Villanueva, Giezel N.

HUMSS 12-20

The Perks of being a Wallflower was a debut novel written by Stephen Chbosky that was
published way back 1999. It was entitled The Perks of being a Wallflower mainly because the story
tackled around the story of the main character named Charlie who was used to observing people
around him and tries to figure things out by himself thus people called him a “wallflower” and the
different benefits that come with it. The story was written in a way as though Charlie was sending
a letter to this certain anonymous “friend”. Different characters were then introduced which
eventually made an impact to Charlie’s whole existence. Firstly, Michael, a friend of Charlie who
died due to suicide which left Charlie devastated. Next is, Patrick, also called “Nothing” when
Charlie first met, the first guy Charlie ever made friends with when he entered High School. Sam,
the stepsister of Patrick whom Charlie fell in love with. Aunt Helen, the main character’s Aunt
whom he grew fond of and he considered as the person he loves the most, that when she died
affected Charlie so much. Charlie’s mother, father, sister, brother were all left unnamed but gave
a big contribution to what Charlie have become. This story discussed about sex, drugs, love, affairs,
abuse and the misfit high school students usually experience as they struggle to find their place in
a rough high school world.

Summary

Michael’s death devastated Charlie big time that he began writing to this anonymous friend
where he shares the daily happenings of his life since his freshmen life was about to start. There
was a part when Charlie learned about the abuses his Aunt whom he loves so much has
experienced since she was a kid. Charlie felt responsible for his aunt’s death because the day she
died was the day she was about to buy present for his birthday Sir Bill, Charlie’s English teacher
noticed that Charlie was kind of different from other students, so since he figured that Charlie was
good in playing with words, he started giving him out books for him to read and make an essay out
of it. Charlie then got to interact with Patrick or “Nothing” when he first met and introduced him
to Sam, which Charlie eventually fell in love with but doesn’t have the courage to confess what he
truly felt. Charlie learned about the homosexual relationship between Patrick and Brad, but he
was asked to keep a mum about and, so he did. There was a part where Charlie recited a poem in
front of his friends which he said he just happened to discover somewhere, turned out to be a
suicide note. With all the difficulties Charlie has faced, including the different sexual abuses he has
encountered, the pregnancy of his sister which later then aborted, the complicated relationship
she had with Mary Elizabeth and the news that Sam knew about his feelings all along but just
couldn’t reciprocate the love, above all, the fact that that he was sexually abused by his aunt whom
she loved the most was actually the worst experience he ever had. Charlie then have come to
realize that he has his own agency and the experiences in his past doesn’t define who he is a
person. He ended the letter saying he might not come back anymore to writing to his friend for he
will try to enjoy life more.

Analysis:

In Historical Approach, since Perks of being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age story, it seeks

the idea of teenage manhood in which

In Psychological Approach, despite the dark past and the different issues that’s happening
in the character’s life, the friendship they have come to establish are what’s keeping them intact.
There was a line where Patrick said to Charlie, “He’s a wallflower; You see things, you keep quiet
about them, you understand” this speaks a lot about Charlie’s attitude in which he chooses to
keep things to himself because he’s still in the process of understanding as to why things happen
the way they do. Charlie is a representation of the people who tries to analyze things first before
taking actions. With the character having diagnosed of anxiety and has been abused when he was
a child but eventually decided to just go on with life instead of indulging himself in the past, this
fought the stigma associated with mental illness, in an interview with Stephen Chbosky, he stated
that many has been sending him praise for being the voice of all the people experiencing mental
illness, that there’s nothing really wrong with them. They don’t feel alone anymore as they face
the dilemma of having such mental illness. One bad point about this is when the family wasn’t
aware of what happened to Charlie when they were just all living under the same roof, only if they
communicate to Charlie a lot, he might have told them all the sexual abuses he has experienced
throughout his childhood. Since Charlie is the type who keeps mum even when things aren’t going
well, he may have thought that what his aunt did to him were all just normal and nothing to make
a fuss about.

In Sociological Approach, Charlie lives in a society where drugs, vices, rape, sexual abuse
were all prevalent and seemed to be normal in a daily basis. This society gives Charlie an idea that
these things normally happen thus made him familiarize himself with these. The social pressure
contributes to the factor as to why Charlie has done things he wasn’t used to doing.

In a Gender Criticism Approach, In the story, women were usually sexually abused and
were being forced into sexual intercourse without consent. This somehow indicates that women
are seen as just merely some sex toy men can use whenever they feel like it. This shows the
stereotype that women are inferior and men being the superior. Patrick, one of the characters has
a secret relationship with a closeted football player Brad, their relationship wasn’t announced
publicly since they assumed that people wouldn’t understand them and would only judge them
for entering a homosexual relationship, this is a bad point since it made the character afraid of
showing his true self and it somehow shows that being in a relationship with same sex is not
something to be proud of. If only he had made the characters flaunt their relationship, it could
make the readers in LGBTQ community be prouder and empowered in showing what they truly
feel about themselves.

In Reader Response Approach, at first, the title seems to be about the different advantages
a wallflower can get in life. The quote “we accept the love we think we deserve” made me realize
that we can’t really blame the person if he happens to choose someone we don’t think fits with
her/him cause sometimes we don’t just love the person himself but because we accept the love
we think we deserve, regardless of his appearance so long as the love given is enough, we just got
to gamble. Since I support to destigmatize mental illness, it was easy for me to understand the
dilemmas the characters face throughout the story, I try to understand the drawbacks the
characters faced into becoming their better selves while trying to fight against their personal
issues. The intended audience of the work was the teenagers like Charlie who was trying to find
the reason why things happen the way do but according to Stephen Chbosky, he didn’t expect that
many people would be able to relate to Charlie’s situation especially the people facing the dilemma
of having mental health problem. In fact, they were sending him letters of appreciation for making
such story.

Conclusion
Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen, Freddie Mercury

The song Bohemian Rhapsody is a song by the British Group named Queen, composed by
Freddie Mercury way back October 31, 1975. Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar, went to
boarding school in India, and came to England with his parents in 1964. His birth name is Farookh
Bulsara. Due to racial abuse he had suffered in his early teens, he legally changed his name to
Freddy Mercury in 1972. He is the vocalist of the group. In the explanation, Queen states that
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust,
sold his soul to the devil.The song Bohemian Rhapsody was said to be a reflection of Freddie
Mercury’s personal traumas. According to Brian May, member of the group, "Freddie was a very
complex person: flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in
squaring up his life with his childhood. He never explained the lyrics, but I think he put a lot of
himself into that song." The song is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a
chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. It
is said that the lyrics were all about Freddie Mercury having AIDS which doesn’t make sense
because he was diagnosed HIV Positive in the spring of 1987. Aids hit the New York scene in the
early 1980's, where he begun clubbing. In an interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor on the
Queen Videos Greatest Hits DVD, Brian said: “What is Bohemian Rhapsody about, well I don't think
we'll ever know and if I knew I probably wouldn't want to tell you anyway, because I certainly don't
tell people what my songs are about. I find that it destroys them in a way because the great thing
about about a great song is that you relate it to your own personal experiences in your own life. I
think that Freddie was certainly battling with problems in his personal life, which he might have
decided to put into the song himself. He was certainly looking at re-creating himself. But I don't
think at that point in time it was the best thing to do so he actually decided to do it later. I think
it's best to leave it with a question mark in the air.”

This song is all about a young man who accidentally killed someone. The meaning behind
those lyrics are true to life based on the composer’s experience. Bohemian Rhapsody is a 6 min
song a very long song that has defferent part but a song with a story.
 In a Formalist Approach, The title of this song is “Bohemian Rhapsody” because it reflects
the life of a 'bohemian', whose originally mean 'artist' while, 'Rhapsody' means fantasy or a vision.
The lyrics has a connection to the title because it represents the life of Freddie Mercury being an
artist and all the fantasies he has in life that you can imagine while you listen to the song.

In a Biographical approach, Freddie Mercury’s experiences during the period of time when
he was having a hard time discovering his true self and his personal traumas since he was a child
helped him come up with the lyrics that were all fatalistically made.

In a Historical approach, "Too late, my time has come/ body's aching all the time/gotta
leave you all behind and face the truth/I don't wanna die" this lyrics denotes the situation of
Freddie mercury when people concluded that the lyrics was about him having AIDS. AIDS hit the
New York scene in the early 1980's, where Freddie Mercury beggan clubbing. AIDS was known as
the "Gay plague" at that time by the media, as the majority of people dying from it were
homosexual. That time the doctors haven’t discovered that Aids is not only sexually transmitted it
can also transmit by blood compact so the tendecy is people conclude that if you are diagnosed
with AIDS it means you had sexual intercourse with same sex.

In a Psychological approach, when Freddie Mercury was a child he was racial abused that
he changed his name from Farookh Bulsara to Freddie Mercury. In his lyrics “ I’m just a poor boy
nobody loves me” indicates that he suffered from anxiety because of his experience when he was
a child it triggered him to write this song. People that heared and understand the meaning of this
song will also have a psychological effect on them.

In a Sociological approach, Sad truth that we live in a society where people judge others
with different gender orientation and preference just like what Freddie Mercury experienced.
Because of abundance of discrimination in terms of gender it leads to the fromation of the Act
1975 (Sex Discrimination Act) which protected men and women from discrimination on the
grounds of sex or marital status. Freddie was in a long term relationship with Mary Austin but
eventually he cheated on her by having an affair with a man who worked for a record company.
He must have felt guilty to spill his true feelings. But he didn't just have to confess to his girlfriend
that he cheated. He also had to confront the possibility of being judged for his bisexuality. The
anger and fear of society's judgement Freddie may have felt around that time.

In a Gender Critism, the relegion Freddie Mercury grew up to, which is Zoroastrianism that
is very strict when comes to sexuality. Zoroastrianism are strongly against the concept of
bisexuality which was the reason why Freddie Mercury was afraid to speak out his true gender
identity. He was afraid to go against his religion and dissapoint his parents. If only Freddie Mercury
has the confidence to come out from his fear he would have made a inspurational song not a
depressing one.

In Reader Response Criticism, In listening and understanding the symbols that Freddie
Mercury created it made me emotional. I was into this song that it brought me to tears. The lyrics
and the meaning was so deep because it is a real situation. Seriously speaking then I really didn’t
understand the lyrics of this song I thought it didn’t make sense but after doing this kind of review
I understand all of the symbols that Freddie Mercury wants us to say using his song.

This song is very meaningful when you deeply understand the lyrics. In my opinion Freddie
Mercury should have elaborate why that young man killed someone and what happened to him.
Freddie Mercury should sang the song in a way that the listeners will understand without
searching for some lyrics. As for the listeners they will appreciate this song if they search the lyrics
and search where that lyrics came from. For me this is very heplful because I deeply understand
now that I have search and read some articles regarding the meaning of the song and after
listening to it again it made me cry because I now and understand the reason why he wrote this
song and the meaning of the symbols that he used. We should learn to appriciate old songs
because for me old songs made more sense than the song that created by the millenials. The old
songs really came from the heart and base on their experience and also the main purpose for
them is to wake the listeners that this is happening without you knowing but now most of the
songs are base on love and trends. They made their songs to be popular and earn some money.
 REFERENCES
Callum. (n.d.). Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen Songfacts. Retrieved from
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=685
Dop, D. (2011, July 20). The meaning behind the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. Retrieved from
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1279006/the-meaning-behind-the-lyrics-of-bohemian-
rhapsody-.aspx
Ghosh, L. (2014, November 14). What is the meaning behind Bohemian Rhapsody? - Quora.
Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-behind-Bohemian-Rhapsody

Book

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/17/holidays-and-the-cost-of-mental-health-
author-of-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower-says-you-are-not-alone

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/study-guide/quotes
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