The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Character analysis

The main character and narrator in the book The Perks of being a wallflower is Charlie. The book is told from his perspective. Charlie is a wallflower; he is constantly trying to gain a better perspective and understanding of the people around him, that could be friends, family or actors he reads about. An example is when Bill asks him if he always thinks so much he answers straight back with “is that bad?” (p.26 l.19) Charlie often reflects on his life through books - he loves to read and hopes to become a writer someday. These reflections are both positive and negative but gives a very good understanding of Charlie. At one point Charlie reflects on how his Aunt Helen passed away and how he almost “blacked out” upon getting the news - this then led to Charlie seeing a doctor because his mental state was deteriorating, which we can see since he does not remember much other than when he started getting better. Charlie still has those blackouts because he will think too much, but reading helps him for the reason that he has his attention on something else “…but now I’m trying not to think about it too much because that makes it worse… it gets to a point where none of it seems real… I open my eyes and I see nothing” (p.79 l. 2-11)