Monthly Archives: September 2020

An Open Letter to Every Parent,

In fear of loss of privileges you have provided, in fear of getting comments like “it’s just a phase”, in fear of being thought of as weak, we have silenced ourselves for way too long. Harsh parenting is just as scary as any other violence. It can lead to self depreciating thoughts and physical ill health. Overprotecting us, keeping us “safe” from unpleasant social situations won’t help us, that deprives us of our skills we still haven’t explored, our abilities we are yet to discover. The life events are unpleasant but they are ordinary. We want to know our parents support us. It is a tough world for us out there but we want our home to be safe.

We know your childhood was more difficult than ours. We understand how it affected you but we want you to understand that ours is just as difficult.

As teenagers, we are constantly trying to find ourselves; we are forming our personalities, our behaviours, we are still learning about ourselves and people’s opinions about us, our surroundings play major role in it. Telling us our interests don’t matter, our opinions don’t matter can lead to individuality complex because since a young age we are being taught things we like are ‘bad’.

“It will all be fixed with age”, yes it will. We will grow enough to understand but right now we are here. We are feeling this and if we can’t understand right now, we want you to understand.

“It is just a phase”, neither of us have permanent state of ourselves. We are constantly evolving, learning to be a better person, unlearning our toxic behaviours but what we are now, what we feel now is real, it matters. We want it to matter to you too, we want it to matter to you enough for you to make us feel that our emotions are valid, that though thick and thin you are here for us.

With Love,

Avni Jain

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Author: Stephen Chbosky

Pages: 211

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Charlie: The protagonist of the book. Charlie’s character is portrayed as rather immature for a 15-year-old. There has been a lot of questioning about why Charlie is the way he is. The answer can be summed up in one word- childhood trauma. Charlie’s character is way too deep but the writing style didn’t do justice to that. But as Charlie does say in the story that he writes the way he speaks, it adds up to an easy read. His character in the movie is way better than in the book. If the story was narrated better it could have been way more interesting.

Patrick: I love Patrick’s character so much??? His love for his partner, his constant efforts to make everything better for people around him. Patrick and Sam are Charlie’s senior and “popular” kids of the school. Patrick’s character is fun-loving.

Sam: I related to Sam’s character the most! The way she confronts Charlie understood him and had the right words for him to listen, all of it had me in awe of her. The fact that she thinks of herself as if she doesn’t deserve someone who loves her wholeheartedly, makes me understand her character so much more. She deserves a lot more appreciation.

There are so many quotable quotes in the book! All of them give a positive outlook to the book. I love how relationships are portrayed in this book- the friendships, the heartbreaks, pain and anger. I also admire how the character’s love for music and literature is shown!!! I made a playlist for this book. You can add it here!!!!

“the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends. of sex, of drugs, and the rocky horror picture show. of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.”

Overall, this book made me cry but it has the potential to do a lot more. I recommend watching its movie too, it is better than the book. Woah, I guess this is the first time I am saying this.

3.5/5