Dear Friend, Part Two

Welcome back:) as I mentioned in my last post (which got a little lengthy), I’m going to finish this section today. I was able to cut it off at a nice stopping point, so today I’m writing about Part Two. And so it continues…

Charlie begins Part Two with a letter about a great day. It’s important to notice the contrast between his good days and his bad days. We good days are really good, and his bad days are really bad. There’s no in-between. This makes every day stand alone. However, in the future we will see days blurred together, which isn’t a good thing.

Charlie also introduces Mary Elizabeth, his future girlfriend and proclaimed Buddhist. He concludes that he thinks his day was Zen. This is important because he seems to be leaning away from Christianity. He then continues to tell Patrick and Brad’s love story and empathize with them. It’s important to remember that this book was written in the late 90’s, so the amount of people who “came out” was rising; however, Christians didn’t accept them. Once again, Charlie is showing signs of leaning away from Christianity.

Charlie maintains a good bit of really good days, writing about getting a B on a paper, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Sam. He even admits his love for Sam. One of my favorite things about this book is the character development. At this point, Charlie’s love for Sam seems very childish. It’s like he’s in the “honeymoon stage.” Throughout the novel, we will see this love grow immensely. He also talks about Craig, her boyfriend. He loves that Sam is happy, but his “see-all” characteristics show an evident flaw in Craig’s “love” for Sam. This flaw is the way Craig sees beauty– on the outside, rather than within. We will see this cause a lot of problems in the future.

There is also some development in Charlie and his sister’s relationship. She is able to tell Charlie things and trust him to keep quiet about it (the perks of him being a wallflower). Charlie admits that he worries about his sister. Just like all siblings, no matter how much they hide it, the really do love each other. Charlie also talks about the rest of his family– his parents’ past glory days and the ones his brother is living now.

Charlie writes about a short conversation with Michael, his best friend who committed suicide. This conversation did show a bit of sadness in Michael. He mentions that Michael’s parents divorced after he passed. His mom said it’s probably because he died, but It May have been a long time coming. Maybe Michael was the only thing keeping them together.

The next couple letters are about the holiday, giving a bit of background on Charlie’s family. To quickly summarize, Charlie’s grandfather (on his mom’s side) is very mean and the holidays never go smoothly. Some people cry and everyone wants to leave. However, Charlie’s brother seems to empathize with his grandfather, and he learns that he was just trying to do what was best for his family.

In the next section, Charlie’s heart of giving is revealed through the secret Santa project that he participates in with Sam, Patrick, and their friends. This time period also shows Sam and Patrick’s love for Charlie. The three of them all get each other heart-felt gifts. After the gift giving concluded, Charlie and Sam profess their love for each other. Sam continues to tell Charlie about her first kiss, one from one of her dad’s friends. She wanted Charlie’s first kiss to be from someone who truly loved him, so she kissed him. My response? STOP playing with the poor kid’s emotions!! Finally, Charlie reads a poem to Patrick which is assumably Michael’s suicide note. The reading of this poem influences a shift in the novel– a downhill slope of Charlie’s emotions.

Within the next few letters, Charlie begins reading The Catcher in the Rye, has a terrible birthday, bears through the holidays without Sam and Patrick, and opens up about his Aunt Helen’s past. Charlie informs us of his Aunt Helen’s pattern of bad boyfriends, to the point of molest. He also informs us on the occurrence of her death and why he feels guilty for it. This guilt feeds the fire that is his depression until it completely overwhelmed his being like a forest.

While nearing the end of Part Two, Charlie’s depression gets so bad that he mentions going back to the doctor. Not only is he feeling the depression he does every year, he feels like he has no one to resort to and nothing to make him feel better. He finishes chapter two saying how he understands how Michael was feeling when he killed himself. All the feelings Charlie is feeling are the same as Holden, and even me when I was reading The Catcher in the Rye. I’m telling you. That book just does something to you, but you already know that.

That’s all you get to know for now. Talk to you later:)