The coming of age theme in The Perks of being a Wallflower is that he is overcoming his first love. It explores in the mind of Charlie all his emotion and drama.
Dealing with all the things that happen in Charlie’s life. He had to grow up and learn to let go of the things that had happened in the past. Charlie is new and he wasn’t used to having attention from people at school, he’s a wallflower, meaning he just sits and watches from the sidelines, doesn’t join in on anything.He is coping with his friends suicide causing him anxiety and fear, he has to grow up and move on from what has happened in the past, but that’s what Charlie finds difficult, he cant seem to move on and let go of his old life. Charlie had to try and forget about his Aunt molesting him.
As he grows up, things bring up flashbacks, causing him to be hospitalised. This is caused when Sam touched his leg, he freaks out. As he grows up being a teenager things are easily triggered.Charlie goes crazy inside his head because nobody knows about what happened, he cant move on unless he tells someone about what happened. That’s what is going to set him free to live his life.
He has no idea how to deal with it, so he has to grow up and speak up, which is outside of his comfort zone. He thinks about suicide but he knows its not the way out. He really had to grow up to get over everything that had happened.He goes through traumatic events as a child which result in his unique personality.
““Appreciate those around you, but do more then make them happy. Be honest with them and let them appreciate you for you, completely and truthfully. Its okay to be a wallflower, but only as long as you ‘participate’ often enough to let people notice that you are there” reading the book it helped you understand Charlies realization of self doubt, you watched as Charlie grew. He finally knew it was okay to be different.
