Characters / The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This is a character sheet for the young adult novel, "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower"

Main Characters

Charlie

• All Love Is Unrequited: Initially, for Sam, although the movie suggests that they get together.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Before being taken under Sam's and Patrick's wing, Charlie was regarded as a freak by his peers and had very few friends.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of three siblings and the only freshmen in a friend group full of seniors.
• Berserk Button: Don't be homophobic, and certainly don't mess with his friends whenever he's around.
  • Hitting his sister is also a good way of pressing it, demonstrating how protective he is of all his loved ones.
• Beware the Nice Ones: At his core, Charlie is a teddy bear who just wants a good time with his loved ones. But when Patrick gets beat on, the much smaller Charlie lays a beatdown that leaves both assailants on the floor and the entire lunchroom staring at him in shock.
• Big Brother Instinct: Despite being the youngest of his siblings, he is obviously angered when Derek hit Candace. He also went with her when she gets an abortion.
• Bungled Suicide: Implied in the end.
• The Cutie: He's a sweet and idealistic, if somewhat naïve, boy who wants nothing more than for the people around him to be in peace, as he quietly analyzes his environment from afar.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His best and presumably only friend Michael was Driven to Suicide before some months before the novel began, in addition to his being in and out of psychiatric hospitals for much of his life and being the target of several bullies at his school. It also doesn't hurt to mention that his beloved Aunt Helen actually sexually molested him at a young age, although he'd tried to repress the memory for several years, as revealed in the novel's conclusion.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Sam, throughout the period she was dating Craig.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Charlie begins the movie with his hair flat. As the movie goes on he wears it pushed back to reflect his character growth.
• First Kiss: Gets one from Sam, who mentions that she want his first kiss to be with someone who loves and cares about him.
• Their First Time: He almost went all the way with Sam before she went away to college, although the moment is interrupted once a memory of his Aunt Helen while they were fooling around brought about the realization that he was molested, leading to a Freak Out.
• Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Charlie goes to a house party, and eats a cannabis brownie without knowing what's in it. Soon after, the otherwise quiet and reserved character is sitting in a lotus position babbling all sorts of stuff, some of it silly, some of it quite insightful. As a result of this, he gains a bunch of new friends.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Charlie wishes for everyone around him to be happy, but as a result disregards his own happiness. Sam calls him out on this before she leaves for college, telling him he can't make everyone around him happy and he must care for himself too.
• Innocent Blue Eyes
• Innocently Insensitive: Charlie can occasionally be unintentionally passive-aggressive and blunt, particularly when he avoids confronting Mary Elizabeth directly about his dissatisfaction with their relationship and gives the message rather harshly once he kisses Sam in front of her, when dared to kiss who he considered "the prettiest girl in the room".
• No Social Skills: A well-meaning, but socially awkward boy who knows little about social norms and how they work at the start of the novel, due to both his introversion and Friendless Background.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: In the movie, as he's portrayed by Logan Lerman.
• Shrinking Violet: A male example of this trope, considering that if not having been befriended by Sam and Patrick, Charlie would've most likely remained shyly on the sidelines observing and reflecting on life from afar.
• The Quiet One
• We Used to Be Friends: With Susan. Who is barely able to look at him on the first day of high school.

Sam

• Brother–Sister Team: With her stepbrother Patrick.
• Childhood Friends: With Mary Elizabeth and Alice, among others, as it is revealed in the movie that they've all known each other since kindergarten.
• Cool Big Sis
• The Fashionista: Chbosky particularly portrays her to be a hip, stylish, fashion-forward girl.
• Girl Next Door: One of the primary reason Charlie seems to become infatuated with her as the story goes on.
• Good Bad Girl: Her younger years suggest this at least, considering that she was described a "blow queen" by several people at the school.
• Granola Girl: Possibly, although to a lesser extent than Mary Elizabeth.
• Just Friends: With Charlie for most of the novel.
• Rape as Backstory: She was molested by a family friend when she was young, hence her promiscuous behavior as a high school freshman.
• Really Gets Around: Part of her being an outcast is because she was promiscuous as a freshman, since she was molested by a family friend.
• Unkempt Beauty: The sort of "unconventionally beautiful" type of girl Charlie likes.

Patrick

• Keet: He's extremely cheerful and energetic, although much of this merriness is possibly a façade for some deeper issues plaguing him.
  • Stepford Smiler
• Brother–Sister Team: With his stepsister Sam.
• Camp Gay: Patrick, mostly when contrasted with Brad.
• Gay Best Friend
• Gay Guy Seeks Popular Jock: Patrick grows an attraction to Brad, a Jerk Jock and Armored Closet Gay.
• Gayngst: Seemingly subverts this for most of the story, with Patrick being portrayed most light-heartedly of all the characters. However it strays into this area by the end of his subplot with Brad.
• N-Word Privileges: In the movie, at least. During the game of Truth or Dare, Patrick jokingly calls himself a "fag", but when Brad calls Patrick a faggot in the cafeteria he starts a huge fight.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In the movie, providing a dosage of humor to films otherwise heavy atmosphere.
• Pretty Boy: in the movie, as he's portrayed by the very pretty Ezra Miller.
• Seme: Despite being more Camp Gay in contrast to Brad, Charlie notes that Brad "took the part of the woman" when he and Patrick had sex for the first time.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Brad's manly man.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Brad.

Secondary Characters

Mary Elizabeth

• All Love Is Unrequited: While she was very into Charlie and their relationship, it was quite clear from the start that Charlie simply didn't feel the same connection to her, despite going along with everything to avoid hurting her feelings.
• Childhood Friends: With Sam, among others.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: She sports a half-shaved head in the film as a fashion statement.
• Granola Girl: Mary Elizabeth is a classic example, being a punk artist vegan activist Buddhist.
• Motor Mouth: Mary Elizabeth can get into very impassioned rants and loves rambling about herself and her interests constantly, much to Charlie's annoyance. Exaggerated once Charlie puts the phone down for a few minutes to use the bathroom and she's still talking endlessly on the other line on the phone.
• The Smart Girl: Smart enough to get acceptance into UC Berkley with a 1400 combined math and verbal SAT score.
• Soapbox Sadie
• Those Two Girls: With Alice.

Alice

• Ambiguously Gay: Chbosky mentions in an interview that if Alice's storyline would've been more expanded on, she might've possibly come out as a lesbian.
  • Alluded to in the book, when Alice acts as The Beard by going to prom with Patrick. Charlie says he wishes Patrick and Brad would dance together, and that Alice would reveal that she's secretly in love with Craig's girlfriend Nancy, who would secretly be in love back.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Perhaps the most obvious example of one in the story, in the film at least, since Charlie mentions that despite coming from a very wealthy background, she steals pants from the mall for no reason whatsoever.
• Ivy League for Everyone: She gets accepted into the prestigious film school at NYU towards the end of the novel.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Possibly, in the movie.
• Perky Goth: Counts as such with her fashion sense and liking for zombies.
• Those Two Girls: She serves mainly as Mary Elizabeth's right-hand man.

Candace

• Academic Alpha Bitch: Sort of implied by several of the characters at the start of the novel.
• Aloof Big Sister: She refuses to let Charlie interact with her at school and generally sees him as a "freak".
• Brainy Brunette
• Go-Getter Girl: She graduated second in the senior class later in the novel.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She really does care about her little brother deep down, despite not wanting to admit it at school or social setting to preserve her popularity.
• Teen Pregnancy: Terminates it later in the book once she decides to get an abortion.

Brad

• Abusive Parents: His father beats him up brutally when he finds him and Patrick in a compromising position together.
• Armored Closet Gay
• Gayngst: It's more obvious on his behalf than Patrick's given he's deadly afraid that his horribly homophobic father or his football teammates ever find out.
• Jerk Jock: Becomes a full-fledged one after being beaten up once he and Patrick are caught together.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The manly man to Patrick's sensitive guy.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Patrick.
• Straight Gay: The latter compared to Patrick.
• Uke: Charlie notes that Brad "took the part of the woman" when he and Patrick had sex for the first time.

Aunt Helen

• Asshole Victim: Dies in a car accident and is revealed years later to have been a child molester, making her example of this.
• Big Bad: The closest the story has to one, as her molestation of Charlie caused his mental problems.
• Broken Pedestal: Becomes this to both Charlie when he remembers her sexual abuse of him, and to the rest of the family when they learn about it.
• Freudian Excuse: Was molested as a young girl, and had many boyfriends who would physically and mentally abuse her, which made her into an unstable woman who molested her younger nephew.