Perks of Being a Wallflower: Optimism

Discuss why Charlie writes his letters to a person he doesn't know. What is his motive?

Charlie's main motive for writing letters to an anonymous person he calls a "friend" is to get his feelings out without being judged. The letters encourage the friend to look on the positive side of every event, no matter how bad the end result may be. Charlie has experienced many events that traumatized him, such as the death of his best friend and feeling guilty about the death of Aunt Helen. To make things worse, he's constantly in the middle of family disputes. Charlie is always trying to pull himself out of a rut and get his life back on track. The letters help him do that.

There is an event that gives the reader a sense of how Charlie feels. He stays up late one night and sees an infomercial for a product he doesn't need. He calls the number up anyway, only to tell Michelle (the operator) on the other line that he doesn't want the product but instead says, " I hope you are having a good night" (133). Michelle hangs up without saying a word. Charlie says he didn't mind a bit, but it is obvious he feels no one seems to understand what he is going through.

Towards the end of Charlie's series of letters, it is clear to the reader that Charlie doesn't know the person that he has written to for over a year. In his last letter, he tells his friend "...please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough. And I will believe the same about you" (224). It's almost as if Charlie himself is the friend he is writing to, and not the person he picked through a phone book. He encourages himself and his friend that everything will be fine, and gets himself out of depression as a result.

In addition to the theme of self-worth, optimism is key to getting out of depression. His friend did not judge him and his feelings, and Charlie appreciates the fact that his friend understands what he is going through. If Charlie hadn't changed his outlook on life while writing to his friend, he would've ended his own.