Does Charlie's PTSD Affect His Experience With Sexual Abuse?

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Abuse and Disorder By Ashley Mathew English 2 2A Mrs. Torres 8 April 2014 OUTLINE Question: How does Charlie’s PTSD affect his experience with sexual abuse? Title: Abuse and Disorder 1. Introduction A. Background Information 1. Charlie has been sexually abused by his aunt when he was a child 2. Charlie has PTSD and uses it to block out bad memoires 2. Body A. What is PTSD? B. Charlie’s PTSD C. How PTSD helped me understand the book 3. Conclusion A. Summary of the most important points B. How PTSD has affected his experience 4. Works Citied Abuse and Disorder Life is like an endless road, you fall along the way and learn to pick yourself. In the book, The Perks of…show more content…
After doing a bit of research, Charlie’s letters and experiences began to make a lot of sense. Knowing what PTSD was allowed me to comprehend the character and complexity of Charlie. I saw more than a loner that couldn’t really make friends, I saw somebody who needed guidance. Towards the end of the book we see Charlie get the special treatment he needs, and we know that he is going to be a lot better. His PTSD helps explain why he has so much trouble interacting and making friends. An example would be his relationship with Mary Elizabeth, the first girl to really like him. At first Charlie doesn’t know how to react, his perspicacity with sexual abuse caused his mind to block out any emotions. Charlie is also the type of character that tends to care more about people around him than his own self. This effect of PTSD slowly causes the destruction of Charlie that we see in the end of the book. “I don't really want to talk about the questions and the answers. But I kind of figured out that everything I dreamt about my aunt Helen was true. And after a while, I realized that it happened every Saturday when we would watch television” (Chbosky 213). This is the moment that we see Charlie really take charge of his own life, and understand the consequences of trying to block out a memory like this

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