Characters & Plot
The main characters in this story are: Charlie, Sam, Patrick, and Mary Elizabeth. They do mention other people such as Brad, Bill(Mr.Anderson), and Candace but they don't come up as much as the other four. This book is narrated by Charlie and he is an anti social kid going into freshmen year of high school. Throughout the book as I read I came to the conclusion that Charlie is just a new teen learning how to be a teenager. In the beginning Charlie mentions that his best friend Michael ended his own life during summer and that his favorite aunt died in a car crash on her way to get a present for him when he was little. On the first day Charlie was quiet and anti social but that changed when Charlie met Sam and Patrick. Sam and Patrick were step brother and sister and they automatically liked Charlie once they started talking to him. After that one moment of conversating Charlie fell in love with Sam but she goes on to say that she only wants to be friends. One night all three of them went to a party and someone gave Charlie drugs and as he was high he wandered around the house and found Patrick kissing Brad and that's when Charlie found out Patrick was gay. Later on in the book the three continuously go to parties and Charlie continues to do drugs. Once Mary Elizabeth and Charlie become friends she falls for him and even though he didn't feel the same he still dated her. Not feeling the same way Charlie messed up their relationship/friendship not meaning to but she still forgave him. Patrick goes through a hard time , Sam does as well and Charlie feels like he's the one to blame because he messed up in some way or another. At the end of the story Sam, Patrick, and Mary Elizabeth have to graduate from high school and Charlie feels really sad about that but in the end he knows he still gets to see them. Being stressed about his life and his friends leaving one day he faints and has a flash back about his aunt and he realizes what she did to him was the reason she bought him all those presents every time she visited him.
Important Themes & Symbols
From my point of view I think the theme is that being a teenager is rough and that it's a part of your life that is emotionally going to be the biggest struggle. Charlie represents a real life teen in high school. Everyone and everything talked about in this book represents a life seen through the eyes of a teenager. Charlie goes through depression, anxiety, and feeling "love" (chapter 2, 7, and 13). Those qualities are a huge part of a high schoolers life. Almost everyone goes through that one moment (when being a teen) of being stressed out with everything. Being a teenager right now and having true friends I know that they are going through hard times and even I have gone through them as well. This book is simply telling its readers (teenagers) that it's ok. That everyone goes through hard times and that they just need to keep going even though they make mistakes they just need to learn and grow from them.
" Well, I think that part of being young is not exactly knowing why you do some of the things you do. And its by exploring your life or experimenting or making mistakes and learning from them hopefully that you start to forge an identity".
~ Stephen Chbosky
~ Stephen Chbosky