That One Special Character

I have read many fiction books since fiction is the genre that makes me fall in love with reading, or I can say it’s my comfort genre. I have “met” many fictional characters; some are interesting, some are inspiring, but the others are not really memorable. However, there’s this one character that comes to my mind if you ask me to mention a book character that I feel close to. It’s Charlie in Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

At first, what made me feel close to Charlie is the way the author wrote this book. I suppose to say this novel is like a collection of Charlie’s letters which tell the readers about his daily life. The moment he felt sad because of his friend and aunt’s death, the moment he got nervous over his first day at high school, the moment he met Sam and Patrick, the moment he fell in love, and other moments in Charlie’s life. He wrote it all in his letters and to be able to read them made me feel like he believed me to be his friend and to hear his stories.

I read his letter one by one and found my personality quite similar with Charlie. I’m not a type of person who can easily open to new people, in other words I need time to be comfortable with someone. That’s why I know how it feels to be anxious at school — especially on the first day — and to have difficulties getting new friends.

The sadness that Charlie felt when he lost his aunt and how he blamed himself for that, those remind me of something in my life. Many people convinced him that he wasn’t the one that caused it to happen, but he still found it hard to get rid of that thought. I didn’t experience the exact same thing but I once lost someone close to me because of my negligence and I really blamed myself for that.

It’s funny how I see some parts of myself in Charlie. However, I feel grateful to find a fictional character that has similar story as me. It makes me feel less lonely.

I guess you all, people who love reading fiction books, have at least one character that you feel close to. Close as if you’re the character’s friend, family, or even lover. Some of you may also feel close to the certain book’s character because you have a similar personality or story with the character, just like me. I believe you all know what kind of pleasure it is to have one special character.

Happiness is not this thing for other people. It is for you. It is for me. It is for all of us. We all get ending. Whether or not it’s happy is up to us.

— The Perks of Being a Wallflower