8. Why has Charlie never asked Sam out on a date?
Suggested answer:
He wanted and then he went to María Isabel. After Mary Elizabeth, he was probably too scared.
9. Stephen Chbosky, the author of the book and director of the film, described one of the life lessons of the film as follows. What do you think of this statement:
If you present yourself exactly as you are, the right people will say yes and befriend you and accept you and you can make great friends forever.
Suggested answer:
There is no correct answer. Some students will agree, others will not. The purpose of the question is to get students to think about the question.
10. Sam said that one day he thought, "I'd see a person across the room and I knew everything was fine." What kind of thinking does this show?
Suggested answer:
There is no correct answer. A resounding answer is that this thought is an example of magical thinking. Another is that the thought is an example of romance. The basic concept is that it is not realistic. Good relationships come from loving partners doing whatever it takes to strengthen the relationship.
11. How would you describe Charlie's family and their influence on Charlie?
Suggested answer:
Adjectives that could be used are close, loving, concerned, supportive, helpful, and lifeguard. Some students may describe the family as blind or unable to see because they did not see what Helen was doing to Charlie. Unfortunately, this is true in many situations where children are abused.
12. Describe any evidence that Charlie has some type of mental illness.
Suggested answer:
There are many, but here are a few: seeing disturbing images in your mind; uncontrollable anger when someone wants to hurt a friend (this anger was so intense that it hit three old men); obsession, like when he calls everyone after parting ways with Mary Elizabeth; power outages; crying, suicidal thoughts The audience also sees Charlie taking medication.
13. What does Charlie mean when he says he feels infinite?
Suggested answer:
He is accepted by his friends and this connection makes all right with the world.
14. What is the moment in this story where Charlie gets the chance to become a hero? Why did you choose this occasion?
Suggested answer:
There are many answers to this question. The reasons for the selection must be related to the themes of the story. The writer/director chose the night of the football game where Charlie sat next to Patrick hoping to strike up a conversation.
15. If Charlie had gone to the soccer game and hadn't changed seats to be near Patrick, what would have happened?
Suggested answer:
There is no correct answer. Good answers include: there would have been no story; I would never have met Patrick or Sam; he would have remained friendless for a while longer. As Chbosky said: "He could have stayed in his seat for the next three hours and hated the fact that he would never get up."
16. Why did Charlie think about committing suicide?
Suggested answer:
There is no correct answer. The best answers relate to the themes of the story. A good answer is that repressed memories of what her Aunt Helen had done to her surfaced and they were so painful that she couldn't bear them. Also, all of his friends dropped out of school and went to college; He coped alone for the next two or three years, and while that wasn't enough for suicide, it was a contributing factor.
17. Who or what are the antagonists in this story?
Suggested answer:
There are some. For Charlie, they include Charlie's isolation; the youth culture that allows children to be avoided, insulted and bullied; the effects of the injury Charlie sustained at the hands of Aunt Helen. For Patrick, the antagonist is prejudice against homosexuals. For Sam, the antagonist is his lack of self-esteem.
18. Who or what are the protagonists of this story and what are they looking for?
Suggested answer:
Charlie is the main protagonist, but there are at least two others. Charlie seeks acceptance and friendship, love and healing from the wounds inflicted on him by Aunt Helen and Michael's suicide. Patrick is trying to recover from the loss of his relationship with Brad, specifically and generally facing prejudice against gay people. Sam searches for love and recovery after his disastrous first years in high school.
19. What did she do in the fight between Candace and her boyfriend to provoke him? Is this question relevant to determining who is to blame for this incident?
Suggested answer:
She insulted him and then ineffectually slapped his chest, doing no harm. She stayed with him after he asked her to stop. That's no excuse for Pony Tail Derek's action in hitting Candace. Boys should never hit girls; Men should never hit women. By the way, women shouldn't hit men, but due to the fact that the average man is so much stronger than the average woman, it's a hell of a lot worse for a man or boy to hit a woman or girl.
20. John Malkovich, a well-known actor and producer of this film, said that in a film "if you have a heart, you don't need feelings." What did he mean by that? Give an example from the movie.
Suggested answer:
The basic concept is that if the story evokes feelings that flow from the audience's heart, the actors and filmmakers don't have to work to show the feelings; low-key presentations (acting, music, lighting, etc.) work much better. The audience's imagination provides the emotion. An example is when Charlie tells Sam about Michael's suicide.
21. People tend to repeat faulty relationships. Does this apply to Charlie and Sam's relationship? Explain your reasoning.
Suggested answer:
The following is a theory and there are counterarguments that students can present: Sam is an older woman who worries because Aunt Helen was older and claimed to be caring. Sam gives what she thought was her first kiss to Charlie to be given by someone who loved him. She gave him a typewriter and a writing guide to help him develop his talent as a writer. Charlie describes Aunt Helen as his best friend until she met Sam. There's definitely an element of repetition to Charlie's relationship with Sam, but it's also common for little boys to have strong feelings for older girls. The apparent difference between the two relationships is that the relationship with Sam is not plagued by sexual abuse due to Charlie being older now and due to her relative closeness to Sam. That makes the difference. Keep in mind, however, that if Sam had been over 18, she could have been prosecuted in many jurisdictions for child sexual abuse of Charlie, who was probably 15 or 16. On rare occasions, prosecutions based on this type of age difference have been known to occur.
22. Why did Charlie get so angry in the cafeteria that he was able to punch three veteran football players and then not remember what he did?
Suggested answer:
Any well-reasoned answer is enough. Here's a possible answer: Charlie had been so hurt by his aunt Helen and he loved Patrick so much that he couldn't face Patrick being hurt. The reason this incident is related to the abuse Charlie suffered is that he passed out. The fact that Charlie was defending his friend was no reason for him to faint. At this point, however, his mind was on hold for anything he had to do with the sexual abuse. Seeing Patrick being attacked brought him that trouble, and since he was too close to the surface, his mind pushed the memory away.
23. This film has an explanatory phase. Where does it end and what do we know until then?
Suggested answer:
It ends at the end of the first letter where we see the words "Love, Charlie." What we do know includes something about Charlie's background, his supportive family, Charlie's hopes for the school year, and his isolation at school.
24. After the "Truth or Dare" debacle, Charlie lost the acceptance of the group, especially Patrick and Sam didn't want to see him. He panics and calls people frequently. He tells Mary Elizabeth, "I'm just as confused inside as if I'm not there." What is Charlie experiencing? Describe it.
Suggested answer:
Dissociation, which is detachment from the immediate environment. A severe form involves detachment from physical and emotional experiences.
25. Most seniors won't even talk to a freshman. Why did Patrick, Sam and Mary Elizabeth, who were all older, include Charlie in his circle of friends?
Suggested answer:
A good discussion will mention the following two points. First, these were really nice, compassionate kids. The toast, in which Patrick officially welcomes Charlie into his circle of friends, came just after Sam told Patrick about the suicide of Charlie's best friend and that he believed Charlie had no friends. . The second reason was that these upperclassmen were very low in the social pecking order of the school. Patrick refers to his parties as "The Island of Misfit Toys". Seniors of higher social standing would probably have feared that by associating with a freshman, particularly one who had been in a mental hospital the previous year, they would belittle their position in school society.
26. For each of the following dialogue points, describe its role in the development of the plot or characterization, or its relationship to the theme.
Suggested answer:
You can't just sit back and put the lives of others ahead of your own and call it love.
That moment when you know that you are not a sad story and that you are alive.
Charlie: My aunt did the same thing to both of them and it changed her life.
Sam: She must have been great. Charlie: She was my favorite person in the world so far.
I don't know if I'll have time to write another letter, I'll be too busy to participate.
At that moment I saw that we are infinite. .
The weird kid who spent time in the hospital. . .
27. What was the meaning of Charlie giving the books to Sam? What was the meaning of Charlie giving Sam the typewriter?
Suggested answer:
Charlie gave Sam the books he cared about to give him a part of himself. Sam gave Charlie a typewriter to encourage him to become self-actualized.
FAQs
Is Charlie from Perks of Being a Wallflower autistic? ›
Answer and Explanation: Charlie does not have autism in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. An argument could be made that he might be on the spectrum due to his intelligence versus his social interactions, however his growth throughout the book suggest these qualities are situational rather than character traits.
Why was Charlie hospitalized in Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›After being hospitalized for the summer after his best friend commits suicide, Charlie who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is about to embark on his first year of high school. He fears being known as the weird kid who was hospitalized for the summer and not having any friends.
What did Charlie's aunt do to him in The Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›What Charlie does not realize until the end of the book is that his Aunt Helen molested him when he was a child. We also find out that Charlie's Aunt Helen was molested by a family friend a long time ago. Because she never resolved her own abuse, she let that cycle of abuse continue and became an abuser herself.
What is the point of Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›The Perks of Being a Wallflower champions and celebrates inclusivity and tolerance by showing both how people can blossom when they are accepted for who they are and how painful life can be for people who are ignored or mistreated.
What mental illness does Patrick have in Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›They take him to parties and give him the high school experience he always wanted. The Perks of Being a Wallflower focuses on two main mental illnesses in the protagonist: post traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Who gets pregnant in The Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›When Candace gets pregnant, Charlie drives her to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion. Charlie keeps the pregnancy a secret for her. In the film, Candaces pregnancy and abortion was not included and was cut from the final film.
Why was Charlie so attached to Aunt Helen? ›Since Charlie represses the memories of his abuse for most of the novel, he generally thinks of Helen as the only person in his otherwise cold family to show Charlie affection, and he also loved that she gave him books to read.
Why did Charlie like Aunt Helen? ›He even visits her grave, telling her secrets that he only shares in his letters. So why does he love and trust her so much? He thinks it's because she was one of the few people who bought him two gifts at the holidays—one for Christmas and one for his birthday, which was Christmas Eve.
Is Charlie schizophrenia in The Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›Charlie is not schizophrenic. He is not given a specific diagnosis in the book, but based on his symptoms, he most likely suffers from anxiety and depression.
How does Charlie find out his aunt molest him? ›Charlie had realized that his Aunt Helen had been molesting him every Saturday when they watched television together, and this realization caused him to snap. Charlie's family comes together to support him, and distant relatives write letters and send flowers.
Why does Charlie blame himself for Aunt Helen's death? ›
He blames himself for his Aunt Helen's death because the last thing that she told him before her car crash was that she was going to go look for his birthday present. Charlie is able to twist his memories to feed his inner guilt, even if this guilt is irrational.
Who was Charlie writing letters to? ›The letters are to you, the reader. He's writing to you so that you can easily connect. It's supossed to be so that everyone can feel a part of it. All of the letters are to the reader.
What is the main problem in Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›Major conflict Charlie is trying to come to terms with major traumatic events from his past, but he doesn't even realize that he has repressed memories of still more trauma.
What are the trigger warnings for Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›1 - TRIGGER WARNING: Please note this film contains scenes about mental health, drug use, abuse, suicide, and self-harm which some young people may find upsetting. Due to this only young people aged 15 and over and who are accompanied by a teacher, youth worker or other DBS checked individuals can attend.
Who has an abortion in Perks of Being a Wallflower? ›One such scene was a tender moment between titular wallflower Charlie (Logan Lerman) and his sister, Candace (Nina Dobrev), whom he takes to a clinic to have an abortion.