The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
Fiction
# of pages read this week: 50/213

Summary

In the 50 pages that I read this week, a lot happened. One of the main events was that Charlie's older sister finds out that she is pregnant. At first his sister finds out she is pregnant she doesn't know what to do, but Charlie finds out and ends up going with her to her doctors appointment. No one other than Charlie and herself know about the pregnancy and she is hoping it will stay that way. There is a long wait at the doctors office, but in the end Charlie's sister decides to have an abortion. Charlie goes back to the car and takes out a cigarette and starts smoking, his sister sees him doing so and is outraged. Charlie is smart enough to know why it wasn't a mistake that his sister saw him smoking because she knew that if she told their parents he was smoking then Charlie would tell their parents that his sister is pregnant, and of course she didn't want that. Another thing that I found out is that Charlie has started smoking heavily; up to 10 cigarettes a day. Charlie also has a girlfriend called Mary Elizabeth and his dad finds out and gives him a talk. There is also a dance that Charlie goes to, Sam and Patrick also went. Charlie doesn't have a date and sits at the dance most of the time. After the dance Mary Elizabeth invites Charlie to her house since her parents were gone. She asks Charlie many questions like whether he thinks she's pretty or not, etc. Then she proceeds to kiss him. They are nearly caught by Mary Elizabeth's parents in the garage. A few days later, Charlie goes to Craig's party with everyone. They play truth or dare and Charlie is dared by Patrick. The dare is for Charlie to kiss whoever he thinks is the prettiest girl in the room. Everyone expects him to kiss Mary Elizabeth, since she is his girlfriend after all but that doesn't exactly happen. Charlie kisses Sam. Sam swears at Charlie whilst Mary Elizabeth goes and locks herself in the bathroom since she is extremely upset. Charlie leaves the party and is driven home by Patrick. Patrick is a good friend of Charlie and tells him not to worry and that things like this pass over time. Charlie's friends start ignoring him making Charlie depressed.

Response 

In my opinion, these 50 pages were full of exciting and sad moments. A lot happened and I can't help wondering what will happen next. I don't like the fact that Charlie started to smoke heavily and I do hope he stops sooner rather than later. There was a major turn of events, especially at Craig's party when Charlie kisses Sam instead of his girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth. It was a hurtful thing to do but I also understand that in the end Charlie was being honest and now he doesn't have to live a lie. I expect for Charlie's to forgive him, and in time all the hurt feelings and misunderstanding will heal. I think that Patrick will be the only one who will help him through his troubles at the moment because Patrick truly understands Charlie. It was also shocking that Charlie's sister is pregnant and for Charlie to be so considerate and help her through and most importantly keep it from his parents must mean that he really cares for her and that his sister trusts Charlie enough to let him in to what she is going through.  

Passage 

"(...) and I said, I love you." "And my sister said, I love you, too. Just stop it with the laughing already." (Chbosky, pg. 120)

I chose this passage because, as I said before, even though Charlie and his sister do not get a long most of the time, when they both need each other the most they are there for one another and are always willing to help. I also chose this passage because I can relate it to the relationship my brother and I have. We argue almost all the time but whenever one of us needs any sort of help, guidance, advice, or just a shoulder to cry on we are there for each other and we care and love each other very much.