Sullivan Perks of Being a Wallflower
Siužetinės Linijos Tekstas
- Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Kaden Sullivan
- “You ever think, Charlie, that our group is the same as any other group like the football team?And the only real difference between us is what we wear and why we wear it?” (87)
- Brad you can’t be gay
- The negative effects of stereotypes on an individual
- The rural small town setting plays a big part in expanding the theme. This is because in an area like this, stereotypes are often much more reinforced. In small towns everyone already knows each other, and everyone already has there friends groups. Take Brad for example, everyone knows him, has an opinion of him, and has expectations for him. If Brad were to break these he would borderline be ostracized. In a big, city school this is often not the case. There are so many people that you can just make new friends, and there’s so much news and drama that every event is much smaller. In a small school if Brad came out as gay it would be huge news, everyone would know, and people would move on much slower. Although when Charlie says this quote he is referring to family, it very well describes rural, small school life. Face to face everyone is friendly, but people hate each other behind there backs. Had Brad come out, people may not attack him to his face, but many people would drift away from him and stop being his friend. The setting of a high school also has a large effect, as high school is one of the most judge mental, and self conscious times in everyones lives. Overall the main effect the setting has on this novel is exaggerating the stereotypes and putting the novel in one of the most judge mental places in the world.
- “First, I am very interested and fascinated by how everyone loves each other, but no one reallylikes each other.” (34)
- The negative effects of stereotypes on an individual.
- “That was the night [Brad] threw rocks at Patrick’swindow and told Patrick that nobody could know, and Patrick understood. They only see each other now at night on golf courses and at parties like Bob’s where the people are quiet and under-stand these things.” (28)This quote is directly related to the theme, and is one example throughout the novel of stereotypes hurting someone. Brad feels like he has to hide his feelings, and who he is, in order to fit what people expect of him. Because he is athletic and a football star, everyone expects him to be straight. If he were to come out, and break this stereotype, many people (his friends, family, etc) would completely change their opinions on him.
- One of the main conflicts in the novel is Charlie not knowing who he is. At the beginning of the novel he has little to no real interests others than reading. He doesn’t participate in anything, and he has no real friends. This changes when he meets Patrick and Sam. Patrick helps him participate more, but as he sets them as his role models he does the same things they do. He wants to fit in with there stereotype, or what they consider normal. Because of this he starts doing drugs, drinking, and smoking cigarettes. He follows the stereotypes or norms of his friend group. Even the first time he got high, he didn’t really mean to. One of his friends just handed him a brownie and told him to eat it. He falls into this stereotype and becomes another person in the group. He never really tries anything new for himself, but only because others in his group tell him he is supposed to do it. Doing this ends up cutting him off from many things, and many people. He never becomes friends, or even tries to become friends with any of the “jocks”. This quote shows how the only thing separating these groups is stereotypes stating they shouldn’t like each other. These stereotypes hurts everyone, as it creates unnecessary division.
- Throughout the novel Charlie makes it clear he both doesn’t feel like he is normal, and really isn’t very normal. Often people comment on how weird he is, and for lots of the novel he doesn’t really fit in with a clear stereotype, even when he tries to. Because of this many people end up not liking him, or just ignoring him. This quote shows the negative impacts these expected stereotypes have had on him. He just wishes to fit in with one of them, and even tries to contort himself into one. Although no matter what he does, he never quite fits in with any of them, and because of this he loses all self confidence and many people treat him poorly.
- “Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense.” (79)
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