Analysis of Novel the Perks of Being a Wallflower Using theTheory Psychoanlysis Approach Menal Health

Abstract

This article discusses Novel of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The analysis focuses on the presents stories about mental health, sexual abuse, and juvenile delinquency. In this novel, there are also many conflicts related to mental health, sexual abuse, and typical delinquency of teenagers.Using the Psychoanalysis approach, the purpose of writing this article is to Knowing the problems and influences related to mental health, sexual abuse, and juvenile delinquency based on the novel The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Supported by qualitative methods, the authors chose novel as the main data and the collected support data through other journals. Charlie faces a child's mental health problem from his aunt and likes Charlie's life after opening to get along with school children. And finally, how Charlie survived the mental illness and the aftermath of Charlie when he made friends that Charlie was no longer a wallflower.

Keyword: Psychoanalysis approach, mental health, sexual abuse, wallflower

Introduction

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a story about a teenager named Charlie. He is a boy who comes from a harmonious family. Although he comes from a harmonious family, Charlie is a quiet and introverted child. Apart from being quiet and introverted, Charlie is also an observant child and always pays attention to his surroundings. At the beginning of the novel "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" we will be treated to a sad and traumatic story of the main character who has to lose his aunt and best friend. Not only that, he is a boy who feeling restless and scared when he has to enter high school alone. In the next chapter, after Charlie enters his new school, he starts to be able to adapt to his surroundings even though it is not easy. With the help of his English teacher and his older brother's friends, he began to get along and adapt. From there, many conflicts began to emerge and affect Charlie. Not only teenage conflicts such as quarrels between friends, but also family conflicts, drugs, sex, LGBT and mental health are also exposed in the story of this novel.

Method

The method used in this research is data collection research. The author wrote The Perks Of Being Wallflower is to convey to the readers that the life of a teenager who is going to adulthood is not easy. Many events can easily affect the mentality of a teenager. On the other hand, even though a child is born and raised in a good and harmonious family, it does not necessarily mean that the child will be spared from mental illness and existing problems.The data will be collected from Novel, E-books, as well as online journals and articles.After collecting problem in the novel, the author applies the data to be analyzed on the main characters in the film to analyze with theory psychoanalysis approach. At the end the author will come to a conclusion that answers the problems above.

Discussion

The Perks Of Being Wallflower is a novel by Stephen Chbosky which consists of four parts. In every part in this novel, Charlie tells about Charlie's experiences when he was a teenager. Where in this novel Charlie is described as a quiet and introverted child, but Charlie is also an observant child and always pays attention to his surroundings. In the first part, this novel tells about the life of a child who has a harmonious family consisting of father, mother and Charlie's two brothers.He does not want to participate in everything, including in class. Even though he knows the answer given by his teacher, he doesn't want to answer it in front of the class, he prefers to write the answer in his book. This was known by his teacher, so Charlie's teacher finally had his own way to support Charlie, who turned out to have a hidden talent in writing.

Because of this, Charlie's wallflowers gradually diminished thanks to the help of his teacher and friends who helped. Some of them are Patrick and Sam. When he was in the same class with Patrick, who was a senior in Charlie class and Patric was always cheerful and didn't care about the senior-junior division, Charlie dared to get acquainted with him as well as his half-sister, Sam, while watching a football game. From that day on Charlie, Patrick and Sam were inseparable like postage stamps. After Charlie got to know Patrick and Sam his life was not as beautiful as he imagined.  All off was well before the boy lost his close friend and got into the promiscuity that existed at his new school.Then besides Charlie as WallFlower, Charlie also has a mental health disorder, namely PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The beginning of Charlie experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder is when his aunt sexually abused Charlie when he was a child, so that as an adult Charlie was haunted by the incident in living his daily life and it affected the nature and treatment of things. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder disorder can bring back memories of trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions.

Result

In the second part, this novel contains about Charlie who tells several things about his friend. Such as sex between men made by Patrick and Brad. This was clarified by the statement of Brad's father that he would provide rehabilitation facilities so that, Brad's soccer scholarship was not wasted. This is also reinforced by Patrick's statement that he is a guy to Charlie. The rest discussed other mischief about his friends.

In the third chapter, this novel tells the story of Charlie's love story with Mary Ellizabeth which is full of teenage impressions. In this part there is also a conflict caused by free sex by Chalie's older sister until she chooses to abort her fetus.

In the fourth part, this novel tells the story of Charlie's life who is about to finish his schooling and his friendship problems, one of them is LGBT. At the end of the story in this novel, the end of Charlie's life is told where he make peaces with himself who has experienced post-traumatic conditions, and the life of his juvenile delinquency. Basically this novel is based on the daily life of young Charlie which he wrote in several letters. The letters were eventually turned into a novel, so that it became Charlie's story in living his teenage life. So basically this novel comes from a true story. The Problem in this novel is directed at Charlie as a writer where he has problems in the form of mental health. Mental health itself is usually caused by something that has happened before. It can be concluded that Charlie has mental health problems because of the events he experienced since he was a child by his aunt and after growing up Charlie was haunted by small events that happened to him and affected his character and behavior. The problems that arise around Charlie, such as Charlie finally getting the girlfriend of a beautiful and smart upperclassman named Mary Elizabeth. But in a game of truth or dare, when Charlie is dared to kiss the most beautiful woman, he kisses Sam, making Mary Elizabeth who sees it very angry. Everyone sided with Mary Elizabeth and criticized Charlie. Then, there is also the relationship of Brad (Patrick's gay lover) and Patrick who are caught by Brad's father who likes to play hands. Problems also arise in Charlie's family when Charlie's older sister has a boyfriend who likes to play hands. Charlie indirectly complained about this to their parents which made his brother very angry. However, in the end, the incident actually made them understand each other better and deepen their brotherly relationship. At the end of the story Charlie wrote to his "friend" that his parents found him naked and unresponsive on the couch. His parents took him to a mental hospital. There he realized that Aunt Helen had raped him when he was little, but he locked all the memories. He said he had now forgiven Aunt Helen. Charlie also said that he would stop writing letters and start living his life fully and at peace with himself.

Conclusion

Conclusion the story Charlie wrote to his "friend" that his parents found him naked and unresponsive on the couch. His parents took him to a mental hospital. There he realized that Aunt Helen had raped him when he was little, but he locked all the memories. He said he had now forgiven Aunt Helen. Charlie also said that he would stop writing letters and start living his life fully and at peace with himself.This novel has a uniqueness that is very visible from the form of content that is presented. Where in this novel in the form of a letter addressed to someone. So that when reading this novel the reader is brought into an atmosphere like reading a letter from a friend. On the other hand, this novel tells the experience of a teenager who gets a lot of problems in his life. With simple language in telling the story of the main character named Charlie

REFERENCES

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Altman, H. (2020). Transitioning Theme in Chbosky’s Adaptation of The Perks of Being A Wallflower.

Dybvad, K. (2021). The Portrayal of Anxiety and PTSD in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Bachelor's thesis, NTNU).

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