The Perks of Being a Wallflower

     So I got this book as a present a few years ago and I happily read it at least once a year out of comfort. I feel that this book is a good piece to analyze and try to interpret an overall meaning.
     The biggest piece of imagery/symbolism in this book is the use of the tunnel.
It was me standing up in that tunnel with the wind over my face. Not caring if I saw downtown. Not even thinking about it. Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. 
     I fell that this is the most astounding symbolism in this book because he travels through the tunnel 3 times throughout. The first with his new friends, the second alone, and the last time with his friends again after he had a manic episode resulting from recent life events and repressed memories. This is the last statement in the book and I feel that it is the moment that he is finally at piece with himself after a shaky first year of high school.
     The title to this story is almost ironic in a way because the biggest perk, making friends with others and himself, doesn't ultimately happen until the end of the book.  At the end of chapter 1 Patrick says "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." And that's exactly what Charlie (the main character) does.  He sees a boy force himself on a girl, he lets another guy kiss him and doesn't say anything, and the ultimate repressed memory is of his aunt molesting him as a child which he also never said anything about. 
     I think the author was ultimately trying to display the underdog clique of a high school society. I think they did achieve this even if to an extreme. It display a good amount of teenage angst and the sometimes awful transition to high school.
     I still love this book and I hope if you have seen the movie that you branch out and get the book from somewhere because it is much more emotionally connectable.