The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Ione Saffady                                             804
    
 The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky,is my new all time favorite book. It's great and  deals with many mature themes and messages. A big one being death. Death is something many people go through and in this book the main character, Charlie experiences this a lot. As much as we are upset by death you have to pull ourselves together and go on with our life. Charlie learns this with two people he dearly cared about, Aunt Helen and Michael, who was probably his only friend.      Michael's suicide is brought up right in the beginning of the book. It's truly heartbreaking to hear what Charlie has gone through. A specialist talks to people that were close to Michael to see how they were feeling and possibly to make sure none of them were thinking of doing the same thing. Charlie was extremely confused, why wouldn't Michael have talked to him? The specialist said Michael probably had "problems at home" he didn't feel comfortable talking about which made Charlie explode. "Then, I started screaming at the guidance counselor that Michael could have talked to me. And I started crying even harder." As you can see Charlie took Michaels death really hard. 
     However, Michaels death didn't just effect him the day Charlie found out. It stayed with him and it probably will forever because you can't just forget someone that means so much to you. I can tell he still cares because later in the book on page 70, he writes a poem that reflects his true feelings. The poem is about a boy and how messed up his life is."And he gave himself an A and a slash on each wrist And he hung it on the bathroom door because this time he didn't think he could reach the kitchen." This shows how Michaels death has had an impact on Charlie's life, it's not like he forgot about him because he still thinks about Michael but he has done his best to move on.
     Charlie has also experienced the tragic death of his Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen was really close with Charlie, they watched movies together and went to the zoo. Charlie's birthday is the day before Christmas so most of his relatives bring one present for both days but Aunt Helen always brought him two. He really loved her. On the day of his birthday a police man arrived at the door saying that Aunt Helen had been in a car accident from the snowy weather and was dead. At first Michael was in denial he thought the police man had made a mistake, surely she  wasn't dead. Soon after it hit him. He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault. page 92 says, "And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she bought me one present like everybody else. She would be alive today if I were born on a day that didn't snow." Charlie feels like it's his fault Aunt Helen has died but the reader knows this isn't true. It's important for Charlie to move past the day she died so that he can forgive himself. 
    Because of Aunt Helen's death, at age seven Charlie had to go to a hospital until he felt alright again. Until he could even talk. On page 79 it shows Charlie's birthday which is also the day Aunt Helen died, and how depressed he is. "(mom)'Is it your aunt Helen'It was the way she said it that started me feeling.'Please don't do this to yourself Charlie.' But I did it to myself. Like I do every year on my birthday.'I'm sorry'". This shows how Aunt Helens death affected Charlie and how because of it on his birthday, a day your supposed to celebrate, he can't let himself be happy. It's such a difficult task to feel okay after someone dies but Charlie owes it to himself to celebrate his birthday.
     In conclusion, Charlie has lost people that he loved but he can't change the past so he has to forgive himself and move on. I recently lost a friend named Sammy Cohen Eckstein. It was difficult on the entire school and I won't ever be able to forget him. At the same time I know there isn't anything I can do now to change the past and that I have to move on. It's gonna take time but eventually his friends and family will be able to accept their loss. They wont ever forget him but there will come a day where they will stop crying. This is similar for Charlie because everyone needs a little closure. The question nobody can answer, how do you possibly let go of someone? 

Rest In Peace