Narrative Essay- Perks of Being a Wallflower

Don’t Simply Exist “Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody.” (Chbosky 145) I will never forget the moment I read those words. That one quote, that one line, had so much significance in my life and still does to this day. The quote is from the novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. And from that moment, I knew it was okay to not be okay and that I was not alone. A wallflower is a person who would rather pay attention to what goes on around them, rather than participate in life. And that is exactly the kind of person I was; still am to be honest. I was the kid in school who was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I noticed a lot of things, but kept to myself. I was “… a wallflower…You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand” (37). I was the kid who faded into the background, with my head down looking at the ground, unnoticeable. I observed everything around me, but kept quiet about it all. Now, I did have a few close friends, I was not a complete socially awkward outsider. But even they noticed I was strange and mentally I was not there half of the time. They worried about me, but I always lied and said I was fine. They eventually gave up on asking and were just there for me. The moment I understood this was when I knew they really loved and cared for me. When we hung out, we didn’t talk about anything that was necessarily important. It was enough to just be there together. I read this heart-wrenching, coming-of-age novel for the first time in middle school. I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on me in my later years. At that point I knew I liked the book, but I was not quite sure why. When people are in middle school, most do not have a real care in the world. We were too worried about physical changes we were going through and whether or not we were part of the “cool” crowd. A few years went by and I heard Summit Entertainment was making a movie based on

Cited: Page Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket, 1999. Print.