An Analysis of the Influence of Tragedy on the Innocent

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Recommended: The catcher in the rye and the perks of being a wallflower

From the years of 1938 to 1945, while the entire world was preoccupied with World War II, the Nazi Party led by dictator Adolf Hitler planned and executed the killing of almost six million Jewish people.This calamity snatched the innocence of those who survived in inconceivable manner. They suffer withanimmense amount guilt simply because they believe that are wrong for surviving whereas their loved ones paid the ultimate price. In recent years Holocaust survivors have had an “increased risk of attempted suicide” (Barak, Y). For these people forgetting is a crime but recollection will not allow them to move. However there are some survivors who found a way to optimistically look towards the future. Holocaust survivor and writer, Ellie Weisel, summed up these feelings by explaining that, “Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.” Learning from the past and growing up comes with a certain end of childhood innocence without which the progression to maturity cannot occur. This enlightenment and the journey from innocence to experience are prominent themes in both The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky. The former outlines four days in the life of a troubled teenaged boy named Holden Caulfield who is expelled from his preparatory school and spends his time roaming the streets of New York City. The latter is a compilation of letters written by a young boy, who goes by the alias Charlie, in which he discusses deepest feeling regarding his grief stricken adolescence. Both Chbosky and Salinger explore the behaviours and minds of teenaged boys who are trying to find themselves in a world that they do not fully understand yet. However, bot...

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...n the Rye. At the end of his journey Charlie shares a story that his doctor shared with him. The story is of an alcoholic father who has two sons. Both sons deal with the same abuses but one grows up to become carpenter who never touches alcohol whereas the other becomes an alcoholic just like his father. Both boys in this story learned something different from the same experiences. One son wrote his own destiny whereas the other decided his future was already written in stone for him. This story mirrors the lives of Holden and Charlie, and the lives of all individuals. There is not a single person in the world that has not had to face difficulties in their life but not everyone has let these hardships define their life or they will become. Happiness is not a gift, it is a choice. One must learn from the events of the past and not simply decide to live in the past.

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