Character Analysis: Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower

       Charlie has easily become one of my favorite characters of all time.  I found that our personalities were very similar which made him easy to relate to and he was just a wonderful character in general.  Despite the tragic things that have happened in his life, he always sees the best in people and does not have a mean bone in his body.  However, his devotion to pleasing other people causes him to not worry about himself.  It is almost painful to watch him suffer because he is just so genuinely nice.  Charlie made my heart wrench and evoked emotions out of me that I did not know I possessed.
          We can all agree that Charlie is just a sweetheart.  He manages to maintain such an innocence about him despite his past and he just forced me to love him.  There is not a thing he does in the novel that could make you dislike him.  He is a shy, socially awkward freshman who loves reading and if that isn't enough, he only strives to make people happy.  I mean come on.  We are also forced to somewhat pity him.  His best friend committed suicide and he has to keep going.  Life goes on.  Charlie's pure goodness is inspirational and really says a lot about his character.
         And then we have his love for Sam.  He loves her for who she is and does not care about her past.  Even when he is dating Mary Elizabeth he is doing it because he thinks that is what Sam wants.  It was heartbreaking watching Sam treat him as more of a younger brother than someone she could be interested in romantically.  Things work out in the end though, and our little fangirl hearts are fulfilled.
         He also loves Patrick very much.  He beat up Brad's groupies when they were attacking Patrick and threatened to blind them if they ever did it again.  That took some guts and was very out of character for Charlie.  He also let Patrick kiss him because he thought it was making Patrick feel better about his break up with Brad.  Charlie selflessly protects him and devotes himself to making sure Patrick is happy.
         Charlie's capacity for love is amazing and inspiring.  If we all loved as much as he does, the world could be a very different place.  I believe we all have some Charlie within ourselves, sometimes we just have to search for it.  I hope one day I can be half as wonderful as he is.  Charlie does and will always have a special place in my heart.