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Supporting and Breaking the Chain of Abuse
Taylor Downs
1
The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
 by Steven Chbosky is a modern coming of age tale inthe point of view of Charlie, a fifteen year old boy beginning his freshman year of high school.The novel has very in-depth perceptions of the trials and difficulties of Charlie, as well as thosearound him; it offers a different insight than most coming-of-age tales and has the ability toallow the reader to begin thinking in different, previously unmatched ways.
The Perks of Being aWallflower 
shows the vicious cycle of abuse in a family, and the ability to break it.The story is set in present day at a public high school in a small county of Ohio. If thestory had not taken place modernly, Charlie would not have gone to a Psychiatrist; consequently,not remembering the terrible event of sexual abuse of his childhood. All of Charlie’s extendedfamily lives close enough for them to get together for holidays, because of this Charlie isexposed to the lives of some in his family that did not break the cycle of abuse. The reader of 
The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
reads the letters Charlie writes to an anonymous correspondent;Charlie doesn’t write return addresses on the letters, nor does he use real names while talkingabout his friends or himself, though Charlie knows who the boy he writes these to is. He doesthis so the correspondent won’t know who he’s talking about, because of how specific the detailsare that he gives about himself, his family and his friends. Without the first person narration, thereader wouldn’t become so encompassed by Charlie’s emotions and experiences, and withoutCharlie’s anonymity, the reader wouldn’t be exposed to the vivid details of Charlie’s thoughtsand memories of the events or of the similar events of other family members.Every year Charlie’s family visits his father’s family at Christmas, it’s at this time thatCharlie writes explaining that his father, his father’s sister Rebecca, and his father’s mother were physically and mentally abused by their stepfather during his father’s childhood. Because of hisAunt Rebecca’s childhood of abuse, she continues to marry the same type of man that ruined her youth, thus ruining the youth of her children. Charlie’s grandfather also beat his mother and hismother’s sister Helen, his mother is very quiet throughout the novel and, in Charlie’s words“Maybe if my grandfather didn’t hit her, my mom wouldn’t be so quiet. And maybe shewouldn’t have married my dad because he doesn’t hit” (210). Charlie believes, and is probablycorrect, that his mother married his father because his father hated his abuse as extremely as hedid, and because of that neither Charlie nor his sister or brother were abused by their parents.Charlie’s Aunt Helen died when he was young boy, afterword he became depressed, anddepressed enough to have to see a Psychiatrist for over a year and stay back a grade, which, if he
 
Supporting and Breaking the Chain of Abuse
Taylor Downs
2
hadn’t, he would not have met his best friends Sam and Patrick. Charlie explains that his AuntHelen had lived with his family, which is why he and her were so close, an confesses the reasonwhy she couldn’t stay on her own was because she had been molested as a child by a familyfriend and could not get her life going successfully. Later in the novel, Charlie must revisit thePsychiatrist because he returns to that emotional place of guilt and sadness over his Aunt Helen’sdeath; he feels guilty because his Aunt Helen would not have been in the fatal car crash if shehadn’t been driving to pick him up a birthday present. The Psychiatrist asks Charlie the samequestions about his childhood over and over, annoying him because he doesn’t see the point inthem. Eventually, after a kiss with his best friend Sam, Charlie begins seeing flashes of hischildhood again. Over days he is able to piece together everything, and remembers that his AuntHelen molested him as a child. Her molestation of Charlie was a direct result of her ownchildhood sexual abuse. Neither of these abuses would have occurred had it not previouslyoccurred and scarred the women’s lives.Charlie begins the story as a shy boy, throughout the novel he meets new people andopens up about himself. However, once things seem to be getting better for him, Charlie upsetsone of his friends by trying to be honest (an outcome of the secrecy of the abuse in hischildhood), consequently being left alone by the rest. In this time, Charlie has nothing to keep hismind off of thoughts he doesn’t want to think nor remember and takes up both smoking anddrinking. He steadily deteriorates until his friends accept him again. Soon after, Patrick’s boyfriend breaks up with him, leaving Patrick distraught and using Charlie as comfort. Everynight Patrick brings Charlie out, just to keep his own mind off of his issues, and every nightPatrick kisses Charlie; though Charlie is not gay, Charlie accepts it because he had grown totolerate unwanted behavior as a child. Towards the end of the story, Sam kisses Charlie, causingCharlie to begin to slowly remember the horrors of his childhood. When it becomes too much tohandle, Charlie is submitted to the hospital by his parents and slowly becomes himself again,remembering his days and remembering his existence, and through time and therapy he feels better after a few months. He writes his last letter saying “So, if this does end up being my lastletter, please believe that things are good with me, even when they’re not, they will be soonenough” (213). Charlie’s year was a rollercoaster of emotions because of his constant copingwith a past of which he doesn’t remember until the very end, but by the end of the story, Charliefeels good.
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