Extrovert The Characteristics of Charlie

36 reading the novel since it is written in the novel. The researcher uses psychological approach by Freud 2009 to analyze the word wallflower according to Charlie’s characteristics. It is found that Charlie is an intelligent boy. He is gifted with the ability of reading and writing and able to take English Advanced Class which is supposed to be for seniors. Charlie is also an extrovert boy because he enjoys being in the centre of attention and spending time with the people he loves. Charlie gets his energy when spending time with the people he loves. However, he also always worries how to fit in with the other people. He is a thoughtful boy who always tries to figure out how everything works and avoid participating. From these characteristics, the literal meaning of wallflower as seen in Charlie’s characteristics is analyzed. Freud 2009 states that personality has three structures which are the id, the ego and the superego. The interactions among those three component parts of the mind resulted in human behaviour. The id is the basic instinct that a human needs to fulfil. The human only knows how to fulfil it without considering the reality. While the ego helps a person to satisfy his needs through the reality. The ego is partly conscious and partly unconscious. The ego operates according to the reality principle; it attempts to help the id to get what it desires by judging the difference between real and imaginary. In Charlie’s case, Charlie’s id has desire to figure out himself. He wants to know where he stands and what to do in life. However, he cannot fulfil it because his condition does not support him. His super ego tells Charlie that something is wrong with him and there are things he should be afraid of. The instability of emotion he has makes him believe that he is a freak. 37 He feels insecure and confused. Then, he keeps his desire for himself and let his ego do nothing to fulfil it. Since his superego blocks his id to reach the desire and his ego is not strong enough to do action to satisfy the id, the id creates Charlie to be a wallflower. Charlie is described as a wallflower can be seen in the conversation below. Hes something, isnt he? Bob nodded his head. Patrick then said something I dont think Ill ever forget. Hes a wallflower. And Bob really nodded his head. And the whole room nodded their head. And I started to feel nervous in the Bob way, but Patrick didnt let me get too nervous. He sat down next to me. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand p. 37. The conversation happens in Bob’s party. Sam and Patrick invite Charlie to come to the party and it is his very first party that he attends. In the party, Patrick mentions Charlie as a wallflower. Charlie is described as someone who sees things but keeps being quiet even though he understands. Charlie is a wallflower who often observes people. He often pays attention to what people do and imagines what they think deep inside their thoughts. It can be seen many times in the novel that Charlie observes people either those who he knows or he does not. The evidence that Charlie is an observer can be seen in the statements below. I feel very ashamed. I went to the high school football game the other da y, and I dont know exactly why p. 18. I was just kind of watching people, seeing who was in love and who was just hanging around, and I saw that kid I told you about. Remember Nothing? Nothing was there at the football game, and he was one of the few people who was not an adult that was actually watching the game. I mean really watching the game. He would yell things out p. 19. 38 Charlie goes to his first high school football game alone. He has no companion and does not know why he comes to the game. Instead of enjoying the game, he observes the people there. He watches who are in love, who hang around and who really watch the game. Charlie observes the people and finds Nothing. He watches Nothing and notices that he really watches the game. Charlie sees Nothing is interested in the game that he yells and screams. Charlie does not come to the game to enjoy the game but to observe people. Another evidence can be seen in the statement below. I was in the shopping mall because thats where I go lately. For the last couple of weeks, Ive been going there every day, trying to figure out why people go there. Its kind of a personal project. There was this one little boy. He might have been four years old. Im not sure. He was crying really hard, and he kept screaming for his mom. He must have been lost. Then, I saw this older kid, who was maybe seventeen. I think he went to a different school because I had never seen him before. Anyway, this older kid, who was really tough-looking with a leather jacket and long hair and everything, went up to the little boy and asked him what his name was. The little boy answered and stopped crying. I guess the mom had been searching for the little boy for a long time because she came running up to the information desk, and when she saw the little boy, she started crying p. 143. Charlie is in a shopping mall to observe people. He does not go there to have fun or buy something he needs. In the shopping mall he finds a lost boy. The little boy is desperate and does not stop crying. However, instead of helping the little boy and calming him down, Charlie just keeps observing to know what happen next. Charlie does not help the little boy to meet his mother. Charlie observes the little boy until finally an older kid takes him to the information desk and finds his mom. While the thing happens, Charlie observes the expression of the little boy, the older kid as well as the mom.