Turning Pages to Healing Illness: A Bibliotherapeutic Reading of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Abstract

“A book being a literary prescription it should be carefully put up”
(Crothers 45).
The present study examines the effect of bibliotherapeutic reading in healing Charlie’s illness through bibliotherapy in Chbosky’s novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. According to Samuel Crothers, the concept of bibliotherapy is that words contain the healing power to cure the illness of the human psyche. Bibliotherapy is the therapeutic application of literature that promotes a sense of connection with characters and themes, offering emotional, mental, and physical support. The Perks of Being a Wallflower has a story of quiet moments between laughter and a poignant theme of loss lingering in the atmosphere. The shadows of love and loss of temper, the moment of joyful memory and painful trauma. The protagonist and narrator, Charlie, captures the turbulence of teenage life with honesty and emotional depth. The novel unfolds the character Charlie, who has been subject to the childhood loss of loved ones and adult love. One of his teachers, Bill Anderson, significantly influences Charlie’s development by allowing him to engage with a choice of books and compose written reviews of their content. The impact of the fiction he reads helps in the healing process of the mental trauma he has gone through during his adolescent period. Unknowingly, Charlie finds his way out of trauma through characters, themes, and thoughts that function as medicine. This study focuses on the character Charlie’s way out of trauma through the approach of a bibliotherapeutic reading.