ii
ABSTRACT
Yanady Ayubrata. REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN CHBOSKY’S THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a semi auto-biographical novel written by an American writer, Stephen Chbosky. This novel is an expression of a fifteen year old boy who had a traumatic experience caused by his aunt. This novel focuses on how Charlie as the main character, lives his teenager’s life with that trauma. As an author, Stephen Chbosky also includes the psychological aspects, sexuality, and drug use.
The aim of this study is to find out the characteristics of the main character and the destructive behaviors that lead the main character into his post traumatic stress disorders caused by the traumatic experience.
The method of this study is library research. Theory of character and characterization, theory of psychoanalytic, and theory of post traumatic stress disorder are applied in this study. The researcher applies psychoanalytical theory since it covers some aspects that are relevant to answer the problem formulation. In analyzing the symptoms of the post traumatic stress disorder, the researcher first analyzed the repression and the unconscious of the main character that caused some destructive behaviors and led into the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Second, the researcher applied six minimum criteria of someone with post traumatic stress disorder on the main character’s behaviors to reveal his post traumatic stress disorder.
iii
ABSTRAK
Yanady Ayubrata. REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN CHBOSKY’S THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower merupakan novel semi-auntobiografi yang ditulis oleh penulis berkebangsaan Amerika, Stephen Chbosky. Novel ini adalah sebuah ekspresi dari anal lelaki berusia lima belas tahun yang memilki pengalaman traumatik yang disebabkan oleh bibinya. Novel ini berfokus pada bagaimana Charlie, sebagai pemeran utama, menyesuaikan diri kepada kehidupan remajanya bersamaan dengan trauma yang pernah dialaminya. Sebagai seorang penulis, Stephen Chbosky juga memasukan aspek-aspek psikologi, seks, dan penggunaan narkoba.
Tujuan dari riset ini adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik dari pemeran utama dan perilaku-perilakunya yang merusak yang kemudian mengungkap pemeran utama kepada gangguang stres pasca trauma.
Metode-metode yang diterapkan dalam riset ini adalah penelitian kepustakaan dan penelitian yang bersumber dari internet. Teori karakter dan karakteristik, teori psikoanalitik, dan teori gangguan stres pasca trauma adalah teori-teroi yang diterapkan di dalam riset ini. Peneliti menggunakan teori psikoanalitik karena teori ini meliputi beberapa aspek yang bersangkutan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah. Dalam menganalisa gejala-gejala dari gangguan stres pasca trauma, peneliti petama-tama menganalisa hal-hal buruk yang ditekan dan alam bawah sadar dari pemeran utama yang kemudian menyebabkan perilaku-perilaku yang merusak dan membawa kepada gejala-gejala gangguan stres pasca trauma. Kedua, peneliti menerapkan enam gejala minimal dari seseorang dengan gejala gangguan stres pasca trauma di dalam perilaku pemeran utama untuk mengungkap gangguan pasca trauma yang dimilikinya.
REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN
CHBOSKY’S
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
YANADY AYUBRATA Student Number: 124214059
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN
CHBOSKY’S
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
YANADY AYUBRATA Student Number: 124214059
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vii
Nothing is impossible,
the word itself says:
‘I’m possible’!
viii
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praises and thanks are to Allah SWT, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, because of His love finally I made it after a long and tiring process.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, and my co-advisor,Maria Ananta Tri Suryandari, S.S., M.Edwho have helped me through my writing process of this undergraduate thesis. Without their help and kindness I might have lots of trouble in doing and finishing my undergraduate thesis.
My gratitude also goes to all the lecturers and the staff of Department of English Letters for the knowledge and the information I got during my study.
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved family; to my father, Bayu Eko Irianto, who always believes in me and teaches me to work hard and never give up; my mother, Yoen Sudiharyanti, who always loves me,prays for me and supports me no matter what so that I can finish my thesis perfectly.
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE... ii
APPROVAL PAGE... iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH...v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY... vi
C. Objectives of the Study ... 4
D. Definition of Terms ... 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE... 7
A. Review of Related Studies... 7
B. Review of Related Theories ... 9
1. Theories of Character and Characterization ... 9
2. Theories of Psychoanalytic... 11
3. Theories of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... 12
4. The Relation of Literature and Psychology... 16
C. Theoretical Framework... 17
A. The Characteristics of Charlie ... 22
B. Charlie’s Behaviors Reveal his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... 28
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION... 41
xi
ABSTRACT
Yanady Ayubrata.REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN CHBOSKY’S
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. Yogyakarta: Department of
English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
The Perks of Being a Wallfloweris a semi auto-biographical novel written by an American writer, Stephen Chbosky. This novel is an expression of a fifteen year old boy who had a traumatic experience caused by his aunt. This novel focuses on how Charlie as the main character, lives his teenager’s life with that trauma. As an author, Stephen Chbosky also includes the psychological aspects, sexuality, and drug use.
The aim of this study is to find out the characteristics of the main character and the destructive behaviors that lead the main character into his post traumatic stress disorders caused by the traumatic experience.
The method of this study is library research. Theory of character and characterization, theory of psychoanalytic, and theory of post traumatic stress disorder are applied in this study. The researcher applies psychoanalytical theory since it covers some aspects that are relevant to answer the problem formulation. In analyzing the symptoms of the post traumatic stress disorder, the researcher first analyzed the repression and the unconscious of the main character that caused some destructive behaviors and led into the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Second, the researcher applied six minimum criteria of someone with post traumatic stress disorder on the main character’s behaviors to reveal his post traumatic stress disorder.
xii
ABSTRAK
Yanady Ayubrata.REVEALING CHARLIE’S POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH HIS BEHAVIORS IN STEPHEN CHBOSKY’S
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra
Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower merupakan novel semi-auntobiografi yang ditulis oleh penulis berkebangsaan Amerika, Stephen Chbosky. Novel ini adalah sebuah ekspresi dari anal lelaki berusia lima belas tahun yang memilki pengalaman traumatik yang disebabkan oleh bibinya. Novel ini berfokus pada bagaimana Charlie, sebagai pemeran utama, menyesuaikan diri kepada kehidupan remajanya bersamaan dengan trauma yang pernah dialaminya. Sebagai seorang penulis, Stephen Chbosky juga memasukan aspek-aspek psikologi, seks, dan penggunaan narkoba.
Tujuan dari riset ini adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik dari pemeran utama dan perilaku-perilakunya yang merusak yang kemudian mengungkap pemeran utama kepada gangguang stres pasca trauma.
Metode-metode yang diterapkan dalam riset ini adalah penelitian kepustakaan dan penelitian yang bersumber dari internet. Teori karakter dan karakteristik, teori psikoanalitik, dan teori gangguan stres pasca trauma adalah teori-teroi yang diterapkan di dalam riset ini. Peneliti menggunakan teori psikoanalitik karena teori ini meliputi beberapa aspek yang bersangkutan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah. Dalam menganalisa gejala-gejala dari gangguan stres pasca trauma, peneliti petama-tama menganalisa hal-hal buruk yang ditekan dan alam bawah sadar dari pemeran utama yang kemudian menyebabkan perilaku-perilaku yang merusak dan membawa kepada gejala-gejala gangguan stres pasca trauma. Kedua, peneliti menerapkan enam gejala minimal dari seseorang dengan gejala gangguan stres pasca trauma di dalam perilaku pemeran utama untuk mengungkap gangguan pasca trauma yang dimilikinya.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literary works cannot be separated from our lives. In this modern era, we use technology and things which are efficient, effective, and can entertain almost in every time. In this situation, literary works are also developed along withmodern era. In this case, literary works have been modernized by people. Poems, novels, plays, dramas are created based on the reality of today’s situation. These days, there are so many novels created based on true story of someone or inspired by some cases in the real life. Thus, novel becomes more like a daily consumption all over the world and it becomes a popular culture.
Since character in novels are created from the reflection of human beings and the circumstances, modern novels will be easier to be understood by many people because they produce similarities with their daily life. Novels written based on the story of a person, we call it biographyand when a person writes a novel about her or himself, we call it autobiography. There is also semi-autobiography novel which is a story about the author merged with fictive elements.
One of the great semi autobiographical novels is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was created from the life’s memories of the author, Stephen Chbosky, an American writer. The novel mainly tells about series of letters written by a young boy who experienced a bad childhood which causes a trauma feeling in his adulthood.
Therefore, this novel is very fascinating to be analyzed in this research as an object for some reasons. Firstly, The Perks of Being a Wallfloweris one of the successful bestseller novels in 1990 and had won many awards. The author, Stephen Chbosky has nailed in creating a good story that can entertain his readers. This novel even had been made into a film which stared many popular actors and actresses in 2012.
childhood where he lost some of his beloved people and got an abuse, and this causes a changing of his behaviors that come from traumatic experience.
In fact, trauma is a familiar disability in a society not only by an adult, but also children. This case can be caused by many factors, as Sigmund Freud says that all important experience since childhood is kept in mind and influences thought and behavior when adulthood. When looking into the similarities of the novel with our lives, the readers will become more interested because the story can reflect how real people live.
Someone who has traumatic experience, sometimes, hardly forgets about it and it affects his or her future life. Lois Tyson says that all the pain or the traumatic experience is repressed in his or her unconsciousness but it never disappears (2003). The pain or the traumatic experience itself will affect his or her behavior without they know it. Thus, it can lead into the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The novel of Stephen Chbosky is dealing with someone who had traumatic experience which leads into PTSD.
In this study, the researcher has a challenge to analyze the novel from Stephen Chboskyby using some theories that concerns with Charlie’s character and behavior to find the effect of his traumatic experience. That’s why the researcher analyzes the characteristics of the main character and his behavior toward his life and society according to the concept of psychoanalysis.
B. Problem Formulation
There are two formulated problems that the researcherintends to analyze in this research, which are:
1. What are the characteristics of Charlie in Stephen Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflower?
2. How do Charlie’s behaviors reveal his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Stephen Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflower?
C. Objectives of the Study
The second aim of this study is to find out his behavior through Charlie’s writing in the letters he wrote. By looking at how Charlie behaves toward himself and his surroundings, also how he describes his condition in his letters, the researcher can easily collect Charlie’s behaviors that are suitable to the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
D. Definition of Terms
In this study, knowing the terms which are going to discuss is important. To avoid different understanding in the research, the analysis provides some definitions of important words used in the analysis. The important terms in this study are related to psychological terms as the title is written, and the terms in psychoanalysis, since this study is using psychoanalysis as the basic theory.
The first important term of this study is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of PTSD. Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph. D. in his book, The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder , says that PTSD is the results from exposure to an overwhelmingly stressful event or series of events, such as war, rape, or abuse. It is a normal response by normal people to an abnormal situation. (2009 : 3)
The second term is psychoanalysis. According to Sigmund Freud in McLeod’s article (2001), psychoanalysis is a method for treating mental illness and also a theory which explains human behavior.
of the capacity for physical, mental, and social activity in the human life and the reactions to the situations. Human behavior is also influenced by the culture, emotions, values, and authority. (2014)
7
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter covers three parts. The first part is the review of Stephen Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflower taken from journal and internet sites. The second part is the review of the related theories consisting of theory of character and characterization, theory of psychoanalysis, and theory of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The third part is the theoretical framework which explains the contribution of the theories and the reviews in solving the problems formulation.
A. Review of Related Studies
the person who accepts his letters will never judge him or try to figure out who he is. In the end, his desire to stop writing the letters is because Charlie has fulfilled his true aims (Matos: 2013)
The study of Stephen Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflowerabove is discussing about the relation between Charlie’s life and his purpose in writing the series of letter. Angel Daniel Matos explains more about Charlie’s growth of his real life is also as a reflection of the teenagers’ issue of 1990s in America. Charlie’s growth of interaction can also be seen through his growth of writing. The specific discussion of the study above is about how letters are used to express Charlie’s feeling about his social life and the way he develops his writing is to fulfill his aims.
Both studies of Stephen Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflowerabove are discussing about the relation between Charlie’s life and his purpose in writing the series of letter and the brief explanation of Charlie and the symbols. Angel Daniel Matos explains more about Charlie’s growth of his real life is also as a reflection of the teenagers’ issue of 1990s in America. Charlie’s growth of interaction can also be seen through his growth of writing. The specific discussion of the study above is about how letters are used to express Charlie’s feeling about his social life and the way he develops his writing is to fulfill his aims. In the other hand, Michael Bulong says briefly about Charlie in general and symbols in the novel.
Yet, this study is different with the studies above. This study focuses on Charlie’s characteristics and behavior and how both the characteristics and behavior can be related to his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the repression and unconscious in psychoanalysis.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it - the dialogue - and from what they do - the action. (Abrams, 1999 : 32)
As authors write a story, they will use a variety of techniques to help readers get to know the characters in the story and what the characters are like. Characterizationis the method a writer uses to reveal a character’s values, goals, feelings, etc. to readers.
According to Robert and Jacob, there are four ways to characterize or make characters understandable for readers:
a. What the characters themselves say and think
We can find the characteristics by looking at what the characters say about some situations of something that happens to them. Here we can see that their statement and thought reflect their intellectual and also their emotions.
b. What the characters do
c. What other characters say about them
The statements or the conversations between other characters can describe how the characteristics of the specific character are.
d. What the author says about them
Here, the author directly tells the reader what the characteristics of the character are.(1991:53)
By correctly interpreting the tools of characterization used by an author, readers can arrive at clear understanding of what characters in stories are like since the personality of the character contributes to the description of a character.
2. Theory of Psychoanalysis
Since theory of psychoanalysis deals with human behavior, psychoanalysis concepts have become part of our everyday lives.
(2006:12). In order to know the destructive behavior, the researcher begins with the existence of the unconscious.
The unconscious is the storehouse of all those painful experiences and emotions, those wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflict that we do not want to know about because we fear overwhelmed by them (Tyson, 2006:12). In the unconscious the real cause of behavior is processed. The unconscious comes when we are very young through the repression. However, the repression does not eliminate our painful experiences and emotions. As the state above, unconscious reveal the psychological difficulty and affect someone’s behavior. The result of that effect is the destructive behavior that comes without we consider it.
3. Theory of Behaviour
Behaviour can also be influenced by chromosomes and hormones along side with environmental factors. Saul McLeod also says that not only can be analyzed through the external elements, but, behaviour can also influenzed by the unconscious mind (2007)
4. Theory of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
According to Edward Shorter the causes of people’s problems are determined by their story’s life and social situations, not only by their physical fiber of the body (1994 : 33). The social situations, such as social class, and personal development of individual lead a person to the illness. The changing of situation in a person’s life causes the pattern of illness of his or her body. Children, is the one who suffer more in this changing. The changing of situation in children’s life caused by their social or themselves may alter someone’s perception of their bodies and their illness. Glenn R. Schiraldi says PTSD is the result of overwhelmingly stressful situations or events and it is a normal response by a normal people to an abnormal situation. The changing situation in people’s life, such as being a victim of a sexual abuse, war, the death of someone they loved, causes a shock that lead to the trauma or PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD can also be viewed as a fear of unpleasant memories of the traumatic event that intrude into someone’s awareness. (2009:3)
tragedy.
gateway of someone to post traumatic stress disorder. There are two numbers in criteria A:
A.1 The person is experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injuries, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others
A.2 The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, and horror. In children, this may be expressed instead by a disorganised or agitated behavior(Scott and Stradling, 2001:7)
They also say that there are seventeen possible criteria or symptoms of people with PTSD which include criteria B,C, and D but experiencing minimum six of those symptoms, people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be recognized. The six minimum symptoms are including one symptom for criterion B, three symptoms for criterion C, and two symptoms for criterion D.The six minimum symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) used by the researcher are:
B.3 Sudden acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring
The individual loses some awareness of their present surroundings and is not simply remembering the trauma. The individual experiences such a flashback and make “strange” gestures which are perfectly the same with the trauma.
This symptom refers to block out intrusive recollections of the trauma. Some of the avoidant strategies such as become engrossed in some activity, drinking alcohol or using drugs.
C5. Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
This symptom relates to whether the individual feels distant or cut off from others compared to how they were before the traumatic event.
C6. Restricted range of affect
This symptom concerns the individual’s inability to have warm or loving feelings. Individual with this symptom is reported feeling emotionally numb and guilty that they are not concern about the plight of friends or family members, and that their conversational interaction has become robot-like.
D1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep
This symptom is self evidence. Just like other symptoms, this should have happened at least once in a month under consideration and caused distress at the time next day.
D2. Irritability of outburst of anger
objectively extreme nature of traumatic event and refers to an intensely distressing subjective response. Since the this study has reveal Charlie’s traumatic experience which is sexual abuse and losing people he loves, the criteria A does not necessary in analyzing the symptoms someone who suffer of PTSD.
5. The Relation of Literature and Psychology
The focus of this research is to reveal a traumatic experience of a character in a work of literature. Traumatic experience deals with human psyche. Therefore, this research can only be analyzed perfectly by employing psychology. Since the character is in the work of literature, it is best to refer the relation between literature and psychology.
C. Theoretical Framework
This study focuses on Charlie as the main character of Stephen Chbosky’s
The Perks of Being a Wallflower and his behaviors that lead into his traumatic experience. In analyzing Charlie, the researcher uses theory of character and characterization in order to get a deeper understanding about the characteristics of Charlie and how his characteristics can help to reveal his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Theory of psychoanalysis is important in this study. In order to know about how his traumatic experience can cause post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, the researcher uses this theory. Through this theory, the researcher can find out about the possible repression in Charlie unconscious.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is also important in this study. The researcher analyzes Charlie’s behaviors and their related to Charlie’s traumatic experience. This theory helps the researcher to find a deeper understanding about the effects of traumatic experience that affect someone’s behavior in the future. Since this study uses psychological approach, applying the psychological phenomenon about psychological disorder is needed to reveal Charlie’s traumatic experience.
18
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Charlie as the main character in Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallfloweris the object of this study. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Stephen Chbosky and published in 1999. It is Chbosky's most famous work, and it has been translated into 31 languages and has remained on theNew York TimesBestseller for several years.
Stephen Chbosky is a screenwriter and director who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chbosky reveals that many characters of the novel are inspired by the people he met when he was young.
Although the novel reach a great successful, but it also stirs controversy because of the content of drugs, sexuality, especially gay issue, and mental illness. Despite of the controversy, this book brings a picture of American society, especially teenagers’ life in the year of 90s.
B. Approach of the Study
To answer the problems formulated in this study, the researcher applies psychoanalytic approach. Psychoanalytic approach is used to see the main character’s behaviors that reveal the main character’s post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this study, there is one theory of psychology which is theory of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Peter Barry says that psychoanalytic theory is a form of literary criticism which uses some techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature (2002:96). Psychoanalysis itself is the system of psychological theory to treat mental disorders or mental illness by using interaction in investigating the conscious and the unconscious in the mind, so that the repression of someone with mental disorder or mental illness can be brought into the conscious mind.
Atkinson and Hilgard in book entitledIntroduction to Psychology say that psychoanalytic approaches personality from the point of view that explores the unconscious motives that direct behavior (1983:395)
C. Method of the Study
This study was library research. The primary source in this study was the novel by Stephen Chbosky entitled The Perks of Being a Wallflowers. The researcher also got sources from the books related to psychoanalysis, human behavior, trauma, and character & characterization. Some sources which were important in the literary work in this study are Aspect of the Novel by E.M. Forster, Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams and Story in Literary Fiction: A Manual for Writersby William H. Coles.
To know more about psychology and trauma, the researcher used some sources such as From The Mind Into The Body: The Cultural Origins of Psychosomatic Symptoms by Edward Shorter, The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide To Healing, Recovery, And Growth by Glenn R. Schiraldi,Counselling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorderby Michael J. Scott and Stephen G. Stradling, andCritical Theory Today– Second Edition by Lois Tyson. There were several steps which were taken in the research. The first step was reading the novel carefully in order to get a deeper understanding about the main character’s life, characteristics, and behaviors. From this step, the researcher found the way the character behaved which led to his post traumatic stress disorder.
The third step was analyzing the theory of characterization, psychoanalysis, and post traumatic stress disorder to the main character of the story.
22 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter consists two parts based on the problems formulated in this study. The first part is the analysis of Charlie’s characteristics in the novel. Knowing the characteristics of Charlie make the researcher easily analyzes deeply about Charlie’s behavior. The second part is the description of how Charlie’s post traumatic stress disorder depicted in the novel through his behaviors. It presents the description of Charlie’s behaviors which are related to the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. By analyzing Charlie’s behavior one by one and relating them with the symptoms, the researcher easily finds out Charlie’s post traumatic stress disorder.
A. The Characteristics of Charlie
In order to analyze Charlie’s characteristics, the researcher uses the theory of character and characterization in this part. Based on what Charlie writes in his letters, the researcher finds the characteristics of Charlie.
his family. He also never makes troubles. There are several characteristics that the researcher finds in Charlie.
The first characteristic of Charlie is quiet. Charlie is not the type of boy who is active or talkative. His only best friend is Michael who dies because of suicide. After Michael dies, he becomes calmer. He never plays outside with the other kids and he spends all his time at home, reading books. In his letters, Charlie never talks about his interaction with other friends besides Michael. In his high school he meets Sam and Patrick, his seniors at school. He never talks to anybody since day one in high school but when he sees Patrick and Sam in a football game, he tries to talk to him. Thus, they become friends. He also meets some of Patrick’s friends. Charlie, then, only interacts with Sam, Patrick, Bob, and Mary Elizabeth. Even though Charlie has finally had friends, he remains quiet. One of his friends, Patrick even says that Charlie is really something.
"He's a wallflower." And Bob really nodded his head. And the whole room nodded their head. And I started to feel nervous in the Bob way, but Patrick didn’t let me get too nervous. He sat down next to me. “You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.” (p.47)
The second characteristic of Charlie is introvert. In Merriam-Webster, the definition of “introvert” is a shy person: a quiet person who does not find it easy to talk to other people. Charlie’s closest friends among others are just Sam and Patrick. Through the novel, Charlie is seen as a boy who has difficulty in making friends. He never writes about his experiences with any other friends and also never plays far away with his friends. His activities at home are just reading books and listening to music. He does not socialize with his neighbors or his old friends. Charlie’s older sister is not close to him. She has different characteristics than Charlie, that is why she always thinks that Charlie is a freak boy.
"You're a freak, you know that? You've always been a freak. Everyone says so. They always have."
"I'm trying not to be." Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be." (p.34)
Since Charlie was a kid, he always gets straight A in his school. This makes he thinks that people leave him alone because he always gets straight A. The fact that Charlie always gets A in school and never plays with other friends describe that Charlie is an introvert because he spend his time in his room to read books and not playing outside. Thus, Charlie can easily get A in school.
twice.” The fact that Charlie likes reading books twice shows that he likes spend his time alone, just by himself. Not only spending his time by himself, Charlie is also a thinker. He likes seeing other people do something without even judge him. His English teacher, Bill even notices that Charlie is thinking too much.
"Bill looked at me looking at people, and after class, he asked me what I was thinking about, and I told him. He listened, and he nodded and made "affirmation" sounds. When I had finished, his face changed into a "serious talk" face.
"Do you always think this much, Charlie?" (p.32)
Unlike other people who never think about people they do not know, Charlie is happy doing that. He does not think that thinking too much is something bad, but his teacher, Bill, thinks differently. For Bill, thinking too much means avoiding to participate in life. What Bill says giving evidence about Charlie that Charlie is not fully participates in his own life. Other evidence is that Charlie goes to a shopping mall for weeks to figure out about other people he does not even know.
"I can tell you one thing that happened. I was in the shopping mall because that's where I go lately. For the last couple of weeks, I've been going there every day, trying to figure out why people go there. It's kind of a personal project."(p.153)
characteristic is described through what the characters do, what the characters themselves say and think, and what other characters say about him.
The third characteristic is that Charlie is a lonely person. As the researcher has said before, Charlie only has limited friends in his life. Since his beloved aunt dies in a car accident, Charlie feels his life is become lonely because his beloved person has died. In the middle school, his best friend, Michael, also dies and it gives Charlie another hard time. Since he is left by his two favorite persons, he becomes very lonely. He does not have friends to talk to. Most of his friends stay away from him with no reason. He also gets bully sometimes. He even seldom talks about his life or his problems with his family. He likes to keep his story inside.
"But this time, I went alone because Michael is gone, and Susan hangs around different boys now, and Bridget is still crazy, and Carl's mom sent him to a Catholic school, and Dave with the awkward glasses moved away. I was just kind of watching people, seeing who was in love and who was just hanging around, and I saw that kid I told you about." (p.26)
that Charlie’s characteristic as a lonely person is described through what the characters themselves say and think.
The last characteristic of Charlie is that emotionally unstable. As someone who is left by his favorite persons, Charlie has gone through hard times that make his emotions unstable. In his letters, Charlie says that he always gets panic and sad easily. He is also, sometimes, worry about something suddenly. The researcher finds that every time Charlie feels something wrong with him or he makes any mistakes accidently he will get nervous and panic. Charlie also shows his emotion through crying. He admits in his letters that he is the panicky kind of person.
"I remember when I was just about to say good-bye to my aunt Helen, I started crying. It was a real kind of crying, too. Not the panicky type, which I do a lot. And I made Aunt Helen a promise to only cry about important things because I would hate to think that crying as much as I do would make crying for Aunt Helen less than it is." (p.103)
This unstable emotion characteristic is described by Charlie himself. In the method of characterizing the character, the researcher finds out that Charlie’s unstable emotion characteristic is described through the way he says and thinks. Charlie directly says that he does crying a lot in panicky type especially when he remembers his aunt and when it is about Christmas time.
B. Charlie’s Behaviors Reveal his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Although Charlie has sexual abuse from his aunt when he is a kid, Charlie can still grow like a normal teenager. As an introvert, calm, loner, and emotionally unstable, Charlie’s characteristics define his behavior towards his trauma that he got when he was a kid. Outside of Charlie’s “normal behavior”, he has actually represses his pains, emotions, and guilty feeling inside his unconscious. The pain and the bad experience that he represses are the fact that he is molested by his beloved aunt when he is just a kid. He also represses his guilty feeling toward the death of his aunt and the unresolved reason of his best friend’s suicide. Those are repressed inside his unconscious because Charlie does not want them to haunt him and he wants everything to be alright and does not scare him. This shows that his behavior in repressing his trauma and not telling other people about that are the caused by his characteristics.
also an introvert person, he does not know how to tell other people about his trauma and he prefers to keep everything inside. His unstable emotion also brings him into a condition where he actually has the trauma but he refuses to feel and accept it as the part of his life.
Since the repression does not eliminate someone’s pain, emotion, etc, although Charlie’s bad experience, guilty, and emotion has been repressed, they does not go away, in fact they are going to affect Charlie’s behavior. Charlie’s unconscious causes some destructive behaviors that reveal his psychological problems without he knows it or he knows it but he did not realize that those psychological problems that are affected his behavior. Those behaviors are the keys to the symptoms of his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder can be seen in Charlie’s series of letter that he writes.
Charlie starts his letter when he is about to enter high school. In living his high school life, Charlie behaves like his other friends did, but actually, he is still showing the signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through his behaviors. There are several symptoms that are suitable to Charlie’s behaviors. The exact minimum number of the symptoms is six and those are considered as the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The first symptom can be seen in Charlie’s behavior during Christmas time. In Charlie’s birthday which is before Christmas, Charlie always fells sad and nervous all of sudden. Christmas’ eve is the time when his beloved aunt dies in a car accident when she is about taking presents for Charlie. Charlie always adores his aunt because she is kind and always gives Charlie two presents, Christmas present and birthday present. All he fells at that time are nervous, a panic kind of nervous and he always wants Christmas to end soon.“I'm really glad that Christmas and my birthday are soon because that means they will be over soon because I can already feel myself going to a bad place I used to go” (p. 81)
Charlie once says that even though he is glad that Christmas had come, he actually does not. His point by “glad” is that the existence of Christmas finally will be end soon because it has appeared. In December 23rd Charlie experiences
“I really don't feel very well. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm starting to get scared. I wish we were going back home tonight, but we always sleep over. I don't want to tell my mom about it because it would just make her worry. I would tell Sam and Patrick, but they didn't call yesterday. And we left this morning after we opened presents. Maybe they called this afternoon. I hope they didn't call this afternoon because I wasn't there. I hope it's okay that I'm telling you this. I just don't know what else to do. I always get sad when this happens, and I wish Michael were here. And I wish my Aunt Helen were here” (p. 83).
Another nervous and panic moment is when Charlie gets so emotional and confused suddenly when he cannot find what Christmas present he should give to his father. It can be seen that most of his nervous, panic, and emotion happen in Christmas time. The researcher finds that one main reason of that is his guilty feeling deep down in his heart about his aunt. There is also a time when Charlie says that he does not like his birthday. Seeing that his birthday is very close to Christmas where his aunt is dead when she is about to bring him birthday present and Christmas present. Every time he remembers Christmas and his birthday then Charlie will also remember his aunt and he feels guilty. “It started yesterday at home. I don't like my birthday. I don't like it at all” (p. 84)
“Is it your aunt Helen?” It was the way she said it that started me feeling. “Please, don't do this to yourself, Charlie” But I did do it to myself. Like I do every year on my birthday” (p. 87-88)
the trauma. He also makes a strange gesture that is perfectly congruent with his trauma when he looks at the mirror for hours and suddenly sees nothing. He is back at the scene of the incident of his aunt. He felt guilty and it caused the feeling of insecurity, panic, and nervousness whenever it was Christmas time or the time when his biggest emotional experience happens.
Here the researcher finds that his lonely characteristic play a role in his nervousness towards Christmas time. Since he is lonely, he always focuses on himself and therefore, his mind will stuck in the memories of his aunt. It will be different if Charlie can spend his time more with other people so that he can little by little get distract from his aunt’s memories. His characteristic of emotionally unstable also plays an important role in making this symptom. Because he is emotionally unstable, he can easily change his emotions, then, release his guilty feeling towards the accident of his aunt that gives him nervousness and panic. Thus, Charlie experiences as if the trauma is recurring.
There is also a time when Charlie gets scared all of sudden when he is in his dad’s old bedroom in Ohio.
“I am sitting in my dad's old bedroom in Ohio. The family is still downstairs. I really don't feel very well. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm starting to get scared. I wish we were going back home tonight, but we always sleep over” (p. 83)
What Charlie also experiences is dissociative flashback as the cue of the second symptom of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Charlie does not feel sucked in his original trauma, but his flashback is when he knew Christmas time are coming, his birthday was soon, and the things related to his beloved aunt, Hellen.
The second symptom can be seen when there is a time when Charlie read a poem for his high school friends about a boy who has problems in his family and that boy decides to suicide. In that moment, Charlie’s friends become so quiet and one of Charlie’s friends named Bob says that he hears that the poem is a kid’s suicide note. This second symptom shown by Charlie’s behavior is Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the event (Criterion C1).
the client drinks alcohol or uses drugs as the avoidant strategy to avoid the recollections of the trauma. In this research the client is Charlie himself. After joining his new friends, Charlie starts using drugs, smoking, and drinking alcohol. When Charlie fells that things start moving, he cannot put it together then smoking to avoid them.
“That's when she gave me the cigarette. When I lit it, I didn't cough. It actually felt soothing. I know that's bad in a health class way, but it was true.”
“Now, focus on the smoke,” Sam said. And I focused on the smoke. “Now, that looks normal doesn't it?”
“Uh-huh,” I think I said. (p.111)
It shows that the way Charlie felt shooting is the reflection of his panic and nervousness in his mind. It is because the trauma he gets when he is a kid that still haunts him. There is also a time Charlie is using drugs for a distraction whenever he fells sad, lonely, and he cannot sleep. He always gets his drugs from his friends Bob. “…Things were worse an hour ago, and I was looking at this tree but it was a dragon and then a tree, and I remembered that one nice pretty weather day when I was part of the air” (p. 104)
“I probably shouldn't write this down because I'm still seeing things move. I want them to stop moving, but they're not supposed to for another few hours. That's what Bob said before he went to his bedroom with Jill, a girl that I don't know” (p. 105)
“A few days ago, I went to see Bob to buy more pot. I should probably say that I keep forgetting Bob doesn't go to school with us” (p. 157).
Since Charlie is a quiet boy, he lets his mind to keep quiet from the all of his memories and his guilty feeling that haunt him. His calmness in facing some problems gives him an effort to avoid the though and feeling from the trauma. Thus, his calm characteristic leads him to this symptom.
Charlie’s childhood experiences are not as happy as his junior high school when he finally meets his high school friends. His only best friend is Michael. After Michael dies, Charlie is shock and he makes a distance from other people and keeps quiet. Since he was a quiet boy, many of his friends see him as a freak boy who has no friends. Charlie also gets bullied by his friends in school. Another friend who is with him named Susan also leaves him because things change and Susan becomes popular. “I keep quiet most of the time, and only one kid named Sean really seemed to notice me” (p. 13)
The fact that Charlie avoids meeting other people and gets distant above are indicate the third symptom of post traumatic stress disorder’s symptom in Criterion C which is Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others (Criterion C5). As an introvert boy, Charlie is rather being alone than meeting other people but Sam and Patrick. This characteristic plays an important role in this symptom. Since Charlie has an introvert characteristic, he cannot express his feelings freely to other people. He does not know how to tell other people about what he feels. People around him also do not have any idea about something that happens to him. What Charlie does to other people reflects other people’s attitude towards him. In this case, Charlie finally gets the symptom of detachment from others because he is not a social person.
Charlie’s guilty feeling that occurred after his beloved aunt dies is there until he is in junior high school. He believes that his aunt is dead because of him, because she is about brought him two presents. One is for his birthday and the other is for Christmas. He always thinks if only his aunt had just brought him one present then she would never die.
”And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everybody else. She would be alive if I were born on a day that didn't snow” (p. 102)
“After I read the poem that compares the woman's hands to flowers and rain, I put the book down and went to the window. I stared at my reflection and the trees behind it for a long time. Not thinking anything. Not feeling anything. Not hearing the record. For hours. Something really is wrong with me. And I don't know what it is” (p. 149)
The example of Charlie being numb is shown when he is not thinking, feeling, and hearing anything for hours. The fact that his numbness is caused by his sexual abuse and guilty feeling is not known by Charlie because he avoids the bad things of his aunt and the fact that his aunt has molested him when he is a kid.
In this situation, Charlie shows the fourth symptom of post traumatic stress disorder which is Criterion C6; Restricted range of affect (Criterion C6). Client (Charlie) with this symptom may report feeling emotionally numb and guilty that he or she are unconcerned about the plight of friends or family members and that their conversational interaction has become robot-like. The unconcerned about his friends and family happened before high school since Charlie felt guilty, he just concerned about his beloved aunt and his guilt which cause a distant relationship with his friends and his family beside his parents. Since Charlie is emotionally unstable, if he faces something that makes him panic or confuse, he will experience some strange emotions that make him feel numb and guilty as what criterion C6 has said before.
love is for Sam, but when his friend, Mary Elizabeth says that she liked Charlie, he cannot say no. He wants to be angry but he turns himself in sadness.
“And when the lady behind the counter asked me if I needed any help, I opened up my bag, and I returned the book Mary Elizabeth bought me. I didn't do anything with the money. It just sat in my pocket. When I walked home, all I could think was what a terrible thing it was that I just did, and I started crying” (p. 144)
Charlie does not love Mary Elizabeth but he cannot do anything because Sam is also with someone else. Charlie’s anger also happens when his friends are hurt. His anger makes him do physical violence with other people.
All I said was, “If you ever do this again, I'll tell everyone. And if that doesn't work, I'll blind you.” I pointed at his friend who was holding his face, and I knew Brad heard me and knew that I meant it (p. 163)
Charlie sometimes cannot release his anger because he will get so emotional. He is always angry with himself. He put the mistakes on his own but whenever he is angry with himself, it turns out to be emotional feeling, such as crying and worrying too much.
All his characteristics make a contribution in making this symptom. His unstable emotion is repressed inside him and since he is very quiet, lonely, and emotionally unstable, he cannot express his emotions and what he feels, so that they become anger.
friends, but whenever he has something bad happened or something is not going the way he wants, he will get burdens and it makes him thinking too much and cannot sleep. It also happens when he feels worry and nervous because of the memories of his aunt, Hellen, and the effect of the trauma in his childhood. In order to avoid the fact that he cannot sleep, he will read the book his teacher, Bill, gives him.
I read the book again that night because I knew that if I didn't, I would probably start crying again. The panicky type, I mean. I read until I was completely exhausted and had to go to sleep. (p. 103)
The symptom occurs again whenever Charlie has something bothered his mind or whenever he is alone. It is shows that Charlie’s memories are full of the memories of aunt Hellen who always stays and sleeps with him when he is a kid. There is also a time when Charlie cannot sleep because earlier he is sad because he wants to be alone with Sam and Patrick but he cannot and he ends up using drugs he gets from Bob.“It's now 4 o'clock in the morning, which is the New Year even though it's still December 31, that is, until people sleep. I can't sleep” (p. 104)
The lonely characteristic of Charlie gives a role in this symptom. As a boy who actually should live his life by playing with his friends, Charlie is in the other way. He does not have any friends he can talk about his problems so he keeps his problem inside him. This causes Charlie’s mind is always on the bad memories which also make him difficult to sleep.
41
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
After reading the whole novel and analyzing all the facts dealing with Charlie’s post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it is worth drawing the following conclusions. From the analysis the researcher finds the answer of the two problems formulated in the first chapter.
The first problem is about the characteristics of Charlie as the main character in the novel. There are four characteristics the researcher has found in Charlie. Those five characters are quiet, lonely person, introvert, and emotionally unstable. Those characteristics are analyzed by the theory of character and characterization. The method of the characterization used in this study is the method of what the characters themselves say and think, what the characters do, and what other characters say about them.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has given minimum numbers of symptoms that occur inside a person with a traumatic experience including a huge loss. The first criteria is Criteria A1 which is the person is experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injuries, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. The second one is
Criteria A2 which is The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, and horror. In children, this may be expressed instead by a disorganized or agitated behavior. There are also six minimum numbers of seventeen symptoms of someone with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that Charlie shows.
The six symptoms that Charlie has are Sudden acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (Criterion B3), Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the event (Criterion C1), Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others (Criterion C5), Restricted range of affect (Criterion C6), Irritability or outburst of anger (Criterion D2), Difficulty falling or staying asleep(Criterion D1).
44
Abrams, M. H.. A Glossary of Literary Terms/ Seventh Edition. Boston: Earl Mcpeek, 1999.
Atkinson, Rita L, Richard C. Atkinson and Ernest R. Hilgard.Introduction to Psychology. Eight edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich. 1983 Barry, P.. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural History.
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002.
Chbosky, S.. The Perks of Being A Wallflower. New York: Pocket Book, Simon
and Schuster Inc.,1999.
Coles, W. H.. Story in Literary Fiction: A Manual for Writers. Bloomington: AuthorHouse., 2007.
Farzaneh Dastmard, T. R.. The Relationship between Psychology and Literature.
TextRoad Publication, 2012.
(http://textroad.com/pdf/JBASR/J.%20Basic.%20Appl.%20Sci.%20Res., %202(9)9420-9423,%202012.pdf). January 18, 2016.
Schiraldi, G. R. The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. New York: The
Mc-Graw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2009.
Robert, E. V, Jacobs, H. E.Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall College Div, 1991.
Bornstain, M.H, Kagan, J, Lerner, R.M .Human Behaviour.Encyclopedia
Britannica Inc, 2016. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-behavior). October 3, 2016.
Matos, A. D.. Writing through Growth, Growth through Writing: The Perks of
Being a Wallfower and The Narrative of Development. The Alan Review,
McLeod, S. What is Psychology? SimplyPsychology,
2001.(www.simplypsychology.org/whatispsychology.html). May 11,
2016.
McLeod, S.Behaviorist Approach. SimplyPsychology, 2007.
(http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html). November 3,2016. Perrine, L.. Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense. New York: Hartcourt Brace
Jovanovich, Inc, 1974.
Shorter, E..From the Mind Into the Body: The Cultural Origins of Psychosomatic
Symptoms.New York: Free Press, 1993.
Skinner, B. F.. Science and Human Behavior.New York: Pearson Education Inc,
2014.
Scott, M. J, Stradling, S.G.Counselling for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Second Edition.London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2001.
Tyson, L.. Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2006.
Williams, R.. Keywords: A vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana
46
APPENDIX
Summary ofThe Perks of Being a Wallflower
Charlie is a 15 year old genius boy, who is starting his first year of high school. This novel is written in letters to an anonymous person, explaining his experiences. He begins his letters off by talking about his friend, Michael who has committed suicide. He describes how much he misses him. Things change and he does not have any close friends. Then he goes on to describe his family. His family consists of himself, his mom, his father, his brother, and his sister. There are also the outspread relatives that they only see on holidays and his Aunt Helen.
His Aunt Helen was his favorite person in the whole world. However, she got in a terrible car accident when she was about to bring Charlie presents and she passed away. His father, is a very proud and strong man. His mother is a bit emotional, and loves her children very much. His brother is a freshman and a football player at Penn State University, and loves cars and models. As for his sister, she and Charlie never seem to really get along. She is a senior in high school and has a secret boyfriend throughout the novel.
reveals that Sam will be a love interest for Charlie. However, she begins to date an older boy named Craig. Sam dates him until she learns he has been cheating on her the whole time. Patrick is homosexual. His partner, Brad, is a closeted homosexual that has to abuse drugs and alcohol to be with Patrick. Sooner or later however, Brad's father finds out and beats him. This is how he and Patrick end. This takes Patrick on a road of heartbreak where he is constantly going out to places to pick up men, or to just drink. He drags Charlie along and at one point he even kisses him. Charlie being the passive person he is does nothing to stop him.
Mary Elizabeth is Sam's best friend and she talks a lot. She becomes a love interest for Charlie for a bit, but it doesn't work out. It becomes more of a one sided relationship. He doesn't want to be with her anymore and one night, when the group of friends is playing truth or dare, Patrick had dared Charlie to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. That's when Charlie got up and kissed Sam. It was a messy ending. The last one is Bob, and he is the groups weed supplier. Charlie had his first experience with weed from him. He, later, begins smoking a great deal of it as well as cigarettes.
