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Aunt Helen is Charlie’s beloved aunt who died in a car accident when Charlie was seven. Charlie has fond memories of his Aunt Helen, who singled him out for special care and affection. Only at the end of the novel does Charlie realize he has repressed memories of sexual abuse at her hands.
Aunt Helen had a troubled life. Her trauma began in early childhood when she was molested by a family friend. As she grew older, she fell victim to abusive relationships and had problems with drugs and alcohol. She spent the last few years of her life living with Charlie’s family. She became close with the children but especially Charlie, who refers to Aunt Helen as his “favorite person.” For example, she used to give him books, which helped to foster his love of reading. On Charlie’s seventh birthday, Aunt Helen died in a car accident. Before she left, she told Charlie that she was going to buy his birthday present. As a result, Charlie blames himself for her death. He feels that if his Aunt Helen had not loved him so much, she would still be alive. Charlie was already an emotionally troubled child, and the guilt surrounding Aunt Helen’s death is too much for him to handle. As a result, he falls into a depression every year around Christmas and his birthday (which is on Christmas Eve). Charlie’s guilt helps to explain why he struggles to form intimate relationships with people—he is afraid to let people in because he is subconsciously convinced that something will take that person away once he gets too close to them.
As the novel progresses, before the true nature of their supposedly loving relationship is revealed, the reader is able to sense a darkness surrounding Aunt Helen and Charlie. Her character has a haunting presence throughout the novel and Charlie often thinks about her during times of extreme distress, such as when he becomes alienated from his friend group or when he discusses Micheal’s suicide. However, we spend the majority of the novel assuming that Charlie’s traumatic relationship with Aunt Helen simply stems from his guilt over her death. At the end of the novel, however, we learn that Charlie has been repressing the fact that Aunt Helen used to molest him while they watched TV. These memories come bubbling to his consciousness when he is about to have a sexual encounter with Sam. This tragic epiphany is essential to our understanding of Charlie’s character. To begin with, the repressed molestation explains a lot of Charlie’s confidence issues and difficulties expressing his own desires. It also clarifies why Charlie has been so passive about sexual experiences throughout the book, as when he lets Patrick kiss him, allows Mary Elizabeth to take the reins whenever they are intimate, and never acts on his feelings for Sam. Charlie has been primed to equate love with his own lack of agency and other people’s assertion of their own will. As a result, he is used to being taken advantage of and does not know how to conduct himself or take initiative in a romantic or sexual scenario.
