What is the one thing that adolescents, YA literature and Web 2.0 platforms have in common? They tell stories.

There is a generalization that adolescents are searching for and shaping their identities—finding their voice and place in the world—but I don’t think that applies solely to adolescents. Based on my own experiences, and my observations in a sixth grade humanities class this semester, I would say that adolescents like stories, whether these stories are about themselves, their peers, celebrity figures, a book, movie or TV show. They are constantly cataloguing and archiving information from these stories. I think it is why students are drawn to online social networking forums. They provide access to stories about what is happening in and beyond their immediate world, as well as the opportunity to share and comment on them. As an adolescent, I loved to read books, especially ones that had to do with characters who were inspirational to me and who were doing something worthwhile and who I could learn something from. Through this, I built up a store of knowledge of the kind of character I wanted to be in real life and the texts that I read shaped my world view. With my peers, we were always swapping stories, rumors and gossip because they either conflicted with or validated our own thoughts and opinions. These kinds of stories, as much as adults try to tell adolescents that gossiping is bad, provide adolescents with a platform to make their own judgments and opinions. The difference between these kinds of stories and the stories you hear students complain about being “forced” to read or “boring”—is that the former types of stories have real-life relevance to adolescents because they are innately part of their daily lives.

As a young adult novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower attempts to show how adolescents are like puzzle pieces looking for their appropriate place where they fit into the greater whole. The novel also depicts that not all adolescents are the same—none of the characters are exactly like one another and all of them have their own distinct personalities. Charlie is telling his story in his letters, while simultaneously telling the stories of the people around him; and based on the responses I’ve seen (within and outside #TeachRead), readers reading the book are intrigued by these stories. Charlie, his sister, and his friends are all learning about relationships, ranging from platonic to romantic, and how they as puzzle pieces fit together with others around them. All of their experiences are shaping the way they view their lives, each other, and the greater world. Adolescents, then, are not very different from people like Bill, who are in their post-college years, or other older adults. Perhaps adolescence is the beginning of our awareness of our identities and journey of intentionally discovering who we are. In a recent interview, Ezra Miller (who will be playing Patrick in the upcoming movie adaptation of the novel) talked about the idea of self-awareness: stripping down, building up, and reinventing oneself as an actor and young adult.

While reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I was simultaneously exploring the book on Tumblr. Tumblr and I had a love-hate relationship these past few months. What intrigued me about Tumblr was the seemingly easy-to-use dashboard to post text, a photo, a quote, a link, a chat, as well as an audio or video clip:

Each of these is an equally great way to express oneself, explore the novel, and tell one’s own story. I found myself posting quotes that I had underlined while reading, writing my own quick responses and thoughts, posting photos, and posting audio and video clips. But, there is a “but” to all of this. I found that Tumblr, as well as the other platforms used in this genre study, did away with Charlie’s anonymity—which was very important to him from the get-go when he wrote in his first letter, “I don’t want you to find me”—and exposed his story to the greater world. Would Charlie have blogged if it was available to him?  I suppose there could be some way to remain anonymous while blogging—but then why blog if you don’t want your story out there? What would Charlie’s reaction be if he logged into Tumblr and using the “Search” function, found out just how many people have been interacting with his story? What would he think if he saw his letters, things he and his friends said, reblogged?

Charlie’s personal letters and story aside, one difference I found between the novel, as YA literature, and Tumblr was that one was extremely more accessible than the other. Go to the library, the bookstore, a friend’s house—and you’re bound to find at least one copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. There’s even a movie adaptation due out in 2012 (starring Logan Lerman as Charlie)—which will expose an even wider audience to Charlie’s story. But I did not find Tumblr as accessible. It was difficult to feel like I was part of a community and easy to feel like I was alone. I found the platform to be almost clique-ish and exclusive, in that it took time and a lot of work to establish oneself, garner followers, and feel validated as a blogger. The way Tumblr is set up, there is no embedded comment feature—I had to set that up separately and manually embed it into my page using Disqus. It was easy to stay isolated—maybe that is a quality that Charlie would not have minded. Just as he wasn’t expecting a response to his letters, I was posting, telling my story using different media options, without expecting a response to my posts (especially after a fluke accident did away with the commenting feature I had set up) because I felt like my blog was so small, so inconsequential, compared to more established blogs on Tumblr. How would anyone even find me, not mention reblog something I posted? So, maybe in some ways, Tumblr and Charlie’s letters do go hand in hand after all.