A Lonely Life

Have you ever been in a place in life when nothing is going your way? The book Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is meaningful because it explores the life of a lonely teenager named Charlie who struggles getting over the loss of his best friend and his aunt. The reason that Charlie’s loneliness is meaningful is because Charlie’s journal entries in the book show his journey of getting through this horrible loss. Stephen Chbosky teaches readers how to cope with something so terrible.

After getting into a huge fight with his newly found friends, Charlie wrote of his last few emotionally disturbing weeks. He wrote of those weeks as if he was completely isolated in his own world, not interacting with anyone. This connects to his loneliness because he is not happy and very unsocial at this point in the book. Charlie tried to ignore the whole in his heart before the fighting but just then the horror he felt had come rushing back to him. Charlie’s vivid, deep description of his life was enlightening to me. But, it also made me feel devastated because these things actually happen around the world. I can never imagine what it would feel like going through this.

Charlie becomes completely broken down and feels no one else in the world when he thinks about special moments with his Aunt Helen. Charlie falls into extreme sadness and can barely control his actions in these moments of deep thoughts about his aunt. He believes that he caused her death and has attempted to do very bad things to himself because of his feelings of guilt. Whenever this happens his friends and family do whatever they can to help him get through it. This gives this meaning strong meaning because it shows readers what can happen to people in times of grief. Charlie’s loneliness is a special case because his family is struggling to get him through it. He was hospitalized because of attempted suicide and begins to take a slightly different view of the world and life. Eventually, Charlie realizes how much love is being given to him and gets over his life-changing losses. I think what the author was trying to get across is that great loss can lead to horrible things but if you rely on those who love you to get you through it, they will.

Charlie’s immense isolation is intensified because of his depression, which is happening in the background of his life. He has lost close family and friends, which is nearly impossible to get over. This book is meaningful because it deals with the common issue of depression among teens. Many teens are dealing with this horrible feeling and the Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky shares this feeling with its readers.