“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky is all about a character with a secret identity throughout the book, although he calls himself Charlie in the letters he writes to the reader. In fact, most of the characters in this novel are unidentified with pretend names. In some ways the character Charlie is common to Nick Carraway another sort of outsider from “The Great Gatsby” by Scott F. Fitzgerald mostly because of their personalities and how they react to different situations they face in their novels.
It was Charlie's first day of highschool and he basically just wanted to fit in and find friends and be more social and grown up for his age. In “The Great Gatsby” Nick Carraway was kind of in the same situation as Charlie only he was showing up to a new neighborhood and house, trying to be friendly to his neighbor Gatsby and befriend him. Both Charlie and Nicks attitude to a fresh start was a really good connection they had in the beginning of the story. Out of all the drama that went on between Charlie in this novel he always kind of kept to himself. For example in the scene where he goes to his friends party he was not very known to the whole scene and that’s when he was first called a wallflower by his friends friend Dave. “You see things. You keep quiet. And you understand. You’re a wallflower” (Chbosky 37). This scene seems similar to to a scene in “The Great Gatsby” when Nick goes to the first party over Gatsby’s house and minds his own business about everything but yet he takes everything in when he walks around the mansion during the party. Nick and Charlie are both innocent characters in the novels and when the drama comes they’re way they do the best they can to keep quiet about everything. Both of these characters in the novels make relations with certain people and they both try to please them all at once. Charlie is in love with his friend Sam and no matter what she says and does to him he is always crazy about her. Another example of his loyal nature is in the scene when he walks in on his friend Patrick which happens to be Sam’s brother, kissing the quarterback of their football team. Charlie agrees not telling anyone for his friend Patricks loyalty as a friend. It reminds me of Nick because Nick tried to please everyone and kind of did in a way. For an example when Gatsby wanted Daisy he got them together while still being friends with Tom Buchanan Daisy’s husband. Both Charlie and Nick are people pleasers and that will never change. Both Charlie and Nick show a sign of hope throughout both novels. Charlie wants friends and to be happy and he has hope he can throughout the book and eventually does make some good friends who care about him. Nick has hope for his future and his friendship with Gatsby also grew throughout the novel as well with nothing but hope to make it grow. At the end of the novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” Charlie realizes something he hadn't recognized before about his aunt Helen that she molested him when he was younger and now that he realizes that it changes his whole thought of his aunt. In “The Great Gatsby” Nick realizes he was Gatsbys only real friend through the whole book and that realization changes his whole thought of Gatsby. They both had to come face to face with the deep situations of Charlie and Sam, and Nick and Gatsby for both Charlie and Nick to think differently then before about people in their life. |