Holden Caulfield Materialism

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Who needs to grow up?
According to Cornell University, “Childrens’ development of psychosocial characteristics has a direct relation to their relationships with parents and peers” (Kopko 1). Adults try to enforce their materialistic values on their children so they can grow up in their idea of a perfect society. Adults have a major impact on childrens’ childhood development. The authors of Catcher in the Rye and The Little Prince show this effect in their novels. Throughout The Little Prince and Catcher in the Rye, they show the life of two adolescents and their struggle to fit into a society without materialistic values. In the Catcher in the Rye the main character, Holden is a young boy trying to fit in in a society that he believes is …show more content…

At the beginning of the novel Holden is describing his brother and his life choices;“He didn’t use to. He used to be just a regular writer when he was home. He wrote this terrific book of short stories...now he is in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute” (Stradlinger 4). The author is showing Holden's negative opinion on the results of children that have been raised in a materialistic society and how they will do anything to be successful in a material sense. He uses the word “prostitute” to mock his brother and that he will do anything for money. The businessman describes his values to the little prince’ “Mr. Prince (Little Prince): I have a rose...The Businessman: I see you've found my collection, 501,622,731 stars. The Little Girl: You? You did this? But you're supposed to just count the stars. The Businessman: Own! Say it with me. Own. I own the stars. The Officer (Conceited Man): Thank you. Thank you” (The Little Prince). The businessman lives his life full of aspiration to collect materialistic objects like the stars and too him they are the greatest possession due to the effect of materialistic society he was raised in. Both authors show the negative effect that being raised with the constant pressure to be the most successful in a materialistic society and when their lives are focused on that they don't enjoy life. This connects back to society because the majority of society would rather be rich than

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