits and the foods he eats, and my dad keeps saying the same
thing. " - Charlie
Charlies brother is also a typical young man. He loves playing football and working on
his car for hobbies. Charlies brother prefers "model type" of girls and have posters of
them on his dorm wall. He does not understand that Charlie wishes for him to have a
better girl as his girlfriend. In fact, when Charlie asks if his girlfriend drinks hot chocolate
or wears sweater, he accuses Charlie of being high. He has the mindset of a typical young
man.
2.5 Aunt Helen
Helen is Charlie' s maternal aunt. She plays a major role in Charlie's life despite her
absence in the majority of the novel. Charlie states that she had been his best friend until
she died. She passed away on December 24th, which is also Charlie's birthday. This is the
reason every year around the same time, he gets depressed because he remembers what
happened on the terrible night.
Aunt Helen is a woman with a troubled past. She was molested by a family friend and the
memory haunted her for many years. Besides that, Aunt Helen was also in a numerous
relationships with various men. She often felt unhappy, causing her to go to hospitals
often to sort her life out.
She had a very close yet disturbing relationship with her nephew, Charlie who she called
"special". She repeatedly molested Charlie. Charlie is not aware of these as it remains as
a repressed memory in his mind.

3.0 Charlies Friends

3.1 Michael
Michael had passed away when the novel starts. Michael was Charlies only best friend
before he committed suicide by shooting himself. It is suspected that problems at home
had driven him to commit suicide. Charlie, Michael and his girlfriend used to hangout
together in schooling. His death was too sudden and shocking for Charlie to accept the
reality.
"I wonder what went on in Michaels house around dinner and TV shows. Michael never
left a note or at least his parents didnt let anyone see it. Maybe it was problems at
home. I wish I knew. It might make me miss him more clearly." - Charlie
3.2 Patrick (Nothing)
He is also a senior in high school and Sam's step brother. Patrick is a cheerful, fun loving
person. He is the kind of person that makes people around him feel comfortable. He
always seems to be having the best time of his life in no matter in what occasion. He is
capable of pulling the crowd together. Due to his vibrant personality, he plays "Frank 'N'
Furter," in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. His personality appeals to Charlie, hence
prompted him to approach Patrick.
Normally I am very shy, but Nothing seemed like the kind of guy you could just walk up to
at a football game even though you were three years younger and not popular."
- Charlie,
Patrick is also a homosexual. He is romantically involved with Brad, the closeted
homosexual. Hence their relationship is a secret affair, because Brad does not want
people to know about his sexuality. They break up when Brads father find outs about
their relationship. Patrick gets into a fight with his now ex-boyfriend, Brad who called
himfaggot in the cafeteria, but Charlie comes to his rescue. Patrick cope with the
emotional strains by drinking and doing drugs.
Patrick is also a very loyal friend because he did not ditch Charlie when the boy is going
through rough patches in his life. In fact, he also makes time to visit Charlie in the
hospital.
3.3 Sam
Sam is a high school senior and, along with her step brother, Patrick, becomes friends
Charlie at their schools football game. She has an intimate relationship with Charlie
since she is very fond of him. She is described as having brown hair and ," very very
pretty", green eyes.
When Sam was at Charlies age, she made made some questionable decisions regarding

relationships and sex. She has a reputation for being promiscuous. As Sam continued to
grow, she slowly began realizing that she is worth more than what she was put through as
a child, and ended her sad cycle of habits.
Sam is also known to be non judgemental towards Charlie. She befriends Charlie and
treats him with kindness even when she is aware of his reputation as a freak in the
school. She accepts Charlie for who he is even though Charlie can be a little
overwhelming at first. For example, when Charlie frankly confesses his feelings for her,
Sam acts very maturely about it.
You know youre too young for me, Charlie? You do know that? I dont want you to
waste your time thinking about me that way.- Sam
Besides that, Sam is very supportive of Charlie. Sam assists Charlie in becoming more
comfortable in his own skin, bringing him into her group of misfit and outcast friends, as
well as encouraging him to participate more in society. For instance at Sam urging,
Charlie finally agrees to fill in for a missing actor in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Besides that, Sam also tries her best to include Charlie in every conversation so that he
does not feel left out.
The nice thing was the fact that Patrick and Sam didnt just throw around inside jokes
and make me struggle to keep up. Not at all. They asked me questions. Charlie
3.4 Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth is a member of Patrick and Sam's group of friends. She runs a fanzine
dedicated to the Rocky Horror Picture Show and also acts in the show itself with her
friends. Mary Elizabeth has a rather peculiar character.
One of the girls from the party with the tattoo and belly button ring has been a Buddhist
since July. Her name is Mary Elizabeth. She told me that the thing about Zen is that it
makes you connected to everything in the world. You are part of the trees and the grass
and the dogs. - Charlie
Mary Elizabeth is Charlies first girlfriend. Mary Elizabeth takes a superior stance in the
relationship by constantly "introducing" Charlie to books or music that he already knows
well. Mary Elizabeths dominating character bothers Charlie very much because he feels
uneasy whenever he is with her.
However, one cannot deny the kindness in Mary Elizabeth when she forgives Charlie for
humiliating her during the truth or dare game. Even though she is mad at him, Mary
Elizabeth does visit Charlie in the hospital, and she stays longer than all his other friends.
That says a lot about her forgiving character.

3.5 Bill ( Charlies English Teacher)

Bill is Charlie's English teacher. He is the first person to become Charlie's friend in high
school. Bill is a very encouraging person. He speaks to Charlie in a friendly manner
despite their teacher- student relationship. He encourages Charlie to participate in life
instead of just observing people.
Do you always think this much, Charlie? Sometimes people use thoughts to not
participate in life. - Bill
Bill also becomes sort of a role model to Charlie since they both share a similar ambition.
Charlie aspires to be a writer while Bill wishes to write plays in New York. Hence, Bill
helps Charlie by assigning him to read a list of profoundly good books to educate him
about literature.
3.6 Craig
Craig is a minor character in the novel. He is Sams boyfriend who does not appreciate
her at all. In fact, it is found later that he was with a few others girls while being in a
relationship with Sam.
3.7 Alice
Alice is another member of Sam and Patricks group of friends. She is only seen during
parties or Christmas celebration. She plays a very minor role in the novel

Themes and Issues

1) Coming of Age
Through the process of coming of a age, a young person gains more understanding of
their surrounding and hence resulting in losing their ignorance. This novel depicts a
realistic portrayal of a teenagers coming of age. Most young adults who read the story
could relate to how Charlie lose his innocence by the end of the novel as they too share a
somewhat similar experience in high school. When we first meet Charlie, he appears as a
very innocent person. He begins his freshman year with no friends and he spends most of
the time reading books. The only outdoor activity he anticipates is walking home from
school and mixing tapes.
As the story progresses, Charlie begins losing his innocence as he learns more about
friendship, sexuality and reality. Charlies new found friends are the catalyst to his loss of
innocence. Things turn around for Charlie when he meets seniors Sam and Patrick, who
take him under their wing. They introduce him to their diverse, free-thinking, and
sometimes wild group of friends. Because of them, Charlie begins to experience a lot of
things for the first time in his life such as his first cigarette, his first party, his first crush,
his first girlfriend, his first kiss, his first encounter with drugs, his first sip of alcohol, and
mainly, his first real friends. For example, when Charlie attends his first party, he
innocently eats brownies without knowing that it is made with marijuanas. Charlie eats it
anyway because as he mentions in the book, I had never been to a party before. hence
he is not aware of what usually happens at a party. Besides that, Charlie also begins
learning more about his sexuality. In the beginning of the story, Charlie is not aware of
how he feels towards the opposite sex. However, when he meets Sam for the first time, he
feels romantically incline towards her. At first, he guiltily confesses to Sam that he
dreamt of her when sleeping and that he is shameful of it. But nearing the end of the
story, he becomes bolder in expressing his feelings by pecking Sams cheek during a truth
or dare game.
Charlie's most impactful moment of loss of innocence is when a repressed secret from his
past emerges to reveal a cold truth. One night when Charlie is with Sam, the truth of his
childhood suddenly rushes through his mind. He realizes that his aunt molested him when
he was a child. After that, he suffers a major mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized
to get treatment. In the hospital, Charlie tries to accept what happened to him with help of
medical professionals. Through these events in the book, we see how Charlie has matured
from an innocent child to a young man as he learns a lot of things about himself and his
surrounding.
Charlie is not the only character to lose his innocence. For example, even though Sam is
devastated when she realizes that her boyfriend, Craig has been cheating all the time, she
acts very maturely about it. She realizes that it is her mistake too as she says "I didn't do
things because I didn't want him to think different about me. But the thing is, I wasn't
being honest". This proves that Sam is on her way to adulthood by looking at things from
different perspectives.

2) Awareness of Mental Illness

People usually put a negative connotation to mental illness, hence making it a taboo
issue. Furthermore, mental illness among adolescent is often overlook because it does not
seem to be a priority matter to the adults. This novel tackles the issue of mental illness
through the depiction of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that is experienced by
the protagonist, Charlie. PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have seen
or lived through a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. Despite being young, Charlie has
gone through several obstacles including the death of his best friend and Aunt Helen and
the sexual abuse he suffered during childhood. These troubling experiences had traumatic
effects on Charlie that prolong into his early adolescence phase. Charlie suffers all the
symptoms that are usually related to PTSD such as depression, flashbacks, avoidance and
extreme guilt.
Since young, Charlie represses unwanted memories that he does not want to remember
including the experience of being molested by his Aunt Helen at the age of five. It never
come back to him until later in his adolescent years in the form of flashbacks. Throughout
the novel, Charlie has numerous flashbacks of his Aunt when something upsetting
happens. For example, when he was shunned by his friends, Charlie begins to have more
flashbacks of his Aunt and his mental health begins to deteriorate rapidly.
I remember that Aunt Helen was the only one who hugged me. I remember seeing my
family on Christmas day in a waiting room. I remember not being allowed to go to the
funeral. I remember never saying good-bye to my Aunt Helen. - Charlie
Sadness also seems to be the pervasive mood of this novel. Charlie is always in the state
of sadness even during happy moments because he worries too much about things. People
around Charlie can not help but to notice how Charlie will descend from being happy into
a depressed state of mind. Even Charlies mother cannot help her son from being too
upset every year on his own birthday. The prolong feeling of sadness is an indicator of
being mentally depressed.
I went into my room and read. After a little while, my mom came into the room because
she just noticed that I looked very sad today, and she didnt think it was because of my
friends.
Besides that, Charlie also feels excessively guilty over the death of his Aunt because he
thinks that he is the reason she got into an accident. The feeling of guilt suffered by
Charlie also shows how Charlie unconsciously use his guilt to repress the memory of
being molested by his Aunt Helen.
Aunt didnt hurt me, she always loved me, we were great friends, why did she have to
die, it was all my fault she was getting my birthday present, it was all my fault she died,
she was such a good person.- Charlie

Everything comes to an end when Charlie learns that he has been repressing memories of
his Aunt raping him since the age of five. Due to the sudden and shocking realization,
Charlie suffers a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. With the help of medical
professionals he learns to accept the reality instead of blaming himself or any one else.
Maybe its good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only
perspective is to really be there. Like Sam said. Because its okay to feel things.
In conclusion, Perks of Being a Wallflower explores how adolescents with emotional
problems deal with their daily life despite having obstructive thoughts. Charlies
character accurately depicts the symptoms of PTSD in an adolescent who experienced the
trauma of sexual abuse as a child. However, the portrayal of Charlies character through
the lens of mental illness, shows readers that there is a glint of hope for everyone to
recover. This is because Charlie finally managed to escape from his emotional turmoil
with the support from his friends and family.
3) The Importance of Family
Being a young adult, most teenagers value their friendships and love interests more than
their own family. This novel shows how the presence of a family structure is equally
important in the life of a young adult. Through the portrayal of Charlies family, the
author showed us that young adults need the support from their family members more
that they would admit. Charlie's family is portrayed as somewhat dysfunctional yet very
loving and strong at the same time. Even though each of his family members has their
own battle to fight, they always have each others back.
From the outside this family looks like any other American family whos eager about
sports and strives for academic perfection. In fact, his family never misses a festive
gathering and they dine together as often as possible. However, Charlies family is very
constrained when it comes to openly sharing their feelings towards each other. They seem
to be guarded by their own ego or emotional problems. When conversing casually
through telephone or during dinner, they always try to steer away from talking about
intimate issues. For example, when his brother calls home from university, he mostly
only talks about his classes and football matches but never about how his private life or
feelings. On the other hand, Charlies sister Candice is often hostile towards her brothers.
She scoffs at Charlie every time he attempts to get closer to her. As Charlie says in the
book she almost never likes to talk to me..
Charlies parents are also not very demonstrative with loving gestures like hugs and
kisses. Unlike other parents, his parents are more reserved at showing love towards their
children. For example, when his parents learn that Candice was hit by her boyfriend, they
become really mad and lecture her endlessly. Then to console his crying sister, Charlies
father gives her a kiss on the forehand which Charlie thinks is very rare of him to do. On
the other hand, Charlie mother goes to the kitchen to make her daughters favourite food
instead of comforting her like other mothers would do. This show how constrained

Charlies parents are at showing their affection openly.

Despite these obstacles, Charlies family exist as one strong unit. When one of their
family member faces a problem, there will always be another one to help. One of the
most heart warming part of the novel is when Charlie and his sister open up to each other.
When his sister gets accidently pregnant, Charlie offers help by accompanying her to the
clinic even though she has always treated him with hostility. In fact, we also get to see
how Charlies sister is concerned when she learns that Charlie is smoking in the car. This
particular moments demonstrates the love they have for each other. Besides that,
Charlies mental breakdown has also brought the whole family together as they try to
help him recover from the mental strains. When they find out that Aunt Helen had
repeatedly molested Charlie, they realize how important it is for them to be together as a
unit to heal each others wound. In fact, when Charlie is in the hospital, both his brother
and sister visit him numerous times to offer emotional support. As Charlie says It started
to feel like everything was going to be all right when my sister and brother visit. They
asked me a lot of questions about Aunt Helen because I guess nothing had ever happened
to them.. In conclusion,this novel shows how the continuity of family connections and a
secure emotional base is crucial for the positive development of sensitive young people
like Charlie.