The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Part 1

by Stephen Chbosky
In letters addressed to an unnamed friend, Charlie describes his experiences as a high school freshman.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. generic
    having no special or distinctive characteristics; unoriginal
    I will call people by different names or generic names because I don’t want you to find me.
  2. regret
    feel sad about the loss or absence of
    “Boys and girls, I regret to inform you that one of our students has passed on. We will hold a memorial service for Michael Dobson during assembly this Friday.”
  3. specialist
    someone who practices one branch of medicine
    What was so strange about this was the fact that I had never met this man because he was a “specialist” and he knew my name even though I wasn’t wearing a name tag like they do in open house.
    The quotation marks around the word "specialist" make it seem special—both in a mocking tone because the specialist is like a rare animal that Charlie has never seen until now, but also in a somewhat admiring tone because the specialist took the time to learn about Charlie before meeting him (which makes him feel special in a strange way).
  4. eventually
    after an unspecified period of time or a long delay
    But it didn’t work and eventually my brother came by the middle school in his Camaro to pick me up.
  5. consistent
    marked by an orderly and coherent relation of parts
    Kind of like my Aunt Helen and me. I’m sorry. “My Aunt Helen and I.” That’s one thing I learned this week. That and more consistent punctuation.
  6. incidentally
    by the way (used to introduce a new topic)
    I don’t have a lot of time because my advanced english teacher assigned us a book to read, and I like to read books twice. Incidentally, the book is To Kill a Mockingbird.
  7. differentiate
    mark as distinct
    I think I will stop putting quotation marks around Nothing’s name because it is annoying and disrupting my flow. I hope you do not find this difficult to follow. I will make sure to differentiate if something comes up.
  8. jaundice
    a state or attitude of bitterness or hostility
    But I just have never heard anyone use the words “corpulent” and “jaundice” ever in my life. That includes teachers. So, what’s the point of using words nobody else knows or can say comfortably?
  9. pragmatic
    concerned with practical matters
    The fact that one of these ladies was my mom made me feel particularly sad because my mom is beautiful. And she’s always on a diet. Sometimes, my dad calls her beautiful, but she cannot hear him. Incidentally, my dad is a very good husband. He’s just pragmatic.
    In this example sentence, the word "pragmatic" is used in contrast to someone who is more affectionate, such as someone who would compliment someone else. It also contrasts with the focus on beauty, which can be seen as useless.
  10. corpulent
    excessively large
    The nice thing was my Aunt Helen was never on a diet. And my Aunt Helen was “corpulent.”
  11. necessarily
    in an essential manner
    “Do you always think this much, Charlie?”
    “Is that bad?” I just wanted someone to tell me the truth.
    “Not necessarily. It’s just that sometimes people use thought to not participate in life.”
  12. provoke
    annoy continually or chronically
    He said that my sister was not allowed to see the boy who hit her anymore, and he was going to have a talk with the boy’s parents tonight. My sister then said that it was all her fault, that she was provoking him, but my dad said it was no excuse.
  13. regardless
    in spite of everything
    I wasn’t raised very religiously because my parents went to Catholic school, but I do believe in God very much. I just never gave God a name, if you know what I mean. I hope I haven’t let Him down regardless.
  14. nevertheless
    despite anything to the contrary
    Also, when I write letters, I spend the next two days thinking about what I figured out in my letters. I do not know if this is good or bad. Nevertheless, I am trying to participate.
    Compare with "regardless" in this list. The placement of the two words is a clue to their parts of speech: "regardless" is used as an adverb; and while "nevertheless" is also an adverb, because it's at the beginning of the example sentence, it is acting as a conjunction (synonymous with "however") that connects this thought to the previous one in the novel.
  15. protest
    a public manifestation of dissent
    My professor is making me read twenty-seven books this weekend, and my girlfriend needs me to paint signs for her protest rally Tuesday.
  16. concession
    refreshments purchased at a small stand in a larger business
    I went down to the concession stand and bought three boxes of nachos and a diet coke for Sam.
  17. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    The boy looked kind of smug.
  18. paranoia
    a mental disorder characterized by delusions of persecution
    Bob actually looked a little nervous, which I was later told was paranoia.
  19. muffled
    being or made softer or less loud or clear
    I heard some muffled voices, and Brad seemed upset, but I didn’t think it was any of my business, so I went back to the kitchen.
  20. vacuum
    an empty area or space
    When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player.
Created on Fri Mar 21 18:47:06 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jun 14 15:51:01 EDT 2023)

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