Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Laura Wright's Perks of Being a Wallflower Blog

Laura Wright
Mrs. Siragusa
3/1/11
4AC

Subject: Friendship.

Theme: It always feels good to know that you have someone who is on your side that you can count on to help and talk to you if you need it.

Audience: Young adult, maturing teens.

Attitude: Happiness, Companionship, Saftey.

Rhetorical Strategy: Characterization.

Textual Evidence:
"In middle school, Susan was very fun to be around. She liked movies , and her brother Frank made her tapes of this great music that she shared with us. But over the summer she had her braces taken off, and she got a little taller and prittier and grew breasts. Now, she acts a lot dumber in the hallways especially when boys are around. And i think it's sad because Susan doesn't look as happy" (Pages 6-7).

"Mary Elizabeth is a very interesting person because she has a tattoo that symbolizes Buddhism and a belly button ring and wears her hair to make somebody mad, but when she's in charge of something, she acts like my dad when he comes home from a "long day" (Page 47).

Commentary:
The Author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky used the Rhetorical Strategy of Characterization throughout his novel. Characterization is the method used by a writer to develop a character. He uses this to develop a strong sense of the characters personalities and what their lives were truley like during their high school experiences. Chbosky explains how people change for both the better and for the worse, like how Susan did. Stephen makes it so that the readers are able to relate in a way with the feelings and events that occur throughout their years of high school. For example, Charlie states "The reason I wrote this letter is because I start high school tomorrow and i am really afraid of going" (Page 6). I believe everyone has some type of fear of going to their first day of Freshman year because they are unsure of what to expect and sometimes feel as though they may need to change to fit in.

TEAR:
The Novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is bildungsrosman novel. It reassures the fact that it always feels good to know that you have someone who is on your side that you can count on to help and talk to you if you need it. Stephen uses the rhethorical device of Characterization to develop the Characters in the novel. When Charlie gets in a fight with Sean his bully, Charlie ends up beating him up and says"..And i did. And i really hurt Sean. And then i started crying" (Page 7). This shows how Charlie has done what he felt he had to do, but when it was all done and over with he felt very guilty and upset because it wasn't truley the kind of person he was. It also symbolizes how he feels sorry and doesn't like to hurt anyone. Characterization gives us a better, more clear explanation of what the Characters are like and a discription of them. This helps us to be able to relate to them and be able to feel with them if we have gone through some of the same changes in personaltities and events in our own high school years. Both The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger are great novels on the troubles and experiences of a teenager going though school and feeling some type of fear along the way. In The Catcher in the Rye Holden gets kicked out of his fourth straight school for failing and this is because he has had tough times in his life with his brother dying and it really effects his actions and how he applys himself. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower Charlie's Aunt Helen died in a Car Crash on his Brithday. This made it difficult for him at times throughout his freshman year because he felt as though he was to blame for her death.

My Question:
Why do you think Charlie begins to blame his Aunt Helens death on himself? What are some examples of what he begins to say about this? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

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