"Study as if you were to live forever, live as if you were to die tomorrow." (Maria Mitchell)

September 13, 1992

Dear Friend,

I guess that last letter wasn't really going to be my last letter. I knew it wasn't, so I don't know why I wrote "if this does end up being my last letter."

So far this school year is lonely. I thought maybe the skinny kid that lockered next to me last year might say hi to me this year, but so far he has not. Sam and Patrick would say hi, I know they would. I really wish they were here this year. My sister, too--I miss her a lot. There aren't any new boyfriends around the house anymore to observe or wish that I could watch TV with. It is really cloudy today too, I think it might thunderstorm.

I just finished the book The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Guess how I picked the book? My new advanced English teacher (whom I call Mr. Talsted, not by his first name like Bill) suggested it to me. Seems that Bill and Mr. Talsted had a talk about me, and that I'll probably be doing a lot of essays and stuff like last year. That's okay though. I'll still visit Bill.

The Sun Also Rises has made think of some things that I don't know what to do about. Maybe nothing. But I often wonder whether I hide my own emotions instead of dealing with them. Like missing Sam and Patrick. I try to forget that they're gone and just pretend that they'll be in school tomorrow. They're just playing hooky today.

But since I wonder if I'm burying my emotions away, what do I do if I have no place left to bury them? Maybe the place that I bury them will get too full and I won't be allowed to ever even think that I have emotions. Or maybe I should just face my emotions?

My mind is running too fast right now. I'm not sure if I'm going to like all the books Mr. Talsted wants me to read. It's thundering out now. What a gloomy day.

Love always,
Charlie

In an interview with the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky answers questions in an online chat forum. A specific question asked by BJ LovEng raises the question whether Charlie had an ephiphany or not. This is an interesting issue to explore, especially since Chbosky affirms the question and says Charlie had a sort of "moment of realization."

What brings me to this is my confusion with the epilogue when Charlie spent two months in the hospital. At first, I thought perhaps that Charlie did something severe to himself knowing that his friends were leaving for college which parallels to when Charlie was in the hospital when Aunt Helen died.

The interview with Chbosky doesn't make it clear as to what Charlie's ephiphany was, but it may be accurate to assume that Charlie's friends meant so much to him and were such in intricate part of his life that their leaving left Charlie not only emotionally hurt, but physically hurt as well.
Remember when Charlie kissed Sam at the party instead of his own girlfriend, and that Patrick basically told him to lay low for a while until things smoothed over? After a while, Charlie could hardly stand the isolation. He was lonely and craved the interaction with his friends again. Having personal relationships was an important thing for Charlie.

On the other hand, as much as I argue the importance of his friends, I want to also say that this was not apparent to Charlie. When Patrick told him to lay low for a while, Charlie took it with a grain of salt. He didn't seem overly emotional or upset that he wasn't able to talk to his friends. He basically felt as if he deserved it as punishment.

The tone of Charlie's journal entries are so melancholy and mellow that I often wondered about Charlie's alertness. Was he constantly numb? I never got a clear sense of his anger, his happiness, even though at times he used words to express his feelings, the choice of words still left an air of dullness.

However after reading the interview with Chbosky, I learned that Chbosky's intent was perhaps, in a way, for the book was to be a collection of observations from the viewpoint of a teenage boy, where Charlie and the characters ran from their emotions rather than facing them.

I don't think there is a specific type of literature adolescents should or shouldn't read. It all depends on the individual and the context. For example, say a teacher gives his/her students an assignment or project that involves reading a novel from a list of available resources they can use. Even though the students have several options, their choices are essentially limited to what is on the list. What type of literature should be on the list? That also depends on the purpose of the project. Perhaps the class is working with issues that surround recent world tragedies such as the tsunami or floods, then the literature might include books such as Children of the Tsunami.
However, I would hope that students would not only choose to read literature for school purposes. Children should be motivated and encouraged to read outside of the classroom for their own pleasure. In such instances, they should have an unlimited amount of choices of what to read. Perhaps some kids really enjoy science fiction, then Harry Potter books would be great for them to read, or perhaps they are really into animals and find factual books such as this very interesting to them.
I really believe it directly depends on the child's interests, and most importantly, children should be allowed to choose what kind of literature they enjoy reading.
Of course I realize that in many instances some books may be inappropriate for adolescents to read (i.e passionate love novels, etc). Those exceptions can be left up to parents/guardians/teachers. However for the most part, it would be great to see an adolescent read outside of a classroom anyway. With all the virtual gaming that is available today, getting children to actually pick up a book is the first step.