Author: Mr. MacKnight

This IRJE was submitted by an MYP5 student during the 2024-25 school year.

Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a beloved novel that was written in 1999 and turned into a movie in 2012. The story follows Charlie, a shy and introverted high school freshman, as he struggles with friendships, love and past trauma in his everyday life. It is written in the form of letters which Charlie sends to an anonymous recipient, which gives the reader a deep look into his personal thoughts, emotions and experiences. I really enjoyed this concept because it made the story seem even more personal and as somebody that writes a diary, also very relatable. As he befriends two extroverted seniors, Patrick and Sam, he is introduced to music, books, and begins to feel as if he “belongs” again. The misery slowly starts to dissapear from his daily life, because he finally found friends that loved and cared for him. However, as he begins to heal from past traumas (which are quite unclear to the reader for a while), he also faces a lot of emotional breakdowns and struggles with mental health. Overall the book is quite an emotional rollercoaster and touches on a lot of relatable topics such as self-discovery, love, loss, friendships, and in my opinion – how important it is to truly live in the moment. Towards the end of the story, one of Charlie’s most important realizations comes when he finds peace and understanding, which helps him heal from his past traumas. He finally seems to grasp the reason behind his story and the stories of everybody else and decides, it is best to focus on your own journey and life and stop getting lost in “what if” questions about the past.

So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we came from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we try to feel okay about them. I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad. Just like what my sister said when I had been in the hospital for a while. She said that she was really worried about going to college, and considering what I was going through, she felt really dumb about it. But I don’t know why she would feel dumb. I’d be worried, too. And really, I don’t think I have it any better or worse than she does. I don’t know. It’s just different. Maybe it’s good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Like Sam said. Because it’s okay to feel things. And be who you are about them. (p. 210-211)

This passage really stood out to me and I found myself thinking about its message for quite a while. Since it’s at the end of the story, Charlie finally acknowledges and learns that while our past shapes us, we still have the power to decide how we move forward. I completely agree with this. I believe that whatever happened in your past doesn’t define you, and that everybody is capable of growing past their traumas and experiences, into a new person. After struggling with his past traumas throughout his whole life, Charlie finally meets people that love him for who he is and he realizes that he’s so much more than what has happened to him. His mind doesn’t occupy itself with questions such as “What could’ve happened…?” or “What could I have done differently…?”, instead he’s focused on living in the moment and growing into the person he wants to become. He also realizes that pain and struggles are personal – just because someone else may have a “worse” situation doesn’t mean our own problems aren’t valid. On the contrary, even people in “better” situations might not be doing that much better. His sister feels guilty for worrying about colleges while Charlie is dealing with serious mental health issues, but Charlie reassures her that both struggles matter. Instead of dismissing feelings by comparing them to others, Charlie suggest that the best way to deal with emotions is to fully experience them. This seems to be the key message in the book: showing that personal growth comes from embracing your emotions rather than suppressing them. Through Charlie’s journey, the novel reminds us that life is filled with both joy and hardship and the most important thing we can do is to be present, acknowledge our feelings and move forward in a way that feels right for us.

This IRJE was submitted by an MYP5 student during the 2024-25 school year.

Beyond the Trees is a nonfiction story Adam Shoalts tells of his journey alone across Canada’s arctic. He wrote it after the documentary that was made which tells the same story which I watched before reading the book. I discovered that he had written books about his adventures after watching the documentary, so I decided to get his most famous book and give it a read. After finishing it, I have concluded that it is one of my favourite books I have read. I found it very captivating, interesting, and full of adventure. Some parts even made me chuckle. The story goes through his mission of travelling on foot and canoe across Canada’s arctic. He starts in Whitehorse, Yukon, and finishes at Baker Lake, Nunavut. It took him nearly 4 months to complete. He weaved through ice floes, faced bears and muskox, and portaged across rough terrain. As the title suggests, he is above treeline, in the arctic tundra. Parts of his journey actually crosses north of the arctic circle line. With little human interaction throughout his journey, he keeps himself company by talking to his canoe and the amazing wildlife. Some of which had never seen a human being. There were many hard times such as inclement winds, treacherous terrain, and ice blocks. I came across the following quotation in the book which is an example of how he overcomes difficult times.

My pants and socks were drenched, but there wasn’t time to dry things out. I just wrung out the socks, put them back on, and kept going. Discouraging as having your waders flood with frigid waters can be, I always found that there was some little thing to cheer me up: the sight of robins hopping along the banks, or a lone wolf wandering the shoreline, or an eagle soaring overhead. Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference. (pp. 201-202)

I agree. Sometimes it is “the little things that make all the difference.” I found this passage meaningful because it highlights his perseverance and ability to enjoy the little things, that are often overlooked, by changing his point of view. Instead of focusing on the negative, like his soaked clothes, he chooses to focus on the positives by finding joy in the small things and natural world around him. This shows great mental strength, and I think everyone should try more to find things to be grateful about, even if they’re small. It’s our outlook on life and the situation that shapes our experience more than the circumstance itself.

This IRJE was submitted by an MYP5 student during the 2024-25 school year.

Ishmael is a philosophical novel created by Daniel Quinn, which dives into the ideas of how culture influenced modern civilization through evolution, and it is done through the use of the narrator talking to a telepathic gorilla, whose name is Ishmael. Most of the book is structured through conversation, similar to Socratic literature. I found the way Socratic literature is structured has drawn my attention to the book more, and so far, Ishmael has set quite a good precedent for this type of literature. It is a good concept, which I would like to see more in books. Ishmael has many themes, the main themes of the book are ethics, sustainability, and mythology.

“Again…. Our policy is: Every square foot of this planet belongs to us, so if we put it all under cultivation, then all our competitors are just plain out of luck and will have to become extinct. Our policy is to deny our competitors access to all the food in the world, and that’s something no other species does.”

“Bees will deny you access to what’s inside their hive in the apple tree, but they won’t deny you access to the apples.” (p. 134)

This quotation highlights how humans are inherently different from other species, and rather than taking what they need, they take all of it. After this is highlighted in the first part of this quotation, we then get a metaphor about bees. This metaphor in it’s literal meaning, means: Other species will not allow you to take what they require to survive, but they will allow you to take what they do not. By providing an example of humans, compared to an example of other species, this quotation brings to light the contrast in behavior between humans and other species; which reinforces one of the main themes in the book, being: “The world was made for humans.”

Gordon Bowker’s James Joyce: A Biography describes a man who, though he may have been a great writer, was a terrible husband and father. In 1907 Joyce is 25 years old. He is living in Rome on a negligible salary as a bank clerk, supplemented by funds borrowed from his brother. He has a young son, and his wife is pregnant. He is constantly eluding creditors, falling behind in his rent, and moving his family from one shabby apartment to another. He decides to leave Rome, and gives notice to his employer. On his last day of work,

he drew a month’s salary (250 lire) at the bank and went on a farewell spree—a drunken adieu to the Eternal City, which he had come to consider ‘vulgar’ and ‘whorish.’ When [he was] suitably drunk, two congenial bar-flies took him to a backstreet and relieved him of his bulging wallet. He returned home penniless and completely soaked from an evening downpour. (p. 165)

Many have questioned the ethics of enjoying art created by people who have been misogynists, rapists, racists, or fascists, for example. It seems difficult to reconcile beautiful art with such ugly behaviour. In Joyce’s case, such questions have been asked, but in this instance the behaviour is not only bad, but stupid—and this raises a slightly different question. How is it possible for someone like Joyce—who read, wrote, and spoke several languages fluently, and whose work, whatever you think of it, is undeniably brilliant—how is it possible for such an obviously intelligent man to make such stupid choices? If intelligence did not save Joyce from making stupid choices, what about us? What can save us from making stupid choices?

In The Viscount of Bragelonne, by Alexander Dumas, the old soldier, d’Artagnan, proposes a business opportunity to Planchet, who was his squire in their younger days but who now owns a prosperous candy shop in Paris. D’Artagnan’s idea is to raise a small army and restore Charles II, rightful King of England, to his throne. Planchet is reluctant to invest without understanding more about d’Artagnan’s plans.

“Since you are proposing a business deal, I have the right to discuss it,” says Planchet.

“Discuss, Planchet; from discussion comes light.”

“Well then, since I have your permission, I would like to point out that in England they have, first of all, a Parliament.”

“Yes. And then?”

“And then, an Army.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“And then, the people themselves.”

“Is that all?”

“The people of England, who consented to the overthrow and execution of the late King, father of Charles II, will never agree to put the son back on the throne.”

“Planchet, my friend” said d’Artagnan, “you reason like a block of cheese.” (p. 417)

In French, the line is more beautiful: “Planchet, mon ami, tu raisonnes comme un fromage.” It made me laugh out loud the first time I read it, and it reminded me of something my French friend Christian said to me years ago when he noticed that I was wearing a new shirt: “Tu es beau comme un camion.” “You are as handsome as a truck.”

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English school boys are evacuated by plane from a war zone, but the plane crashes on a remote tropical island, and the only adult with them—the pilot—is killed. Soon after they meet, Ralph and Piggy argue about what happened to the pilot of their airplane, and we see right away that Piggy is more of a thinker than Ralph:

“He must have flown off after he dropped us. He couldn’t land here. Not in a place with wheels.” 

“We was attacked!” 

“He’ll be back all right.”

The fat boy shook his head.

“When we was coming down I looked through one of them windows. I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it.” (p. 8)

Whereas Ralph unthinkingly believes that everything will work out for the best (“’He’ll be back all right’”), Piggy has kept his eyes open during the crash and is brave enough to speak the frightening truth: there are no adults left to take care of them.