The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Part 2  Summary & Analysis

Patrick explains to Charlie how he and Brad started seeing each other after fooling around at a party, and they continued to do so at Friday night parties, but Brad always got stoned or drunk beforehand. Eventually, Patrick and Brad had sex for the first time. Afterwards, Brad cried and refused to let Patrick hold him. Patrick helped him tidy himself up and then told him to pretend to be asleep. To keep it a secret, Patrick re-entered the party from a different room and asked everyone if they knew where Brad was. They found him passed out in Patrick’s room, and they called his parents because he seemed really sick. Brad’s parents sent him to rehab for the rest of the summer, since they didn’t want his drinking and smoking to make him to miss out on a football scholarship.

When Brad returns from rehab, he avoids Patrick until eventually they agree to see each other sober but in secret except for parties with Patrick’s friends, who understand and keep quiet about it. Charlie asks Patrick if having to keep the relationship a secret makes him sad, and Patrick says it doesn’t because at least Brad doesn’t need to be drunk or stoned to make love with him anymore.

Charlie continues making progress on his extra reading assignments for Bill and earns a B on his report on Peter Pan. Charlie decides he wants to be a writer when he grows up. He starts writing for a fanzine called Punk Rocky (inspired by the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show) that his friend Mary Elizabeth runs. Charlie’s friends perform in the regular screenings of the film, and the audience participates in the performance, as well. Patrick plays Frank ‘N Furter and Sam plays Janet. Sam starts dating an older guy named Craig who plays Rocky in the show, and Charlie doesn’t think Craig appreciates Sam enough. He realizes that he is in love with Sam because she is the “prettiest and nicest person in the whole world” who is also “very smart and fun.”

Charlie asks his sister why Sam might feel better about herself because an older boy likes her, and his sister tells him that Sam has “low self-esteem” and used to have a “reputation” as a sophomore. He then asks her about dancing with the abusive boyfriend at homecoming, and after he promises not to tell anyone including Bill, his sister tells him that they still date in secret and plan to get married after college. She tells Charlie not to worry because he hasn’t hit her again and won’t ever hit her again, but Charlie still worries about her.

Charlie’s brother calls home on rare occasions, and his parents worry about him. Charlie hopes that his brother is having the kind of college experience where he “meets a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa” with whom he can discuss books. But, his brother has posters of cars, beer, and supermodels on his walls, he never makes his bed, and he mostly talks about the football team.

Charlie wishes he could be on a sports team, but, as he says, the sports he played made him too aggressive. Charlie’s dad was also a college athlete like his brother but had to leave college when Charlie’s mom became pregnant with his older brother. His dad tells stories about his “glory days,” and Charlie thinks about how handsome and rugged his dad looks in old photographs and how pretty his mom looks. He wonders what happened to make them the people they are now.

When Charlie’s brother finally calls home, he tells his parents that he can’t make it home for Thanksgiving, which upsets his mom. She takes Charlie clothes shopping and “worries out loud” the entire time, but Charlie explains that he understands his mom’s anxiety. The next day, Sam and Patrick compliment Charlie’s new clothes, saying his mom has good taste, which he tells her after school. This makes her happy, and she suggests that Charlie have them over for dinner sometime. Charlie writes that the last friend he had over for dinner was Michael, and they stayed up late walking around the neighborhood. His mom told him recently that Michael’s parents are now divorced, which, she said, is common for couples who lose a child.

Charlie thinks about spending holidays with his mom’s family. His grandfather tends to offend most of the family and make racist comments, and Charlie’s brother is the only one who can manage him. One time, Charlie’s grandfather told him and his brother about how difficult his life used to be as a laborer and how he once beat their mother and Aunt Helen for getting Cs on their report cards, demanding that it never happen again. On Thanksgiving, Charlie’s extended family watches a recording of Charlie’s brother playing football, and Charlie sees his grandfather crying. He realizes that, in demanding better from his daughters, he meant that he wanted to be the last one to work in a mill. Before leaving, Charlie kisses his grandfather goodbye, but his grandfather wipes off Charlie’s kiss. Charlie explains that his grandfather doesn’t like touching between men in the family.

As Christmas approaches, Charlie and his friends participate in a Secret Santa exchange. Charlie gets Patrick and makes him a mix tape with carefully selected music. As he collects the songs, he experiences an “amazing feeling” thinking about many other people who have listened to and gotten through “bad times” because of those songs. Charlie writes that he has continued his extra reading and writing assignments for Bill and he notices a trend in the books Bill gives him. Just like the songs on his tape for Patrick, all of the books Bill gives him are his favorites.

Patrick loves the mix tape, and Charlie suspects Patrick knows that Charlie is his Secret Santa. For his first gift, Charlie just receives socks, and he thinks Mary Elizabeth must be his Secret Santa. He later receives a tie, white shirt, shoes, and a belt, along with instructions to wear everything to the Christmas party. For the rest of Patrick’s gifts, Charlie gives a magnetic poetry set, watercolor paints, a harmonica, and a book about Harvey Milk. After Patrick told him he was gay, Charlie did research on the gay community. Patrick loves all of his gifts.

At the party, Charlie meets Sam and Patrick’s parents, whom he likes a lot. He says they don’t make you feel awkward when you meet them and they let Sam and Patrick and their friends have their party undisturbed. Charlie says everyone knows he was Patrick’s Secret Santa, and he stands up to give his last gift to Patrick, a poem that he reads aloud to the group. After Charlie reads it, everyone sits quietly and looks at each other in a way that meant they knew “that they were there.” Patrick plays Charlie’s tape and they continue exchanging gifts until Patrick reveals himself as Charlie’s Secret Santa and gives Charlie a complete suit because “all the great writers” have suits. Everyone applauds when Charlie completes his outfit.

Charlie presents everyone at the party with a carefully chosen gift, even though no one except Sam and Patrick got him a gift. The most special gift is a record with the song “Something” by the Beatles that he gives to Sam. It was a gift from his Aunt Helen. Sam hugs Charlie and tells him that she loves him, and Charlie writes that it was the third time since his Aunt Helen died that someone had told him that. Sam gives Charlie a typewriter and asks that he write about her. Later that evening, Sam kisses Charlie because she wants his first kiss to be from someone who loves him. Charlie describes the kiss as something he “could never tell [his] friends about out loud.” Charlie includes a copy of the poem he read for Patrick at the end of the letter and says nobody knew who wrote it but someone heard it was a kid’s suicide note.

Sam and Patrick leave for Christmas, vacation and Charlie spends the day thinking about his memories of sledding. He walks to the sledding hill and watches young kids as they fly down the hill. Charlie thinks about how they will grow up someday and he wishes that sledding would always be enough. Christmas and his birthday are coming up, and Charlie is glad that they will be over soon because he goes to “a bad place” at this time of year, which started after his Aunt Helen died. He was held back a grade because it “got so bad.” He explains that sometimes, things just start to slip away, and he breathes heavily trying to refocus. Trying not to think about it, he writes about his plans for the next few days, which involve Christmas shopping and celebrating his birthday, December 24. Bill gave him The Catcher in the Rye to read over break, which was Bill’s favorite book.

On Christmas, Charlie is feeling more anxious, but he doesn’t want to tell his mom about it. Wishing Michael and Aunt Helen were around, he admits he doesn't like his birthday, which was the day before. On his birthday, Charlie went shopping with his mom and sister and struggled to find a gift for his dad, which made him realize that he doesn’t know his dad, and he got visibly upset. His mom calmed him, and eventually, he found a copy of the last episode of M*A*S*H to give to his dad. His mom listened patiently as he told her about the night they all watched it together, and she remarked that he’s a good storyteller. Charlie told his him mom that he loves her, and she said it back, which made him feel better for a while.

At dinner on Christmas Eve, Charlie and his mom and sister wait for his dad to return home after picking up his brother. Charlie’s mom notices that he looks sad and asks him if it’s about Aunt Helen. He says he feels this way every year on his birthday, but his mom helps him calm down. His family has dinner together and they give him birthday gifts: music from his sister and dad, a signed football poster from his brother, and books from his mom that used to be her favorites. Reading his mom’s copy of The Catcher in the Rye and thinking about his upcoming driver’s test makes him feel better.

The next morning, his family opens presents and his dad really likes his copy of M*A*S*H, which makes Charlie happy. On the way to their dad’s family’s Christmas party, Charlie’s brother tells them about his girlfriend, a cheerleader and philosophy major. Charlie’s sister criticizes her brother for emphasizing her looks so much, and he tells her that she’s being a “bitchy dyke.” Charlie’s mom’s response is to tell him not to use that language in front of Charlie. Charlie’s siblings get into a fight, which ends in Charlie’s brother telling his sister that Kelly “believes in women’s rights so much that she would never let a guy hit her,” and he can’t say the same about his sister. Charlie’s dad slams on the breaks and stares at the two of them. They apologize to each other, and Charlie’s mom demands an end to the fighting. Charlie drives the rest of the way.

At his grandma’s house, Charlie looks at old photographs and thinks about his family’s past. His grandmother’s first husband died in Korea and her second husband was abusive and beat her and her children (Charlie’s dad and Charlie’s Aunt Rebecca) for seven years until Charlie’s great uncle found out about it. Charlie’s great uncle and his friends beat up the husband so badly that he died in the hospital. They never got in trouble for it, and Charlie’s dad explained that in their neighborhood, people sorted out some things without the police. Charlie’s Aunt Rebecca also had abusive relationships as an adult, but by that time the neighborhood had changed, and no one was around to defend her. Charlie wonders how her three children will turn out, and he thinks his dad feels bad for leaving his grandma and Aunt Rebecca.

On the ride home, Charlie’s family visits Aunt Helen’s grave and Charlie thinks about her experiences. He writes that she was molested as a child and when she told her father, Charlie’s grandfather, he didn’t believe her, so the abuse continued. Aunt Helen had drinking and drug problems as an adult and a string of abusive relationships. Charlie explains that she was an unhappy person for most of her life. Eventually, she tried turning her life around and moved in with Charlie’s family. On Charlie’s 7th birthday, she died in a car accident while driving to get Charlie’s gift. He remembers being at the hospital telling a doctor that Aunt Helen was the only one who hugged him. Charlie’s feels responsible for his aunt’s death, and as he thinks about her, his mental health declines.

He reads The Catcher in the Rye three times to keep his mind occupied and makes a mix tape to celebrate his first time driving alone. For his first trip, Charlie drives to the cemetery to visit Aunt Helen, where he leaves a mix tape for her and tells her about his life. He promises her to only cry for important things from now on. Charlie’s mental health continues to worsen, and he explains that he doesn’t want to keep thinking the way he has been, wanting to “sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist.” He says he’s feeling so bad that he might need to go to the doctor again.

While at a New Year’s Eve party with his friends, Charlie takes LSD and then stands outside alone thinking about how everyone else has somebody except for him. He shovels the driveway at four in the morning, and his mind races through disconnected thoughts, memories, and hallucinations. Eventually, he thinks about how all the books he’s read have been read by other people and the music he likes has also been heard by other people and that makes him feel connected. At the same time, because everyone else is with a partner, Charlie feels lonely and writes that he finally understands the end of the poem he read for Patrick, even though he “never wanted to.”