39 Charlie is a wallflower who does not participate in life. He prefers to just
stand at the back and see people doing their things. At a school dances, Charlie tells Bill that he does not join the dance because he does not know how to dance.
He prefers to lean against a wall and observe people. At the school dances, I sit in the background, and I tap my toe, and I
wonder how many couples will dance to their song. In the hallways, I see the girls wearing the guys jackets, and I think about the idea of
property. And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are pp. 23-24.
When observing people in a situation, he asks question to himself about how people act, how they feel and why they do it in that situation. He also often
questions whether people are as happy as they seem. In his being of a wallflower, Charlie is an insecure person. He has lack of
confidence about himself. His lack of confidence overcomes him to see his own ability even though other people can see it.
Then, Bill took this really long pause, and his voice sounded like my dad when he wants to have a big talk.
Charlie, he said. Do you know why I gave you all that extra work? I shook my head no. That look on his face. It made me quiet.
Charlie, do you know how smart you are? I just shook my head no again. He was talking for real. It was strange.
Charlie, youre one of the most gifted people Ive ever known. And I dont mean in terms of my other students. I mean in terms of anyone Ive ever
met. Thats why I gave you the extra work. I was wondering if you were aware of that?
I guess so. I dont know. I felt really strange. I didnt know where this was coming from. I just wrote some essays p. 181.
Charlie is actually an intelligent boy. His ability in writing and reading is not the same as the average kid on his age.
Bill, Charlie’s English Advanced teacher, admits Charlie’s ability. Charlie is always given extra novel to read and to write
an essay about it. Bill wants Charlie to know how gifted he is. However, Charlie’s
40 insecurity makes him not to admit his ability. Even though his teacher tells him so,
he just thinks that he is just writing the essay and no more than that. Throughout the story, Charlie manages to make friends with Sam and
Patrick and their group of friends. They get closer and become friends with Charlie. However when they finish high school, they no longer come to the school
and leave Charlie alone. It is now prom night. And I am sitting in my room. Yesterday was difficult
because I didnt know anybody since all my friends and my sister were no longer in school. The worst was lunchtime because it reminded me of
when everyone was angry with me for Mary Elizabeth. I couldnt even eat my sandwich, and my mom made my favorite because I think she knew
how sad I would be with everyone gone p. 172.
Charlie is having a difficult time with everyone leaving him. He is insecure and does not have the confidence to make new friends with the other kids. He is lonely
and terrible for not knowing anyone in school other than Sam and Patrick’s group
of friends. He feels even more terrible in the lunchtime since it reminds him of the moment everyone is angry at him when he betrays Mary Elizabeth. In reality, it
does not happen anymore but the loneliness makes Charlie remember that moment. In conclusion, the literal meaning of wallflower as seen in Charlie is
someone insecure who often observes people. Charlie is also insecure of himself. He does not realize what he is good at. He is also unconfident when his friends
start leaving him. Charlie has habit to observe people and imagines how they feel, why they do that and how they will react to different situation. When observing,
he knows what is really going on but he keeps quiet about them. He keeps all things he understands in his mind. Charlie is a wallflower who sees things, keeps
quiet about them and understands. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
2. True Meaning
The true meaning of wallflower in the novel is the meaning that can be seen in the novel implicitly. The meaning of wallflower can be understood not
only by reading the novel but also knowing the motivation of the characters. Worchel and Shebilske 1989 argue that motivation drives people to do
something in a certain way. To find out the deeper meaning of wallflower as seen in Charlie, Charlie’s motivation has to be identified. According to Maslow 1943,
motivation works based on certain needs and there are five stages of needs. Therefore to understand Charlie’s motivation, the five stages of Charlie’s needs
has be analyzed. Charlie is a wallflower who often thinks a lot, sees a lot of things but
keeps quiet even though he understands what really happens. Charlie often prefers observing people instead of participating and socializing with them. However, his
being as a wallflower means something more than that. When Charlie is a kid, he spends a lot of time together with Aunt Helen.
She is Charlie’s favorite person in the world. Charlie sees her as someone who
belongs to him and even calls her “My Aunt Helen”.
My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world. She was my moms sister. She got straight As when she was a teenager and she used to
give me books to read. My father said that the books were a little too old for me, but I liked them so he just shrugged and let me read p. 5.
Charlie is often given books by Aunt Helen. He likes the books and he keeps
reading them even though the books are not suitable for him. Aunt Helen gives Charlie a lot of attention. The other evidence can be seen below.
42 I dont really know what happened next, and I never really asked. I just
remember going to the hospital. I remember sitting in a room with bright lights. I remember a doctor asking me questions. I remember telling him
how Aunt Helen was the only one who hugged me p. 91.
Aunt Helen is the only person who hugs Charlie. Charlie needs attention but he does not receive it from his family. Aunt Helen fulfills Charlie’s needs which are
not fulfilled by his parents, his older brother or his older sister. In that state, Charlie loves Aunt Helen very much because she is the one who makes Charlie
feel that he belongs somewhere. When Charlie is a kid, Charlie starts asking Aunt Helen questions about
her past. His questions make Aunt Helen cry and his Dad slap him. Thats when my dad slapped me, saying, Youre hurting your aunt Helens
feelings I didnt want to do that, so I stopped. Aunt Helen told my father not to hit me in front of her ever again and my father said this was his
house and he would do what he wanted and my mom was quiet and so were my brother and sister p. 6.
Eventually Charlie stops asking Aunt Helen. However, it is not because his Dad slaps him but because he knows it hurts his favorite person’s feeling. Charlie does
not want to hurt the person he loves. When he knows it hurts Aunt Helen’s feeling, he stops asking questions.
Aunt Helen also lets Charlie stay awake and watch Saturday Night Live. When their parents are busy having party in their friend’s house, Aunt Helen
baby-sits Charlie, his older brother as well as his older sister. They spend time and make memories by watching TV together.
Charlie loves Aunt Helen very much. Aunt Helen is the one who gives Charlie love, attention and makes him feel that he exists. However, Aunt Helen is
also the one who molests Charlie when he is very young. Charlie does not reject PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43 for being molested. He enjoys the attention, closeness and physical contact that he
does not receive from his parents. However, when he is older, he knows something is wrong with him. His flashback of being molested by Aunt Helen
keeps appearing. His past and present moments are mixed when Charlie and Sam touch each other.
When I fell asleep, I had this dream. My brother and my sister and I were watching television with my Aunt Helen. Everything was in slow motion.
The sound was thick. And she was doing what Sam was doing. Thats when I woke up. And I didnt know what the hell was going on. p. 204
Charlie has a dream of watching television together with Aunt Helen, his brother and his sister. In his dream he sees Aunt Helen touches Charlie. His past of being
molested by Aunt Helen starts appearing but Charlie does not know what really happens. He still cannot understand that it really happens to him in the past.
Charlie gets worse later when Sam and Patrick leave Charlie for College. Charlie has a mental break down and his memories overlap one to another.
I dont know what Im supposed to do now. I know other people have it a lot worse. I do know that, but its crashing in anyway, and I just cant stop
thinking that the little kid eating french fries with his mom in the shopping mall is going to grow up and hit my sister. Id do anything not to think that.
I know Im thinking too fast again, and its all in my head like the trance, but its there, and it wont go away. I just keep seeing him, and he keeps
hitting my sister, and he wont stop, and I want him to stop because he doesnt mean it, but he just doesnt listen, and I dont know what to do p.
205.
His memory of a little boy that he observes in a mall and his memory when he
witnesses his sister being hit by his abusive boyfriend overlaps. He mistakes the grown up little boy hit his sister. Charlie feels very terrible since it is very
confusing and he cannot stop this. Later on he ends up waking up in a mental hospital. His doctor helps him figuring out what really happens.
44 I dont really want to talk about the questions and the answers. But I kind
of figured out that everything I dreamt about my aunt Helen was true. And after a while, I realized that it happened every Saturday when we would
watch television pp. 208-209.
After having conversation with his doctor, he realizes the truth that Aunt Helen molests him. The accident happens every Saturday when Aunt Helen baby sits
Charlie, his older brother and his older sister. When his older brother and sister are asleep, Aunt Helen lets Charlie to stay awake and the molestation happens.
Even though Aunt Helen molests little Charlie, her death that happens when Charlie is seven years old brings a shock to him. Aunt Helen dies in a car
accident when buying Charlie a birthday present. Charlie cannot believe it until his mom checks Aunt Helen’s death body on the scene of the accident herself.
Char lie sees Aunt Helen’s death as his fault. He keeps blaming himself and needs
to be hospitalized because of the shock. Despite everything my mom and doctor and dad have said to me about
blame, I cant stop thinking what I know. And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everybody
else. She would be alive if I were born on a day that didnt snow. I would do anything to make this go away. I miss her terribly. I have to stop
writing now because I am too sad p. 92.
Charlie keeps blaming himself even though his family and the doctor keep comforting him. Charlie hopes that his birthday is not on a Christmas day so Aunt
Helen will stay at home instead of buying him one more present in snow. Charlie regrets that he is born on a snowy day. Additionally, when Charlie is in middle
school, his best friend, Michael, commits suicide by shooting gun on his head. I dont know how news travels around school and why it is very often right.
Maybe it was in the lunchroom. Its hard to remember. But Dave with the awkward glasses told us that Michael killed himself. His mom played
bridge with one of Michaels neighbors and they heard the gunshot p. 3. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45 Then, I started screaming at the guidance counselor that Michael could
have talked to me. And I started crying even harder. He tried to calm me down by saying that he meant an adult like a teacher or a guidance
counselor p. 4.
Charlie also blames himself for what happen to Michael. He believes that Michael might not commit suicide if he is really there for his best friend.
During his first year of high school, the other kids see him as a freak. They reject to be friends with him and leave Charlie alone.
Some kids look at me strange in the hallways because I dont decorate my locker, and Im the one who beat up Sean and couldnt stop crying after he
did it. I guess Im pretty emotional p. 8.
Charlie realizes that the other kids see him in strange. He also realizes that he has difficulties in controlling his emotion. He could beat a boy and then cry hard after
doing it. His middle school friend, Susan, also does not want to be friend with Charlie even though they go to the same high school.
There is this one girl in my advanced english class named Susan. In middle school, Susan was very fun to be around. She liked movies, and her
brother Frank made her tapes of this great music that she shared with us. But over the summer she had her braces taken off, and she got a little taller
and prettier and grew breasts. Now, she acts a lot dumber in the hallways, especially when boys are around. And I think its sad because Susan
doesnt look as happy. To tell you the truth, she doesnt like to admit shes in the advanced english class, and she doesnt like to say hi to me in the
hall anymore p. 6.
Susan does not want the other kids to know that they used to be friends in middle school. Susan pretends not to know Charlie and stop saying hello to him even
though they are in the same class, a class where first year students don’t usually
take. Charlie’s sister also mentions him as a freak. She gets mad at Charlie when
he tells Bill who later tells their dad that his sister is dating an abusive boyfriend. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
