Perks of Being a Wallflower End

 Characterization - Sam
When first introduced to Sam in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the reader can already tell that there is more to her than what is seen at first glance. Sam is a dynamic character throughout the entirety of the story. She changes so much from the beginning of the story to the end; she grows, she learns, and she lives.

Her character is introduced as the fun girl that Charlie has a crush on. She likes to party and likes attention, but in actuality this is a cry for help. Sam is unusual, and it is noted that at one point she was popular, before she got into "good music".

From the beginning it is said that Sam has a troubled past. Charlie's sister mentions names the other students called her, for things she had done with guys. She had a history of getting around, which stems from the later revelation that Sam was molested by a family friend at a young age. This left her traumatized, and the fact that she later gave herself away to feel loved hints that maybe she never felt love before. Not real love. Maybe that's all she wanted the whole time.

Sam grows tremendously throughout the book. In the beginning she's the carefree party girl who seems to keep everything locked up inside. She just wants to have fun, partying, drinking, doing drugs - you name it, she does it. But as the story goes along, she changes. She gets into an actual relationship which opens her eyes later on. Craig tries to control her and she lets him. She lets him tear her down and make her feel like she doesn't matter.

Toward the end of the book, she realizes that, hey, I do matter and nobody should get to walk all over me like that. She realizes that she shouldn't let other peoples' opinions influence her to the point that she can no longer be her own person. She realizes that another person's idea of who she is doesn't matter if they don't know who she is at all. The only relevant opinion of herself is her own. She doesn't let her past and the tragedy that she's encountered define who she is. Only she is able to define herself.

The main thing that Sam highlights, which is a very important part of this book, is that people need to do things. They need to participate in life, no matter what opinions surround them or what views people have. People are going to talk, regardless. People will hold your past and your actions against you, but it's all irrelevant, really.

Sam is dynamic in the realest meaning of the word because of the fact that she really grows and she lives and learns so much more than I could ever begin to explain in one blog post.

Quotes
 "So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be." -Charlie

This is a very important quote in relation to the meaning of the story as a whole. What this means is that basically, Charlie is feeling mixed emotions about everything in life. He doesn't know why this is, but this is really the entire point of the story. This book is about identity and finding yourself and really coming to terms and understand who you are. This quote highlights that fact - Charlie has no idea what he feels or why he feels it, but he grows. He learns. This is the entire point of the book.

"We accept the love we think we deserve." -Bill 

This quote is very powerful and very important in relation with the meaning of the story. The meaning of this quote is self-explanatory; people will only let people love them if they feel they deserve their love. This is based on the person's perception of who they are, their identity per se. This book is entirely about finding yourself, figuring out who you are and who you will be. This quote ties right into that based on the fact that the love you will accept relies solely on how you feel about yourself and what you think you deserve. Charlie accepts the love of his friends because he thinks he deserves it. His sister accepts the love of the boy who hits her because she thinks she deserves it. It is based solely on your own perception of who you are.

"So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them." - Charlie

This may very well be the most important quote from the entire book. In relation with the main theme of finding yourself and figuring out who you really are, this quotes highlights the fact that, yes, people cannot choose where they come from. They don't choose what happens to them or what happened in their past or even in their present. But they have the power to choose where they go from that point. They have the power to choose who they are, who they want to be, and what they're going to do. And they can live, and they can feel, and they can learn, because that's what life is about. That is the main point of the entire story.