If I had to pinpoint one book as the summation of teenage experiences, it would be The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Not everyone agrees, however. Despite the book being an instant bestseller since its publication in 1999 and a Hollywood movie to match in 2012, the book consistently shows up on lists of the most banned titles in America. PEN America recorded 25 challenges to the book in the 2022-2023 school year, which will undoubtedly rise as censorship continues to become more rampant in the United States’ educational systems.
When doing my research for this book, I was shocked to find out how controversial it was considered in literary circles. For me, it was a formative reading and viewing experience. It’s one of those books I look back on fondly when I remember my younger literary years. The movie never fails to make me cry, and at one point, I even wanted a tattoo of my favorite quote from the book on my shoulder.
Most criticism aimed at the novel focuses on the mature themes discussed. Stephen Chbosky’s work doesn’t shy away from topics such as the LGBTQIA+ experience, suicide, sexual abuse, drug abuse, and violence. Furthermore, it’s a book explicitly written as an adolescent coming-of-age novel for teenagers.
Naturally, this makes the book ripe for debate among parents, educators, and others who consider the novel too mature in its themes to be appropriate for teenage audiences.
The novel focuses on the adolescent experiences of Charlie, a boy who decides to write letters to a “Friend” following the loss of his best friend, Michael, who committed suicide, and his favorite aunt, Helen, who died in a car crash. He’s in his freshman year of high school and feeling lost and alone until he meets two seniors, Patrick and Sam. When the two decide to take him in, Charlie finds a place for himself and engages more actively in his life, but must come to terms with the ghosts of his past.
Rereading this book filled me with all the emotions of my teenage self. Though I’d like to think I’m not that far removed from Charlie’s age, falling back into Chbosky’s work reminded me of what it felt like to experience the emotional range of a high schooler. One minute, you’re having the best day of your life because you’re with friends who understand you better than anyone. The next minute, you’ve never felt so low. Perks covers the pendulum swing of teenage emotions like no other and really nailed how it feels to be young and searching for yourself through Charlie’s voice.
My lifelong crush on Logan Lerman may be swaying me here, for those who’ve seen the movie, but Charlie’s journey is an absolute joy to follow throughout the novel. He starts off unsure of himself and why he matters. He is the titular “wallflower,” after all. Throughout the book, readers watch him bloom with people who truly appreciate him. We get to see him fall in and out of love, struggle with his sense of self, and experiment with “grown-up problems” like questions of complicity and reckoning with childhood trauma while retaining a sense of innocence that makes him endlessly endearing.
If it wasn’t clear already, I’m a big fan of his arc in the book. While naysayers like to focus on how the novel covers topics such as homosexuality, drug abuse, and sexual content, I say: isn’t that an aspect of the teenage experience?
While not everyone is living out the plot of a coming-of-age novel or experimenting with drugs like Charlie and his friends, everyone is experiencing the same feelings of intense loneliness and anxiety, coupled with a need to belong. The book never makes light of its depictions of drug abuse, and the characters come to their organic understanding that the world isn’t as romantic as they initially thought.
And yet, the book suggests that you must create your light when faced with so much darkness. To censor a book that covers questions that many teenagers in real life are grappling with is harmful. If they don’t read about characters struggling with similar things, they can’t feel validated or seen. Banning Perks from high school shelves prevents it from being read by the audience that needs it the most: young people.
Just because the characters are teenagers doesn’t make them immune to the realities of the world. For those who want to call the book “adult” in its messages, they need to think about when most people are introduced to sexuality, drugs, and the darkness in humanity. The answer is always high school.
Some spoilers: Charlie’s best friend Patrick is gay and in a relationship with a closeted jock. Charlie’s sister is abused by her boyfriend but begs him not to say anything. Charlie himself must reckon with the sexual abuse that he realizes his favorite aunt Helen inflicted on him.
It makes no sense to censor a book that asks readers to embrace the totality of life. While you can never fully be free from the trappings of society, Perks suggests that having a good group of people and a mindset focused on reflection and empathy can make life more bearable.
When I read the book as a kid, it was my first foray into writing that didn’t try to protect me from life’s realities by glossing over serious subjects. Reading it as an adult, it’s clear that Chbosky’s respect for readers is still there. Of note to me is Charlie’s realization that his aunt abused him. While it’s an emotionally charged moment because of how vile that action is, I was struck more by how heartbreaking it was for Charlie to realize that someone he considered a hero took advantage of her power over him in all his impressionable youth.
In a way, Perks fights back against the adults who claim they know best in trying to ban it from bookshelves. The book asks us to not blindly accept the power of authority figures without sacrificing the sense of respect for genuine people. The book also asks young adults to make their own choices because they matter beyond high school. Telling children to think for themselves and empowering them to have a sense of agency beyond the environment they’re raised is a quietly revolutionary idea.
While Perks isn’t the first to dabble with concepts like thinking for yourself, it’s a modern-day example of a novel that puts its readers first and doesn’t try to undermine or dismiss the teenage experience. In a review for the movie (which is equally great), Roger Ebert said, “All of my previous selves still survive somewhere inside of me, and my previous adolescent would have loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
Somewhere inside everyone is the part of themselves that’s still 16, lost and looking for a place where they belong. If they pick up Chbosky’s book, they may well find what they are looking for. And when I read it again, for a moment, I swear I was infinite.
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