Is Holden Caulfield Relevant Today

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Long Lasting Relevance Teens all over the world today are always facing problems with their future and whether or not they want to conform to society, and that has become a very common problem with most adolescents, many have no idea what they want to do and how they’re going to do it. But this doesn’t just affect the people in today's society it has been a problem for decades it affects almost everyone. Even though Holden Caulfield is growing up in the 50’s and is facing many problems with his future, his inability to communicate, his emotional issues, and his understanding of society make JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye a relevant story today. Like many teens Holden struggles with his ability to communicate, specifically with
One of the most important ways that this novel is relevant is Holden’s understanding of society and what he thinks of it, but “Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace.” (“Holden Caulfield's View Of The World") The claim shows how relevant Holden’s thoughts are relevant today since there is always corruption in some way. Holden’s views would make even more sense today than they would have in his setting since not many people thought how Holden did, Holden was a very unique person in that time period because of how he viewed the world, and that is also why not many people his age would get along with him. In the novel he tended to connect more with the adults possibly because of their experience and they tended to understand where he was coming from. Mr. Spencer and The Nuns are two great examples of adults that Holden got along with. In Holden’s time “teenagers found themselves stranded between adult things and childish pleasures.” but “these days, adults may lament the slasher movies and dumb sex comedies that have taken over the multiplex,” ("Get a Life, Holden Caulfield."). These comments explain how most of the people around Holden acted but Holden is more like the parents of today in that he acts in a similar way. Holden categorizes his society based on what people are like and that is a very common thing that is seen today. Holden’s main categories are phonies and conformist and he tries to decide where he would put everyone he knows (“Of Teen Angst and an Author’s Alienation”). Phonies and conformist are everywhere in today’s society because people feel that there are rules that they need to follow they they try to change because they think they are forced and almost everyone does this because they are afraid of who they really are and don’t want everyone else to think that they’re

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