The Differences between the Book and the Movie

The Perks of Being a Wallflower narrates a story through a series of letters to an unknown friend. Charlie struggles with the traumatic deaths of his aunt and friend and tells his experiences through letters to an unnamed person. The novel is adapted into a movie with the same title. The main ideas of the book are presented through acts that correspond to the narrations in the letters (Chbosky). Although the movie preserves the main message and content of the book, there is a difference in the presentation which brings changes to the flow and transition of events in the book.

One of the notable differences is the entire format of the movie. The novel is completely narrated through letters from Charlie. However, in the film, the story is developed in a play form. Although there are few letters, the movie is not a complete voiceover of the letters. This difference gives the audience a chance to see how the characters and events develop. Another difference is that the movie omits the scene where a young Charlie witnessed Dave sexually assaulting a girl at a party. This is a significant difference as this scene has an influence in the development of the theme of sexuality and abuse.

In the book, Charlie’s sister becomes pregnant. Because she does not want the baby, she is taken by Charlie to get an abortion. This is a big difference because this event is important in shaping the development of the girl and advancing the theme of sexuality. Another notable difference is the introduction of the Catholic religion in the movie (Chbosky). Through the letters in the novel, the reader gets little details about Charlie’s parents and they are not depicted as religious people. However, the movie adds religion to the story.

Work Cited

Chbosky, Stephen. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Go Stream, 2012,             https://gostream.site/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/.