Line Nielsen - Bohrskolen
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Warm Up Questions:
1.a What do you think it would be like to suffer from a mental illness? Do you know anyone who suffers from one?
2.a Who is your favorite person in the world and why?
3.a Are you like or unlike your parents and in what ways?
4.a How do you let the people in your life know you care about them?
5.a Do you write in a journal? How might writing these thoughts to an anonymous stranger be different?
After watching the movie:
1.b Who in the movie suffers from a mental illness? How can you tell?
2.b Who is Charlie’s favorite person in the world and why?
3.b In what ways is Charlie like and unlike his parents?
4.b How do the characters in the movie let people know they care about them?
5.b How does Charlie use writing as a way to make sense of his experiences?
Discussion Questions:
1. How does the lack of an adult presence in this film contribute to these students approach to dealing with life?
2. What difference might an involved and caring parent or teacher have had on them?
3. What positive family portrayals, if any, do you notice in this film?
4. Until the very end of the movie, Charlie thought his aunt Helen was one of his favorite persons in the world. Why would he feel something like that and why didn't he remember what she had done to him?
5. Aunt Helen tells Charlie that, "It's our little secret". This is often said by abusers to their victims. Why would this instruction resonate with a child?
6. How do adults use guilt to silence a child after he or she has been abused? How does that guilt affect the characters in this story as they try to make sense of what happened to them as children?
7. Why do really great people sometimes let themselves be treated badly?
8. What do you think Mr. Anderson means when he says, “We accept the love we think we deserve”?
9. There is one night shown in this story that changed Charlie's life forever. Which night was it? Why did you pick this night as being the turning point?
The night when he goes to watch a football match and meets Patrick and Sam, who invites him to a party after the match, where he is offered a hash brownie, and tells Sam about his friend Michael’s suicide. Sam tells Patrick, who makes a toast for Charlie at the party. It is also at this party, Charlie by accident discovers the secret affair between Patrick and Brad. The night ends with a drive through a tunnel, where Sam is standing in the back of the open car (like the heroin in Titanic) to the sound of David Bowie’s Heroes.
OR the night when his aunt Helen was killed in a car accident.
10. Stephen Chbosky, the author/director, said that he wanted to present a story in which none of the characters was a bad person. Was he successful? Is this really a story without a bad person? Explain the reasons for your answer.
11. There are many life-lessons in this story. Describe so many you can think of.
12. How does Mr. Anderson connect with Charlie? What impact does his willingness to share his favorite books with the boy have on the troubled teen? Some of the books Mr. Anderson shares include To Kill A Mockingbird,The Catcher in the Rye and Walden. You can find these books at your local library or read them online.