I didn't know how to begin, so I got my book and decided to base my essay on the "Reading Group Guide" in the end of the book. I hope you don't mind, I'll probably do the same thing with my other essays. It's a bit hard to just choose a topic by myself and talk about it. Anyway, here it goes:
Who did you identify with the most? Did you see parts of yourself in any one specific character?
Charlie. Don't give me that "You just wanna be the main character" bullshit because that's not even a thing. Ok, maybe it is, but fuck it. It is a bit obvious why I can relate to Charlie, but I will explain nonetheless. He is very confused and sensitive. I tried to pretend that I was strong for a while, but the truth is that I'm sensitive as fuck and I feel other people's pain. There's a moment when Charlie says something like, "there's too much pain. Make it stop" and I couldn't relate more. This world is so fucked up. People are killing people for no reason, some think that rape is not the rapist's fault, but the victim's, people blame innocent people... I mean, what the hell? How can I make it stop? Or, how can I stop caring? Well, I fucking can't. Because if I do, I'll feel numb and what's the point of living if you're not actually living, but only existing? Ya feel me, nigga?
So, back to Charlie, I feel him. Do you remember when he goes all nuts and his parents find him naked in the living room, before he wakes up in the hospital? I went through something like that. Except I wasn't naked. And I didn't wake up in the hospital, because my parents are against that shit. I cut my wrists once. Don't get me wrong, though, I didn't want to kill myself. Not at that moment, at least, no. So, I locked myself in the bathroom and cut my left wrist with a razor blade. My mother started calling me from the hallway. I panicked. I did not have the strenght to get out of there and pretend, like I had so many times before, that everything was okay. So I just unlocked the door, opened it and stared at her. It didn't take long for her to see my wrist bleeding and she took me to the living room, where my dad was asleep on the couch. She started crying, I started crying, it was just a big fucking mess. I wanted to say that I was sorry, but I wasn't really. And in the book, in the moment Charlie's parents find him in the living room, I can relate. I like to believe we felt the same way; powerless, just real tired of this bullshit. Out of control. And Charlie did get out of control very easily, so I think that's why I relate to him a bit too. Neither of us have real problems in our lives, but we're lawyers of the lost causes and we feel other people's pain. Maybe we were born to suffer and that's our big 'mission'. If that's true, well, it sucks.
2. Discuss Charlie's character. Is he sympathetic? Would you be friends with Charlie? Why (not)?
I think I've discussed this a lot already, but yeah, I do think he's sympathetic. He's also empathetic. Empathy is a big part of him.
Well, I'm not sure. It feels like too much of a responsibility to be friends with someone like him, who would most likely take a bullet for you instead of living his own life, but at the same time, he'd be the most loyal person you'd ever encounter. You'd also be always wondering if you would ever get to see him again or if he'd kill himself after you left.
3. What do you think kept Charlie from participating when he entered high school? What held him back? Have you ever felt the same way?
Charlie had already seen a lot of suffering in the world, he was a watcher, not a player. He thought he'd be safer watching, because once you enter this sick game some people call life, you better hope for the best, but expect the worst. He was afraid of life and I understand why. Yes, I have. I still do.
4. Discuss the following passage: "You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things."
Allow me to go full ignorant here and just say, you can do whatever the fuck you want to do. Or don't want to do, in this case. What you shouldn't do, though, is blame it on people. If I don't feel like living my life, that's fine, my problem, but I can't say it's your fault, because I am helping you live your life. That sounds like bullshit. Also, love is when you help people get where they want to. You don't have to stop living for that to happen. Recalibrate your morals, Charlie.
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower grapples with a complex, universally difficult stage of life. What reflections did it inspire about your own life? What parts of the story resonated most deeply with you?
It was like seeing myself from a different perspective with some slightly particular changes. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It changed something in me, made me understand myself better, but I can't say it made me feel better. I can't say yet. Maybe one day, but not today.
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ResponderExcluirLet's do this:
I guess we put a lot of ourselves into the characters we read. It's funny how you see Charlie as the kind of person you don't know if you're ever going to see again if you turn your back, 'cause I saw him differently.
My Charlie's worst problem is being too naive. He's so naive that at times I wondered if he had a mental disability. I also thought he had something wrong with him from the very start. I had no idea what it was, but he had something wrong that wouldn't be a big deal if things hadn't piled up and crumbled down all at once, 'cause that's what makes you freeze.
First of all, being naive is not the best survival skill to own. You have to be smart. Not book smart, but people smart and Charlie definitely wasn't that. That's why he'd become recluse and got into a nostalgic state where you don't really know why you're so sad but at the same time you're kinda satisfied to be on your own 'cause it's comfortable.
Second of all, being naive also means you're very sensitive, you care too much. That's where I agree with you. But I disagree when you say that maybe this kind of people was born to suffer. I'll explain:
The cave men lived in groups. These groups couldn't see each other, otherwise they'd kill everyone. They evolved and at some point started to be social creatures. They started to need the interaction so they stopped killing each other like it was just routine. In the present days, later on in the evolution of men, killing became a crime and even a sin to some, but it still happens. Following the logic brought to you by me in the lines above, what's the next step? A WILD CHARLIE APPEARS! Charlies appear every now and then, here and there, and I'll tell you: The Charlies out there are not meant to suffer (wait for it, that's going to be veeeery cheesy), they're meant to change the human race! They're the future! --cheesy but it makes sense, you gotta agree-- The suffering is part of evolution. If you don't feel bad for something, you'll never change it, even if it's not your fault! You've heard the stories, it's like the kids with alcoholic parents. They see what happens, take care of their parents, abhor the addiction and consequently change their own ways.
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ExcluirAfter the reasons why you relate to Charlie, I remembered when you said you wouldn't end up well. I think you were wrong. See, you and Charlie have a lot in common. I have the "participate" thing. I’m very uptight and not very anxious to know about the future, relationships and other peoples opinions, so I choose not to take part in any of that. It's the third semester and I've had so many chances to do something that can help me get the life I want yet I always choose not to take any of them. Then those guys came in, talked about their film and they needed help. I didn’t even consider it. You, however, wrote down his email address so easily as if it was just that: an email address. You didn't look anxious nor scared. When I went home and read Perks, it was just at that point, the "participate" thing, and I realized I watch my life. I was already using you as an example, so I took you and Perks as motivation to write that email, even though I nearly had a heart attack when I hit "send".
The point is: you were wrong because you're doing something about it, you're paving your way out of your own head and being successful in it. The best part is that you're taking some people with you. You've already come so far from the kid that freaked out in the bathroom. Even though it still happens, you're different now. (you're gonna say I didn't know you back then but, dude, it takes a lot of courage to talk about these stuff to someone you know for about a month or so, and that for itself already says a lot.)
I'd be friends with Charlie. He seems like a good kid and that's enough to me. In fact, I am friends with Charlie. With your Charlie, at least, 'cause your description sounds a lot like how you probably see yourself. The real problem is when both me and you are in a bad mood, because when I'm in a bad mood I get paranoid. When I get paranoid, I see you the way you get in your bad mood and I freak out and lose the ability to focus in anything but my paranoia. Still, I don't care, I'd rather be paranoid and maybe help than the alternative.
In conclusion, I'm not gonna comment the "You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love" because OF COURSE IT DOES! I mean, in the book Charlie wasn't blaming anyone, he just wanted Sam to be happy, and she seemed happy with the other kid, so he didn't interfere. That's beautiful. It's the easier way out, but still beautiful and it counts as love. Now if he started to think he was unhappy because of Sam, then he'd be wrong cause he chose that. He could at least fight over her if he really wanted to.
That's it, I'm sorry, I don't know what you expected. I'm also sorry it took me so long. I’m even more sorry that you had to read my answer and it was bigger than your text (1 – it’s the cave men's fault 2 – yes, I put it in the character count to check it's length 3 - it's gonna keep me up at night 'cause it sounds very narcissistic haha). Lastly, I'm sorry about the comas. I don't really know how to use it in english.