As Charlie's friendship grows with Patrick, Charlie begins to party and use drugs, making friends and gaining a girlfriend in the process. However, Charlie's home life, while stable with good parents, begins to deteriorate after he sees his sister get hit by her boyfriend. A comment to his teacher, which in turn makes its way back to his parents causes his sister to alienate Charlie after their parents forbid her from seeing her boyfriend again. There are continuous references to an Aunt Helen who was always in an abusive relationship, before she passed away due to a car accident on Charlie's birthday years ago.
As the reader delves further into the story, more carnal subjects appear: homosexuality and teenage sex (which, for one character, leads to an aborted pregnancy). Charlie's life becomes more complicated as one of his friends puts the moves on him, and Charlie, for the sake of friendship, doesn't stop it. Not even a girlfriend will prevent him from pining for his elusive Sam.
Charlie is brutally and whimsically honest with his friends, which they pass off as "Charlie-esque" and cute. He is emotional and never truly tries to be someone he is not. He is protective of his friends and will (literally) fight anyone who threatens them.
He is damaged.
It is not until nearly the end of the story that you realize that he has been molested by someone close to him when he was a child. It was buried in his subconscious until Sam attempts to be intimate with him.
He is also a survivor.
His final accounts are of his rehabilitation and counselling. He believes that he no longer needs the support of his unknown reader to live life. And that he'll be just fine. His final letter ends with: "So, if this does end up being my last letter, please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough" (page 213).
I found this story to be bitterly sweet. Charlie is a likeable character who is intensely in love with Sam, but was told to "not think that way" at the start, so he's truly fighting it every step of the way. He's a good kid with a good family, but they have problems just like everyone else.
There's a poem that I want to share with you, from the story (pages70-73) that I find mesmerizing and tragic. You'll see why:
"Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines / he wrote a poem /
And he called it "Chops" / because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A / and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door / and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy / took all the kids to the zoo
And let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born / with tiny fingernails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the little girl around the corner sent him a / Valentine with a row of X's / and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it
"Once on a white paper with blue lines / he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn" / because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A / and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door / because of its new paint
And the kids told him / that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
That was the year his sister got glasses / with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed / when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why / his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad / when he cried for him to do it
"Once on a paper torn from his notebook / he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question" / because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A / and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door / because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end / of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister / making out on the back porch
And his mother and his father never kissed / or even talked
And the girl around the corner / wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her / but he kissed her anyway / because that was the thing to do
And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed / his father snoring loudly
"That's why on the back of a brown paper bag / he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A / and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door / because this time he didn't think / he could reach the kitchen"
This story reveals itself in bits and pieces. When Charlie mentions a poem that he read, the reader doesn't imagine it could be anything so sad. However, later, Charlie writes down the words and one of his friends comments on how it was a suicide note.
I really can't say too much more about it, except what I've already said: bitter sweet. I loved this story; I read it in one night and honestly didn't feel like I could write a blog about it without thinking about it first. Unfortunately, my internet went down and I subsequently forgot most of what I would've said. The story is beautiful and joyful mixed with sad and tragic. Which is pretty much the definition of adolescence.
Chbosky's magnificent work of art touched me so deeply that i grew to love Charlie. Anyone can learn something from this book regardless of age, gender, race, or religion.
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