Society, the great living community that gives us the guidelines and general way to live, some say it is corrupt and some find a way out of it to live a humble life elsewhere, but for the few unfortunate they can be rejected from society on the basis that they can not fit in. Society’s cruel margins and rigorous standards are laid out thoroughly in J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and the film Into the Wild through the experiences of Holden Caulfield and Chris McCandless while they venture farther and farther from those standards that are all followed in society. Everyone is born into society and grow up expected to conform, but for these boys conforming to society would mean giving up who they really are. Holden seems to be the …show more content…
less radical out cast between the two but still strays from the expectation of others in moments like erratically “poking the bear” as he teases certain punishment. Young school boys such as Holden are meant to do their best to ensure a solid future but instead Holden fails all but one class in school and gets expelled which lays a base for how Holden will be isolated and casted out from society’s demanding structure. Chris McCandless takes the more literal role for an outcast as he ventures far and wide across the United States, very far from his home in Georgia. The tramp lifestyle surely sets one off the expected path of life but Chris takes it even further by becoming the wild man. These boys are rejected from society for their oddities but their relationships with family, views about wealth and materialism, and educational experience really contribute to who they were rejected, either intentional rebellion or being pushed from society. Wealth, status, money, power, all of these qualities fuel and determine one’s place in society and to go against them would be the equivalent of calling it quits on social standing and reputation.
Chris and Holden both agree that wealth is not the priority or helping their social well being, as Chris literally burns his money in an act to be less cautious, Holden is depressed by wealth’s way of dividing people. Before the longest stretch of Chris’s journey he burned his cash in a bonfire because “money [and] power is an illusion”, his distaste and rejection of money is also seen when Chris comments that his trip became “too easy” with money that he earned from working(Krakauer). The pent up anger towards money and wealth came from his father and mother’s life style of well off business people, all the money they earned or married into made them corrupt and bad parents for Chris and his sister. Another line of his was that “money made people too cautious”, the cautiousness that Chris mentions is the way someone is caution of losing the money they have, without that money people are less “cautious” and they can really live so Chris is really saying that money is holding everyone back from living their lives(Krakauer). Though Chris comes out purely against wealth and money, Holden follows suite with suddeler tactics by sharing his discomfort with money. Holden remarks “That depressed me. I hate it if I'm eating bacon and eggs or something and somebody else is only eating toast and coffee,” he is depressed because of someone else's lesser status than him which correlates with his wealth hiddering him and causing unnecessary “conflict” for lack of a better word(Salinger 122). There was also Holden’s story about his old room mate that had a cheaper bag than his, he ends on a negative note because the bags got in the way of a possible friend. Since wealth in society is so important, for Holden and Chris to resent it will not yield complete acceptance into society. Chris
is much more active in his hatred of wealth while Holden takes the more quiet-dislike method. When it comes to intentionally outcasting them selfs or being forcibly rejected, Chris seems to intentionally make himself an outcast while Holden is rejected because Chris actively removes wealth from his life while Holden merrily has animosity for the “segregation” wealth causes. Wealth, whether if it is hated or causing contrasts in character, it will lead to the eventual rejection from society. There are so many stories of horrible family relations that can vary from disownership of a son or daughter to a fatal ending of the family tree
Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the movie Pleasantville, and even in real life, a theme constant is the theme of protection of innocence. The Catcher in the Rye portrays the idea of protection of innocence through the main character of Holden Caulfield. Holden is a highly troubled boy, and is constantly getting kicked out of schools. However, there is one idea he is fiercely serious about. He explains this idea to his sister when she presses him about his life choices. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids...and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean, except me....What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all”(Salinger 173). This quote spoken by Holden is him
Throughout the history of literature, a great deal of authors has tried to reveal a clear understanding of the American Dream. Whether it is possible to achieve lies all in the character the author portrays. The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye stand as prime examples of this. F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger, the authors of these titles, respectively, fashion flawed characters, Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield, with one vital desire: the longing to gain what they can’t have; acceptance and the feeling of belonging. Each retaining characteristics that shows their differences and similarities in opinion of the world around them.
Through this part of the narration, Holden reveals his perception of people by their actions. He noted that Ossenburger started off with corny jokes, and how he was using his money for attention. Holden does not perceive the usage of Ossenburger's money as effective and worth the attention. He does not think money should have an effect on rank or social status. Holden's opinion of Ossenburger shows his value against materialism.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
The Catcher in the Rye is about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who doesn’t exactly fit in with his society. We know he doesn’t fit it because in the first scene Holden decides not to attend his school’s football game, which most people attend. Holden is a very opinionated person who criticizes most things. Hold did not belong in the 1940’s idea of a perfect society. But, would Holden Caulfield fit in to today’s society? Holden Caulfield would be more critical of today’s society. Holden would have many more prejudices today, but would still be accepted into today’s society because of a diversified society from the 1950’s to the 2010’s.
Holden's inability to fit into society brought on hatred to it, and instead of admitting he too was at fault, he criticizes all the people in cliques on account of their fakeness and dishonesty. To begin with, he finds himself disliking Pencey as a school since its motto claims that it molds boys into upright, respected members of society. However, Holden soon declares that the school is hypocritical since it does nothing to achieve their motto and as a result, most boys end up remaining the same people as they once came to school and for some it shaped them into crooks (which Holden will not stand for).
In a perfect world, everyone would be happy with the way they are and everyone would accept the differences of others. Unfortunately, the world we live in is not perfect and not everyone accepts who they are . Is there a reason why people cannot be content with their lives or with the differences of other people? The answer is yes, and the reason for the discontent is society. With society telling the masses what is, and is not acceptable, it is no wonder that people seem “lost”, and are desperately searching out their place in the sun. This search for identity seems to be the case in JD Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Through settings in the novel and symbolism, Salinger illustrates that while the main character, Holden Caulfield, needs the support of the environment around him, the environment also needs Holden as a person. Holden Caulfield is out of place in any environment in which he is placed. At Pencey, his school, Holden gets excluded from the activities of his classmates. At the very beginning of the novel, Holden becomes expelled because his grades are not up to Pencey’s standards and also because he does not feel like he belongs there. Holden separates himself from his classmates for the most part by not becoming involved in the school. Although Holden is the equipment manager of the fencing team, he distances himself from his companions by losing the equipment, showing that he does not fit in, and he really does not want to. As he reflects back on his final day at Pencey he says: “ They kicked me out. ...I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all. They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself...but I didn’t do it” (Salinger 4). The school is throwing Holden out because he is not what they want to represent to potential students. They want to show examples of fine, upstanding young men, instead of giving off the image of the failing, confused young man. Salinger uses Pencey as a mock society of some sorts. Holden does not fit in at Pencey, and he most definitely does not fit in as seen in the later settings of the novel. A second example of Holden’s isolation from his classmates can also be seen when he stands alone on the top of the hill during the “big game”.
Throughout the novel, Holden leaves hints insinuating that he is distancing himself from people and society through his actions and decisions. Holden shows his hate towards the adult world by mentioning “phoniness” throughout the book, insinuating that he will never be like this, even though it’s impossible. His constant failing at school evidences that he isn’t planning to have a common future by having a job like most people would. It was evidently explained that Holden doesn’t fit in because he doesn’t want to be part of humans’ corrupted society. Regardless of how one feels about society, it is evident that its flaws made a teenager retract from accepting humans’ adult world, and instead negated to be a part of it.
Now with over 15 million copies in print translated into forty languages, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is highly regarded as a masterpiece of American literature. It stands strong beside bestsellers such as “The Joy Luck Club,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” and “Huckleberry Finn.” But what, one may ask, are the similarities between these chartbusters?
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
From the protagonists’ point of view, the adult world Holden and Franny are entering and living in is a very superficial place. Holden who is sixteen years of age is going through a time of crisis where he is almost forced to become an adult. This concept is the very thing that makes Holden afraid, causing him to misbehave at school. His latest school, Pencey Prep, expels Holden due to his failing grades. When asked for the reason of his lack of academic enthusiasm, Holden simply states that he is not interested in anything. In every school he has attended, Holden has managed to find different reasons not to care and possibly even hate the institutions.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.
There is a singular event that unites every single human being on the planet, growing up. Not everyone can say it was pleasant, but no one can deny that it took place. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing; often forcing one to seek out the answers to questions that likely have no definitive answer. During the process, the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we are on the brink of entering this cruel, unjust society can the ignorant bliss of childhood be truly recognized. Catcher in the Rye explores the intimidating complexities associated with adulthood and how baffling it seems to the naïve teenage mind. Through the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society.
Happiness: an idea so abstract and intangible that it requires one usually a lifetime to discover. Many quantify happiness to their monetary wealth, their materialistic empire, or time spent in relationships. However, others qualify happiness as a humble campaign to escape the squalor and dilapidation of oppressive societies, to educate oneself on the anatomy of the human soul, and to locate oneself in a world where being happy dissolves from a number to spiritual existence. Correspondingly, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Krakauer’s Into the Wild illuminate the struggles of contentment through protagonists which venture against norms in their dystopian or dissatisfying societies to find the virtuous refuge of happiness. Manifestly, societal
J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationship he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.