“The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky

As creatures of the earth, sexuality has always been deeply intertwined with human beings. In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, explores the ways this theme of sexuality is present in the lives of young people. The novel follows the story of fifteen year-old Charlie, who enters high school still trying to cope with the suicide of his middle school friend Michael. To help ease his anxiety and overwhelming thoughts, he begins to send letters to an anonymous confidant whom he has never met yet has been told is trustworthy. He soon finds a friend in his english teacher, as well as in two seniors, Patrick and his step-sister Sam. Throughout his freshmen year, Charlie experiences love, drugs, and certain buried memories regarding the sexual abuse he suffered as a child from his Aunt, for the first time. In the book, there are many examples of sexuality having major positive and negative impacts on the young people in the novel.

In the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,”  Stephen Chbosky explores the ways in which young people experience sexuality in a beneficial way. When Charlie kisses Sam, it is a magical moment. “She kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.” Chbosky writes. This is the type of experience we often picture ourselves having with another, one that is pure light and joy. Charlie experiences healthy intimacy for the first time with sam, someone he trusts, cares about, and admires. It’s in this vein of healthy sexual encounters that we see Charlie feel a kind of happiness that feels enormous (“It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life”). This kiss gives both the reader and Charlie hope that he will overcome the sexual trauma of his past and live free of that burden. It’s that hope and contentment that illustrates impactful and healthy sexuality. Another example of the effects of sexuality as exemplified in the text is Charlie’s friend, Patrick’s relationship with his boyfriend Brad. “they ended up fooling around right there in the basement. Patrick said it was like the weight of the whole world left both their shoulders.” Patrick and Brad are exploring their sexuality in a different way than Charlie or most of the other kids in the book. They are trying to navigate a world that says their love is something to hide and be ashamed of. It is through their sexuality and through each other that they are able to finally feel comfortable in their own skin. The way in which Brad and Patrick are able to forget what their peers may think and feel intimate with each other exemplifies the impact sexuality has in Chbosky’s book.

In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, sexual encounters, while often shown in a positive light, also impact the characters in negative ways. The most obvious way this idea manifests itself in the novel is the sexual abuse Charlie endured as a child at the hands of his Aunt Helen. Chbosky writes in the text about Charlie’s Aunt Helen: “even if she were here, I don’t think I could talk to her either.Because I’m starting to feel that what I dreamt about her last night was true.” In this scene, Charlie begins to realize that his aunt really did sexually abuse him, that he wasn’t just having a recurring nightmare. Throughout the novel, Charlie seems disconnected from life. The events of his past were so traumatic that he repressed the deep enough to feel unreal.  Unlike his peers, he is hesitant to jump into social and sexual encounters because of something that he feels is holding him back. We understand eventually that a large contributor to Charlies disconnectedness and rather orthodox views on sex is the buried trauma of what his aunt subjected him to. “It was like everything made sense. Until she moved her hand under my pants, and she touched me. [...] It felt good actually. [But] I didn't know what was wrong.” This excerpt illustrates a way in which Charlie’s past is holding him back. Because of his history of sexual violence, Charlie finds it difficult to be intimate, even with someone he adores as dearly as Sam. The fact that, as a result of a sexual encounter, Charlie is being held back from having a healthy sexual relationship clearly shows the destructive impact sexuality can have on teenagers that is illustrated in the text.

In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, a book about young people trying to find themselves in an adult world, the characters are greatly affected by the many sexual encounters they find themselves in. We live in a society that demonizes sexuality, hides it behind a curtain of mystery, especially for teenagers. This only creates a deeper sense of urgency for young people to experiment and ponder intimacy in many ways. The constant pressure for teens to act more adult than they are contributes in many ways to the sometimes rushed ways they explore sexuality with each other, and often pushes them to do/say things they are not yet ready to deal with. Perhaps if we were more open as a collective people about sex and how it affects us, people with pasts like Charlie’s would feel as if they could speak about their history without shame.

Martin Espada

It has been a common occurrence throughout history for power to be abused at the expense of minorities. Martin Espada is an acclaimed poet known for writing about the societal struggles of hispanic people in the past and present. Three of his poems, “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, and “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” discuss the way in which minorities, specifically hispanics, have been abused throughout American history by people in power.

In “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” Espada tells the story of spanish speaking high schoolers who were banned from conversing in their native tongue after he believes that the students are speaking ill of him in the bathroom behind his back. This piece clearly shows how can and has been used in irresponsible and unjust ways. In the poem, Espada writes “The only word he recognizes/ is his own name/ and this constipates him.” The principal is so paranoid about his students gossiping about him in a language foreign to him that he decides to take away their free speech. This exemplifies how unfamiliar cultures will often trigger a certain fear in those who don’t understand them. People, like the principal,  in positions of power have the ability to act on that fear and satisfy their vulnerability. This is a clear abuse of privilege, as it is the right of the students in that school to speak in whichever language they choose, especially amongst peers, without repercussions from an insecure principle. An educator's job is not to be reassured that he is well liked, it is to protect and care for the students, making sure that they are educated in a way that the students are most comfortable. The actions of the principal in this story clearly exemplifies how Martin Espadas poem illustrates abuse of power.

In the poem “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”, Martin Espada shows how abuse of power can be revealed not only in teachers or politicians, but in the everyday white person. In the piece, two Mexicans are lynched by a band of citizen vigilantes. Espada writes “ Remain the faces of the lynching party: / faded as pennies from 1877, a few stunned/ in the blur of execution/… but all crowding into the photograph.” This lynching party, comprised of caucasian townspeople, was given power to carry out what they saw as a twisted form of justice,by the government and by the apathy of everyone around them (among other factors). The murder victims did not have the privilege of the gang of vigilantes, for whom it was acceptable to kill on their own whim despite not having the right to alone decide the punishment of another person. This is therefore an illustration of an upper hand being smacked down on those of less advantage.

“Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is yet another poem by Martin Espada that exemplifies the age long struggle between people with power and those without. The poems speaker describes a fantasy that is prompted by someone mispronouncing his name. “I want to buy a toy pistol/ put on dark eyeglasses/ push my beret at an angle/… hijack a busload of republican tourists/…” Espada then writes that he wishes to force these tourists to “chant anti-american slogans/ in Spanish.” Martin Espada is illustrating a way in which privilege manifests itself in ways that we don’t often see. It is the privilege of white people to not have their identity overlooked and blended into another, which is the case for many minorities. The mispronunciation of Espadas name symbolizes the erasure of his culture in America. In order to reclaim his culture, he makes it known in the only way many white Americans can understand, a common dramatic caricature of a hispanic person. This shows the way in which privilege is shown in ways other than what we may immediately recognize.

These poems are all references to societal power and how it is directed towards one group over another, to the other groups detriment. Race has long been a sensitive topic of discussion in America.  SInce its beginning, this country has been founded on the backs of minorities forced into submission by the luckier few. Espadas poems show how this is still pervasive today, the ways in which opportunity is taken from some so that it may overflow in the hands of others.

Gaokao Exam: too Much for Students to Handle?

So much of human energy is spent anxiously deliberating on the future. Our own futures, in addition to being in the forefront of our own thought, were once and may still be the constant worry of our parents, and theirs before us. In China, your entire future rides on one moment, one test, the

gaokao, discussed by the article “China’s Cram Schools” in Upfront. The test, taken by high school seniors in June every year, determines your entrance into China’s best colleges. For most, this means a life outside of factories and fields. Maotanchang, one of China’s many “cramming schools” guides with military precision as students study stressfully for the high-stakes test. While many would believe this test to be a fair and favorable way to assess the readiness of students for college, the test is only a harmful, cruel way to strain the minds of China’s high schoolers.  

The gaokao is immensely stressful and unfair for the millions of students taking it. One way in which the exam is pernicious for the students is the enormous strain it puts on the teenagers mental and physical health. In the article “China’s Cram Schools”, the author writes that students walk into class at “6:20 in the morning and returning to his (the students) room only after the end of his last class at 10:50 at night.”  That means the students of Maotanchang school are studying for over 16 hours, leaving only seven and a half hours for sleeping, eating, and homework. The average adolescent,  according to nationwidechildrens.org, needs nine to nine and a half hours of sleep a night. Therefore, students cramming for the gaokao would not get enough rest even if they spent their entire time outside of school sleeping. That lack of sleep can lead to various health issues, including, but not limited to, complications with cognitive ability, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. The start and end times of schools that specialize in studying non-stop for the gaokao illustrates the disastrous impacts on students health this test has. Mental health is another element of Chinese students well being that is being infringed upon by the exam. Upfront addresses this matter by relating that “ teenage suicide rates tend to rise as the gaokao nears.” It’s no wonder that the unbelievable pressure of the gaokao can be overwhelming, so overwhelming that many students take their own lives. Many students may feel that they will not pass the test and therefore will be condemned to a life of hard labor, or that they just can’t bear another day of cramming. The fact that the lives of teenagers are being stolen by this test is an incredibly significant example of how detrimental this exam truly is.

Many would argue that reform would result in China’s young people not attaining the scores that universities require of them. After the Chinese government began to push for a reduction in student workload and consideration by the colleges of factors other than the gaokao, many parents resisted the changes. As illustrated by Upfront, parents “fear that easing the pressure could hurt their children’s exam results and jeopardize their futures.” However, in addition to the drastic health effects, many students are already not given equal opportunity in preparation for the exam. The author of Upfront writes “rural students are at a severe disadvantage. Villages… have poor schools and untrained teachers.” While some can afford the costly tuition to schools like Maotanchang, those students who can’t are thrown under the bus when it comes to preparing for the gaokao. Those parents that are most vocally against test reform are not taking into account those who will be at a disadvantage should the test remain in it’s position of importance. Adding on to the plethora of reasons to support reform, parents who are concerned about the effect reform may have on their children’s test scores have misplaced their anxiety. Firstly, if the government decides to pull back on rigorous test prep, students will have more time to relax, getting more sleep and boosting cognitive performance and perhaps even raising gaokao scores. Additionally, if the reforms are put in effect, then the gaokao will not be the only factor determining admission to university. Therefore, even if test scores drop, the decrease will not hold as much weight as it would have previously.

The expect teenagers to cram for a test like the gaokao is unethical. While the schooling young people are compelled to take in America can often seem like an overwhelming burden, they are surely no match for what Chinese students are subjected to. The overpowering pressure and stress students are compelled to accept as part of daily school life preparing for the gaokao is unlike any most American students have ever experienced. It is when education mutates from being supportive to infringing on the health and well being of the students that it is clear that something is deeply wrong.