Sydney Bushnell
Reflection 1 on The
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Written
in almost a diary format, but actually written as letters to “Friend”, Stephen
Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower
cannot be ruled out in the running for one of the best young adult literature
novels out there. It at least qualifies on the list of the “best”
characteristics of young adult literature. But who can say what actually qualifies as the best
characteristics of young adult literature? (rhetorical
question) However(Using “however”
correctly), compared to
the previous novel, Drama, Perks has much more complex content
within the story. I feel that it is much more relatable to not only young
adults, but a larger range of young adults, from middle school all the way
through college. I read it my first time, for fun; only a year ago and still
feel that it applies to me. The reason being for this might be that the
characters range from incoming freshman in high school all the way through
college. So there are aspects of it that relate to many more age levels.
Whereas Drama particularly was aimed
at a smaller age level, around 7th and 8th graders.
Young adult literature answers what
questions young adults have about themselves. (One sentence
paragraph)
Who
is Charlie? And what is he going to do about it? (Rhetorical questions) We can ask this question of
the novel (or at least this first half that we have read), but a reader most
likely could not get one solid, concrete answer out of it. We, as the readers,
are still trying to figure out who Charlie is and where he will go from there.
Will he sink into a depression again? Will he and Sam ever get together for
real? Will Patrick and/or Brad every come out with their relationship publicly,
and if so, how will this affect them? We see everything through Charlie’s eyes…everything—even his (using a dash not with an appositive)
awkward instances of his trip on LSD. But through his eyes, we see everyone
else so well too because his character is, well, a wallflower. And because of
this we can feel a connection with multiple characters, and not just Charlie
himself is what gives this story good dynamics. It is all about him, but with
that we see other people because he sees other people.
There
are a lot of instances and emotions that young adults reading this could relate
to. Again, young adults of a wide range can relate to this. Whether that be relating to a bad
trip on drugs, or knowing someone who has been abused by their
boyfriend/girlfriend and what to do about it, family issues, suicide, friends
of different sexualities. (Long
Sentence) That’s
just the first half.(Short Sentence)
Although knowing what happens, and knowing that each of these topics is
discussed more fully. Has
Charlie had a coming of age moment yet? (Real
question) I don’t personally think that he has had his coming of age
moment yet, but I think there are moments in the story where he might feel that
he has matured, many of those moments, actually. For instance, when Charlie is going to his first
party and him overcoming a stage of his depression and his first real kiss to
someone who loves him and even him receiving his learners permits and taking is
first solo drives to see his Aunt Helen’s grave. (Simple sentence with
compounded verbs connected with ands and no commas) I feel that we
as the readers can tell that Charlie feels he is maturing as these moments
happen. But for us as the readers I don’t think we have experienced his coming
of age moment yet with him. He is growing up and doing more grown-up things,
but I don’t think that means he has reached a new level of maturity yet.
Personally, I think that the way Charlie views situations and people is very
mature for his age, but I don’t think he realizes this yet and when he does
realize it, then (using “then”) that would be a coming of age moment for him.
So
far, this book has great aspects to it, not only aspects that would be useful
in teaching future students, but aspects that we can learn ourselves. I don’t
think that this book is out of our age level. It is simple enough of a story,
but rather than (using “than”) being simply written and simple context like Drama, it has a lot of complex ideas to
it. It is at this point, a very good piece of young adult literature.
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