The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Theme

The book "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky is about a boy named Charlie who has older siblings, and he witnesses and faces many different things in the book such as rape and drinking. In this book, there are a lot of themes in this book. Different characters go through a lot of things throughout the book.

One of the themes in the book is rape. In the beginning of the book, the main character witnesses rape during his older brothers party. He was sitting in his room because his brother sent him up there for the duration of the party. There was a drunk couple who came into the room and asked if they could use it. He didn't know what they were going to do. The boy was making the girl do many things that she didn't want to do. When she refused he forced her to do what he wanted her to do or he did it himself. "She was still crying... I had to stop watching at this point because I started to feel sick, but it kept going on, and they kept doing other things, and she kept saying 'no'." This proves that rape is a theme in the book.

Another theme in the book is language. Throughout the book, there is a lot of cursing and sexual language that Charlie is appalled by. It comes up a lot in the book but it comes up at different times and of course for different reasons.

The last theme that I am going to describe is immoral acts. These include drugs, sex, and drinking. The theme of drinking happens at Charlie's brothers party. This is what causes Charlie to witness rape in his room. Another example of immoral acts is  sex. This happens at some of the parties that occur during the story. The last example of immoral acts is drinking. At this party that his brother takes him to there is a lot of drinking. Also, Charlie's brothers friend gives him a brownie with liquor in it. These are examples of immoral acts in the book.

All in all, I can understand why parents and teachers would challenge or ban this book. There are a lot of themes in this book that are graphic and to some very inappropriate. There are many parents that would not let their child read this book.

Faithful Elephants

"Japan was at war." Slowly the war was getting worse and worse. There were bombs dropping every day, all day coming from all over. "Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsuchiya tells the story of three elephants who died a very tragic death due to a war that was going on in Japan. The zookeeper had a very strong connection with the elephants. Because the zookeeper was so sympathetic, it impacted the elephants in many ways.  Although he tried to save the elephants they still died and he was very sad in the end of the story. This proves that the zookeeper had a strong connection with John, Tonky and Wanly. 

          The zookeeper loved the elephants,and therefore, he didn't want them to have a painful death. "John loves potatoes, so the elephant keepers mixed poison potatoes with the good ones." This shows that by putting the poison inside of the potatoes, John won't feel any pain and he wont have to suffer. The zookeepers knew what John liked and therefore tried to hide the fact that there was poison in the elephants food. Another example of the zookeepers love for the elephants is that they tried to inject the poison into the elephants food so that he wouldn't have to suffer. The zookeeper had such a strong connection with the elephants that he didn't want them to suffer or have a painful death. 

          When the zookeeper found out that the elephants were going to have to starve to death he was not very happy. He did not want them to have an agonizing death."The elephant keepers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly...as days passed, the elephants became thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker... the trainer could stand it no longer." This proves that the zookeeper was very heart broken that he had to starve the elephants. When he passed their cage, the elephants would walk up to the front of the cage and it would be as if they were pleading for food and water. It was a very emotional moment for the zookeeper. Also, one day when the zookeeper walked pass the cage, and he could stand it no longer so he decided to go and give the elephants some food and water. This showed that the zookeeper felt terrible for the elephants, and instead of following through with starving the elephants, he fed them. This shows that The zookeeper was not happy about starving the elephants.

          As much as the zookeeper loved the elephants, they did unfortunately die due to starvation. In the end the zookeeper was very sad. "Everyone burst into tears, then stroked the elephants' legs and trunks in sorrow." This shows that the zookeepers were very sorrowful about the elephants death. Tonky, John and Wanly were a symbol of hope, and their death was very tragic. This explained why the zookeeper was sympathetic at the end of the story.

          All in all the zookeeper didn't want the elephants to have a painstaking death. He really loved the elephants, and as genuine as he was, the war ended and the elephants still died.