How old is charlie in perks of being a wallflower

Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Plot Summary. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Epilogue. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.

Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play. Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read.

The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. Charlie, the protagonist of the novel, tells the story of his first year of high school through writing letters to an anonymous friend.

In his letters, Charlie is sensitive, observant, curious, reflective, and deeply lonely, feeling like an outsider even within his own family. As a child, Charlie was molested by his Aunt Helen , who was his favorite person in the world. She died while driving to buy him a birthday present on his 7th birthday, and Charlie feels at least partially to blame for her death. Throughout the novel, he carries the emotional weight of both his guilt and his repressed trauma, and his family demonstrates a pattern of keeping secrets, never really being open with each other.

He struggles through the normal teenage challenges—friend groups, intimacy, grades, etc. Luckily, Charlie meets Patrick and Sam , two seniors at his school who invite him into their friend group and give him a sense of belonging. Together, they bond over reading and music and navigate relationships, social expectations, and the tough and messy transitions of adolescence.

Charlie also develops a stronger sense of self throughout the year through writing, reading books , and listening to music and decides that he wants to be a writer one day.

For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:. Part 1 Quotes. Related Characters: Charlie speaker. Page Number and Citation : 2 Cite this Quote. Explanation and Analysis:. Related Themes: Relationships and Intimacy. Page Number and Citation : 8 Cite this Quote. Related Characters: Charlie speaker , Bill. Related Symbols: Books. Page Number and Citation : Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 17 Cite this Quote.

Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve. Page Number and Citation : 24 Cite this Quote. I feel infinite. Related Characters: Charlie speaker , Sam , Patrick. Related Symbols: Music. Page Number and Citation : 33 Cite this Quote. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. Related Characters: Charlie speaker , Patrick speaker.

Page Number and Citation : 37 Cite this Quote. Part 2 Quotes. A male model putting himself through community college, Craig is essentially everything Charlie is not: muscular, older than Sam, unfaithful, and not very bright.

Mary Elizabeth invites Charlie to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and they date, but she is more interested in talking about herself than about building a relationship. Charlie initially seems to be participating more in his life by dating Mary Elizabeth, but he lets her dominate him, and he gets frustrated. Quarterback of the football team, and a closeted homosexual. Instead of standing up to his father, Brad continues to suppress his sexuality, and Brad calls Patrick a derogatory homosexual slur in front of the whole school.

Former high school football star who now plays for Penn State. High school senior who is in an abusive relationship. When she gets pregnant, she asks Charlie to drive her to and from the abortion clinic. Kind and caring to Charlie, but still emotionally reeling from the death of her sister. Charlie was bullied and largely friendless in middle school for being a shy bookworm, the same which he vows not to happen as he enters his freshman year in high school, although he will have to navigate those hallways on his own, as who was his only true friend, Michael, committed suicide just before the summer.

Charlie's year does not start well as the only person whom he seems to connect with is his Advanced English teacher, Mr. Anderson, who can see that Charlie is the one person in the class who truly does enjoy literature for literature's sake and not just as a means to a good grade. However, Charlie is eventually befriended by some seniors, step-brother and sister Patrick and Sam, and their small group of friends, Mary Elizabeth, Alice and Bob who all consider themselves misfits.

Even with this accepting group, Charlie admits he still doesn't know how to act around people, a misstep which could threaten those friendships. If a misstep is to occur, it probably would concern his growing attraction for Sam, who is dating a college student named Craig. All Charlie does know is that his blackouts, letters he writes to his "friend", and specific flashbacks - his conscious and subconscious coping mechanisms - have lessened the more he has spent time with these friends.

But he may not be able to escape fully his past, specifically issues about who he considered the person he loved most in the world before meeting Sam, namely his now deceased Aunt Helen.

Sign In. At first, Charlie is a wallflower because he has no friends and does not try to connect with people. At dances, he is literally a wallflower because he stands off to the side instead of joining in. However, as the novel progresses, Charlie learns how to be a wallflower but not a doormat. As Charlie continues to push himself to be part of life rather than using the coping mechanism of letting things wash by him, he discovers his own talents.