Structure

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is structured as a series of short letters. When a novel is written through letters, it is called an epistolary novel. Each letter begins with the date and the phrase “Dear friend”. These letters are divided into four parts, followed by an epilogue or concluding chapter, dated two months after the end of Part 4.

The story is primarily told chronologically, but within a single letter the narration sometimes jumps between different events that happened since the last letter. For example, in the letter dated October 28, 1991 (pp. 30-42), Charlie’s narrative jumps from the homecoming game where Sam invites him to a party, to a flashback about a party where Charlie saw a girl being raped, to the homecoming dance the following evening, back to the party after the game, then forwards to the dance agai...