Thanks to Charlie’s bookishness,
The Perks of Being a Wallflower discusses many classic works of literature, including
On the Road,
Hamlet,
This Side of Paradise,
To Kill a Mockingbird, and
The Catcher in the Rye. All of these books are included regularly in junior high and high school curricula because of their literary merit and because they chronicle coming-of-age stories like Charlie’s. These coming-of-age novels, also called bildungsroman, often feature themes of nostalgia, the growing pains of adolescence, coming to terms with adult realities, developing one’s identity, and exploring relationships. Chbosky has referenced
The Catcher in the Rye as a particularly influential work for him, and one literary reviewer criticized Chbosky for drawing too strong a parallel between Charlie and
The Catcher in the Rye’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield (though other critics argue that their voices and characters are distinct).
The Perks of Being a Wallflower also harkens back, perhaps unintentionally, to one of the first works of young adult literature called
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly. Also written as an epistolary novel,
Seventeenth Summer tells the story of a young woman who, like Charlie, navigates her first romantic relationship while developing her identity as a young adult.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower also shares themes and content with Laurie Halse Anderson’s young adult novel
Speak, which is (like
Perks) the story of a high school freshman coming to terms with her experience of sexual assault.