NLMG CONNECTION - Amelia Boardman

By:
Amelia Margaret Francis Duffy Boardman
Mrs. Schieffelin
NLMG Connection          
                                                           Cloning Wallflowers
Every teen novel has that one overly emotional character. As our class has exhaustively discussed, Tommy embodies that character in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go. He was known as a child for his temper tantrums and as he grew older, was targeted for his emotional and sexual conflicts. Similarly, Charlie from Stephen Chbosky's novel The Perks of Being A Wallflower has no idea where he is going with his life. He is emotionally conflicted and struggling with depression. When he begins high school, he finds himself without a friend group or support system. By chance, he falls in with a group who call themselves the "wallflowers". This group contains an array of people with a multitude of different personalities. Like Hailsham, this group certainly has its' dramatic ups and downs. Yet despite the chaos, Charlie finds himself truly happy for the first time in a long time. He develops a romantic relationship with Sam, but like Kathy and Tommy, they are unable to commit to each other due to other relationships. However, when Sam goes to college and leaves Charlie behind, he spirals back into a depressed state, eventually landing himself in a mental rehabilitation facility. Charlie's breakdowns are a lot like Tommy's temper tantrums, dramatic in nature and excessively emotional, and also brought on by traumatic and triggering events. They both rely upon their friends as a support system to keep them afloat.

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