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Mr. Jamie
English 12
December 12, 2017

The Effects of Stressful Environment on the Creation of Identity

Have you ever wondered how stressful environments affect you? Children from different

families are raised in varieties of surroundings. Some may be exposed to cruelty, while some are

exposed to healthy environments. The surrounding conditions have been well-known for playing

an important role in determining the behaviour of humans, especially among children and

teenagers. As a consequence, the children that are exposed to dissimilar kind of living conditions

tend to develop unlike behaviours. This is due to the fact that their span of age is in between the

phase of learning and can easily be influenced by other factors around them. Thus, being immersed

in the society of unhealthy influences may cause teenagers to have hardships in finding themselves.

A case in point is Charlie and his friends, characters from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. They

are unable to understand themselves because, as teenagers, they have been through many tense

situations. The author, Stephen Chbosky, powerfully depicts how stressful environments; family,

friends, and genders, make it difficult for young people to create their identity.

The stressful atmosphere among a family causes teenagers to have difficulties in evolving

their own personality. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie describes one of the unhealthy

environments in his family through a letter writing: When I fell asleep, I had this dream. My

brother and my sister and I were watching television with my Aunt Helen. Everything was in slow

motion. The sound was thick. And she was doing what Sam was doing. (Page 204) This

circumstance of being sexually molested by his aunt causes Charlie to be afraid. During making

out with Sam, he decides to stop her from moving her hand under his pants as it reminds him of

this molestation. Although she is the girl who he loves the most, this unhealthy circumstance

explains why Charlie chooses to express his action contradicting to what he actually wants to do.
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Referring to a book called Changes & Choices: Personal Development and Relationships, it

explains that family provides the most fundamental influence on individuals characteristic

development. It is where children progress in their understanding of the words love and trust, in

response to what they receive from their parents and other family members. Once love and trust

are imparted into children, family will then become the major factor in making decisions for their

life. However, the influence from family members does not always result in a bad outcome. For

instance, children who receive positive and friendly nurturing environment will learn that they are

being loved by others. Because they understand that their lives are fulfilled with love and support,

they will easily seek for their own identity. Yet if the environment among the family is stressful

and horrible, then they will have a hard time finding their actual personality. (Bragg, 2006) The

research from this book reflects the reason why Charlie tends to develop an offended behaviour

whilst making out with Sam. Hence, the explanation supports the fact that familys stressful

atmosphere is one of the reasons why teens are unable to evolve their own personality.

However, another factor that make it difficult for young people to form their identity is the

worrying circumstances influenced from peers. This example is seen after Charlie has a problem

with his friends: After a week of not talking to anyone, I finally called Bob. I know thats wrong,

but I didnt know what else to do. I asked him if he has anything I could buy. He said he had a

quarter ounce of pot left. So, I took some of my Easter money and bought it. Ive been smoking it

all the time since. (Page 139) This part of Charlies writing indicates that the desire of him

wanting to conform and the influence of taking drugs from his friends in the previous chapters is

in account for Charlie taking drugs again when he is stressed. In other words, using his own money

to buy drugs explain the fact that his own identity of innocence has been destroyed after being
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Mr. Jamie
English 12
December 12, 2017

pressured from his surroundings. To back up this evidence, an article How Much Do Friends

Affect Teen Behaviour? reveals that most teenagers often go through the stage where their

opinions are derived from other peoples perspective. The outer-surrounding is the major factor

that can alter teens behaviour due to the fact that they normally see an image of themselves from

their peers. Teenagers are then starting to try out new things in order to become a part of their

group of friends. This includes the action of exposing to new illegal things, such as drinking

alcohol, smoking, or even trying drugs. (Davidson, 2017) By being a part of the worrying

environment of peers, Charlie ultimately develop the behaviour and personality similarly to their

friends. Consequently, it will be difficult for him to seek for his own personality or find the right

path for himself.

Besides the stressful environment within individuals families and friends, the apparent of

genders judgement in a society also affects the establishment of identity in teenagers. In the

beginning of the story, Brad and Patrick are a couple who are deeply in love with each other.

However, Brad does not want anyone to know about his relationship between him and Patrick

because his father does not like gay. Eventually his father caught him and Patrick together, leading

to the breaking point of this couple. This evidence from Charlies letter shows the situation of

when Patrick tries to talk to Brad after not seeing him for a long time: I was sitting alone in the

cafeteria, eating Salisbury steak, when I saw Patrick walk up to Brad, who was sitting with his

football buddies, and I saw Brad ignore him like he did at the locker. And I saw Patrick get really

upset, but Brad still ignored him. Then, I saw Patrick say something, and he looked pretty angry

as he turned to walk away. Brad sat still for a second, then he turned around. And then I heard it.

It was just loud enough for a few tables to hear. The thing that Brad yelled at Patrick.
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Mr. Jamie
English 12
December 12, 2017

Faggot!

Brads football buddies start laughing. A few tables got quiet as Patrick turned around. He was

mad as hell. Im not kidding. (Page 150) It is clear that most teenagers find it funny for people to

be homosexual. While Patrick feels embarrass about Brad calling him faggot in front of other

people, Brad is also afraid of not being accepted by his peers at school. According to an article The

Psychological impact of LGBT Discrimination, this situation of being afraid can be referred to a

term called fear of judgement. The statistic displays that 85% of LGBT are verbally bullied during

the school year, causing 30% of them to miss school. In some worse cases, teenagers have to deal

with severe depression or even increase their risks of suicide attempts. (Friedman, 2014) Thus,

rejections of LGBT from the families, friends, and the society lead to teenagers hiding their actual

identity and afraid of being themselves in front of people.

In conclusion, the stressful environments that surround Charlie and other characters in The

Perks of Being a Wallflower distress how they behave and react. The environments that the author

emphasizes are family, friends, and genders. In addition to the evidence from this book, researches

from varieties of sources also prove that the fact that surrounding environments play an important

role in determining teenagers behaviors is true. For instance, teenagers tend to develop similar

behavior as the environment they are being exposed to. Living in a friendly environment

encourages teens to foster an appropriate behavior, while living in an unfriendly environment will

cause them to behave in an opposite way. The unhealthy environments therefore make it hard for

teenagers to seek for their own identity. Nevertheless, influence from the environments is only the

external factor that can confuse people to act differently. Identity within individuals does not
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December 12, 2017

always depended on the surroundings yet the standing position of being yourself is the most

important factor.
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Mr. Jamie
English 12
December 12, 2017

Bibliography

Bragg, R. E. (2006). Changes & Choices: Personal Development and Relationships (4,

illustrated, braille ed.). Goodheart-Willcox Publisher.

Chbosky, S. (2012). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. United States of America: Gallery Books.

Friedman, M. (2014, February 11). The Psychological Impact of LGBT Discrimination.

Retrieved December 9, 2017, from Psychology Today:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brick-brick/201402/the-psychological-impact-

lgbt-discrimination

University, S. (n.d.). Drugs and Alcohol Quotes in the Perks of Being a Wallflower. Retrieved 12

9, 2017, from shmoop: https://www.shmoop.com/perks-of-being-a-wallflower/drugs-

alcohol-quotes-3.html

Young, S. D. (2014, May 27). Retrieved December 9, 2017, from Psychology Today:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/movies-and-the-mind/201405/the-perks-the-

perks-being-wallflower

Zirpoli, T. (2014, April 30). Environmental Influences on Young Children's Behavior. Retrieved

December 9, 2017, from Education:

https://www.education.com/reference/article/environmental-influence-children-behavior/