Description of Charlie

Emotional, desolate, clever and smart are all words that could be used to describe Charlies personality (which changes a little bit until the end of the novel). Charlie is a rather shy person which automatically brings him in the position of a wallflower, in the position of an outsider. Aut of this position Charlie is able to notice things which maybe aren't important for other people or things which the others want to hide. I don't really have the impression that he's a real wallflower because if there happen something Charlie's often the first who knows about it and although he might look rather a bit reserved he still experiences and knows many many things! He likes to eat with fingers out of napkins and he really likes to read books several times which shows that he must have quite a lot of free time. Charlies favourite band is "the Smiths", he likes to read music magazines and by his friends he's known for making music tapes for them which is something he likes himself too. Because of his special and interesting character he's also got other good qualities as for example that he's a good listener, which his friends admire at him. Charlies birthday is at the 24 of December and his "favourite" aunt Helen is the only one who gives him two presents, what he really likes. It was very interesting to read about his life, how his past always persecutes him and therefore how he acts with this. A very special person.

Review / The perks of being a wallflower

The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a novel that really took me by surprise. The strange title of the story caught my eye and after reading it I can truly say that it's a must read for all teenagers! The novel was written in the 1990's and first published in 1999 by MTV. The story explores topics such as introversion, teenage problems (sexuality), abuse... It's also is about drug use and the main characters experiences with this. The story takes place in the USA during a school year, when Charlie, the wallflower of the book, is a high school freshman. Two other important characters are Patrick (who's homosexual) and Sam (his sister); in short his only and best friends! Other characters that have important roles are Mary Elizabeth (Charlies girlfriend), Brad, Bill and Charlies older sister and brother.
At the beginning of the novel Charlies best friend Michael commits suicide and so Charlie hasn't anyone to hang out with. His teacher Bill and above all his new friends Patrick and Sam open Charlie a world in which he experiences things, which include both good and bad experiences, which he never would have done if he hadn't found them. We also got to see how Charlie deals with all the family gatherings that happen throughout the year but the main subplot involves Charlie and Sam which "friendship" involves much about love and romance.
What I personally really liked about the novel is that it's straightforward and that his story shows, how it REALLY is in high school. I like that the author wasn't afraid to talk about controversial topics like sex, drugs, alcohol, abortion, homosexuality, rape... and I also really like the letter format in which the story is written that's unusual but good I think.
I would recommend this book to kids over 14 years because of the topics the book discusses. I think for teenagers up to parents this novel is a "must read“!

Exam correction

Violence is one of the most discussed and always curent topics in our society. Nearly every day we hear or see violence. Michale Medved is opposed to the violence on TV and I agree. I think it isn't true that violent movies ar just harmless entertainment and I think of course there is a evidence that they influence the puplic, so I totally agree with Medved's opinion. Medved made several interviews with people who said the shot at other people because they had seen this in "Natural Born Killers", and they thought that it's cool, which confirms that it's not juts harmless entertainment. I also agree with Medved that it's wrong that violent films just reflect reality, as it is because that's totally nonsense I think. The "movie-makers" say that they just give the public what they want which is absolutely rubbish! The real "money-makers" of 1995 for example were all films like Pocahontas, Toy Story or Lion King who partly made three times more money than for example this violent films from Tarantino! Which is, I think, a piece of evidence that teh people "not only" like violent films! Likewise the "statement": "you don't have to watch volent films, if you don't want to watch them", that's also a very naiv statement I think. Medved said too that you don't have to watch such films but he said that neverthelss you hear about such films or be 'connected' with violence with media, and also at this point I totally agree with him (Medved)!

There are many reasons, why there is so much violence in our society, however I don't think that it's mostly caused by violent movies or violent media! One thory, or one fact is for example that the family life of children, their upbringing influences their attitude to violence. "That violence doesn't influence everybody doesn't meant that it doesn't influence anybody", an absolutely correct statement I think! Many, many children have stars or sportathletes as their "heroes" who are a big role model for them, which isn't good because especially sprot is often connected with violence!

It is important that we reduce violence among children. Some people believe that it would be good if there were stricter punishments for people who sell e.g. alcohol to children, others claim that alcohol has nothing to do with violence, which I don't think! I also think that the media influences children more than they and their parents think! As you can see for example at experiments, Medved made with children, where they knew everything about seveal extremely violent films although they've never seen them before and they answered that they just know all this terrifying details from the media! And that's quite scary I think! Therefore I think there should be a much strikter censurship on medias as there it is by now!

Finally violence is frequently caused by negative emotions like hate and I think that we really have to do with the agressive and brutal sort of violence how we can watch it in films! So I really think that there's something to do!