The Theme of Adolescent Frustration in The Perks of Being a Wallflower

         In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky the issue of adolescent frustration kept on popping up over and over again in the book. The book made me realize this frustration as no longer gross and desperate, but pure frustration that is full of longing and hope, with the ultimate need just to feel important to someone. In the book, the main character Charlie has all this frustration inside of him, such as being in love with his best girl friend and a dysfunctional family, he feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere. The intense need to feel something real and intimate is a huge part of this culminating adolescent frustration by Charlie. I saw quite interestingly that this frustration can be expressed by kids doing things at a very young age, like drug abuse, getting completely drunk and having casual hookups, expressing their emotional and sexual frustration. In the book, Charlie smokes weed and inhales some sort of powerful drug, gets wasted at parties and hookups with a girl. I have witnessed this occurring at my middle school and I didn’t really pay much thought to it, only maybe just kids trying to grow up too fast, but ever since I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I realized that kids do it because of something much more emotional and painful. It’s an escape to ease away all frustrations and doubts about their lives and themselves. As you can see, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky made me see the issue of adolescent frustration in an entirely new light.

         Part of adolescent frustration as I saw in the text sexual frustration is a very dominating part of this frustration. The stereotype of an adolescent boy is all he wants is sex and hooking up with the hottest girls, but I saw that Charlie wanted an intimate soulful relationship, not sex. His first girlfriend, a girl named Mary Elizabeth, merely said hi to him every day and asked “What’s up?” But Charlie wanted more. He wanted to feel something real and pure, a connection between two beings that would bound them together for the rest of their lives. That is the exact stereotype of an adolescent girl. The girl wants this fairytale love story with a happily ever after, but Charlie’s sister had intense lust for this boy she was going out with and she even got pregnant with his child. She had had many previous boyfriends before that too. This showed instead of the boy always having an overinflated sex drive, girls can be very promiscuous also. Both girls and boys express their sexual frustrations by getting together and washing all that away. So the book showed me that sexual frustration is a very large chunk of all the frustration that an adolescent has.

          The book also showed me that a very emotional side of this frustration. Charlie is so frustrated with his life and everything because he feels as though he doesn’t belong. And in most cases, Charlie doesn’t belong. In his family he is the outcast, with a sweet docile mother, promiscuous sister, stern father, and football all-star brother, he simply doesn’t fit in. His parents have expectations for Charlie, more his father than his mother, and Charlie knows he doesn’t want to do what his parents want him to, but he doesn’t know what he truly wants. Sure he knows what he likes to do and what gives him pleasure, but he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with his life. And no adolescent does. Teens and “tweens” struggle to find their place in the world by trying out different things, such as drugs, alcohol, and casual sexual hookups. As I leaned from reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, there is a deeply yearning and emotional part of this frustration in an adolescent.

       In conclusion, the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky really showed a completely different side to adolescent frustration. Before I read the book, I thought that adolescent frustration was gross boys infatuated with women and desperate girls wanting their happy ever after so badly. But since I read the book, I realized that the roles can completely switch. There are promiscuous girls obsessed with guys and guys who want their happy ending too. Charlie wanted a soulful relationship and his sister wanted to have sex. And I saw that kids abuse drugs and alcohol and hookup with each other because they don’t know what to do with their lives so they’re trying out different things. They desperately want to belong somewhere and feel important to something or someone, like Charlie, and really all of the teen characters in the book. Charlie is someone who wants to belong somewhere and know what path they’re going to take in life. So in conclusion the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky really exposed what adolescent frustration truly is.