Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And Pleasantville

832 Words2 Pages

When kids reach their puberty they go through many changes establishing their personalities and adapting to their environments. During puberty, it could be confusing, filled with contradicting feelings, for kids. The movie Pleasantville written and directed by Gary Ross and the book Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger address those very issues. The movie and the book have many of similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are: both protagonists are idealistic teenage boys who do not fit into their environment, they both fantasize about the girls they like but didn't have the courage to act on their feelings; throughout the storylines, they both try to protect the innocents. However, they differed in their attitude toward …show more content…

David in the opening scene of the movie was fantasizing in asking a blonde girl out on a date. He pretended to ask her from a distance where he could not be heard. ¨Well-- I was just wondering--'cause I see you all the time in Algebra and I heard you humming that Van Halen song and I really like that song too… Anyhow, I don't know what you're doing this weekend but my Mom's leaving town and she said I could use her car so...¨. When the camera pans out, the audience realizes that the girl was talking to another cooler boy across the school yard. The girl didn't notice him. Just like David, Holden also liked his former neighbor, Jane Gallagher. Like the blonde girl, Jane was going out with Stradlater, Holden´s ¨high quality¨ roommate. Holden knew a lot of details about Jane, while Stradlater didn't even know her name. ¨I know old Jane like a book. I still couldn't get her off my brain. I knew her like a book. I mean, besides checkers, she was quite fond of all athletic sports, and after I got to know her, the whole summer long we played tennis together almost every morning and golf almost every afternoon.¨ (Chapter 11) Even though Holden had plenty of opportunities to say hi to Jane. Ultimately, he talked himself out of

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And Pleasantville

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Holden's Depression and Self-Doubt in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden’s first betrayal was that of his memory and innocence by an egotistical peer. At Pencey Prep, he roomed with a student named Stradlater; the epitome of a teenage jock. Stradlater was openly very vain; as Holden stated as he watched Stradlater gaze at himself in the mirror, “he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere” (27). Because of his inflated ego and good looks, Stradlater figured that he would steal the breath from any girl he wanted. To Holden, he admitted that the girl of the hour was a “Jean Gallagher” (31). Here was the betrayal: this “Jean” and the Jane that Holden had spent childhood summers with playing a cool game of checkers on the porch were one and the same. Holden had ...

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And The Great Gatsby

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing A Separate Peace and The Catcher in the Rye

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    The coming of age novels, The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, and A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, both interpret the lives of adolescent boys journeying through their conflicts and inner confusion to reach the level of maturity. Salinger and Knowles both discern the literal ways a typical teenager grows up with the help of literary elements such as plot, setting, character development, conflicts, irony, symobolism, theme, and point of view.

    Read More

  • The Catcher in the Rye: Stuck In Adolescence

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden returns to school and goes to his bedroom in the dorm. In his room quietly reading, his neighbor Robert Ackley came in. Holden describes him as a pimply, insecure, annoying boy with a bad dental hygiene. When Holden’s roommate Stradlater who was “madly in love with himself” (27) arrived home after the football game, Ackley abruptly left. Stradlater tells him that he has a date with a friend of his, Jane Gallagher. Jane is someone that Holden really cares for and because he knows the way Stradlater is, Holden became worried for her. “It just drove me stark raving mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky’s car”. (48) Holden became depressed and lonely, so out of the blue Holden decides to pack his things and leave for New York a few days earlier. On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates. Not wanting to tell his whole life story, he told her his name was “Rudolf Schmidt”, the name of th...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Grief In Catcher In The Rye

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, you must first take in to consideration Holden’s feelings towards his little brother Allie. Holden consider Allie “the smartest person in their family”. “..it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid, though” (5.7).This means that Holden looked

    Read More

  • Holden Caulfield Betrayal

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden, before leaving for New York, attended a boarding school named Pencey Prep. He makes it clear that he thinks everyone, teachers and students alike, is a “phony.” At one point, his roommate Stradlater goes out with a girl who ends up being Jane Gallagher, a childhood friend and crush of Holden. In his eyes, this is a betrayal. Holden is annoyed

    Read More

  • Similarities Between 'Catcher In The Rye And Prep'

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    They say not to judge a book by its cover, as what is on the inside is more important than what is on the exterior. As a human race, one of the first things done is jumping to conclusions about people without knowing them thoroughly. The novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Prep by J.D. Salinger and Curtis Sittenfeld respectively, both portray this theme. Although the books do this in a different manner and convey different messages through this basic lesson, they both provide validity to the statement with realistic events occurring to teenagers. Sharing similarities in plot, the Washington Post makes a comment connecting the two protagonists saying, "Holden Caulfield would love this heroine." Holden and Lee, the male and female protagonists of the novels, both display the judgments people make through their narrations of the stories. Despite the similarities in the plot, characters and personality traits of the two, after getting to know Lee Holden would not want to pursue a friendship with Lee, by feeling negatively about her, contradicting the comment by the Washington Post due to her judgmental personality which mends easily to its surroundings.

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye Selfish Quotes

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is made evident that Holden is enamored with Jane Gallagher, and this first manifests itself when Holden talks about her to Stradlater. “I used to play checkers with her,” Holden recounts. “ ‘She’d get [her kings] all lined up in the back row. Then she’d never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row.’ Stradlater didn’t say anything. That kind of stuff doesn’t interest most people” (41). In a world where almost everything is so “goddam depressing,” thinking about Jane’s minor traits actually makes Holden happy, even if it is the kind of stuff that does not interest most people. It allows him to channel his childhood, where he was oblivious to the phoniness around him. However, this silly nostalgia cannot get across to Stradlater, who is more interested in Jane as a sexual being than trivialities such as her checker tactics or struggles with ballet. This physical interest eventually becomes the root of their brawl in their dorm. Although Holden’s interrogative mood agitates Stradlater, Holden is only showing his genuine care for Jane. Unlike Stradlaer, Holden has enough sense to know that Jane, being the humble, intelligent girl she is, deserves to be treated right. So, even though Holden lets his anger get the better of him and eventually start a fight, he has reason to do

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye Quote Analysis

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden struggles to make connections with other people, and usually resorts to calling them phonies whenever they upset him. He finds natural human flaws in people and runs away from connection immediately. His date with Sally shows this. Near the end of the date, Holden tells Sally about his plans to run away from life. When Sally gives him practical advice, Holden is quick to escape connection by calling her “a pain”. Sally’s advice would definitely guide Holden in a more realistic direction, but that is not what he wants to hear. Conflict always arises in his mind even if there is little in reality. His struggles with finding connection also make him too apprehensive to call his old friend Jane. Holden likes to think of Jane as a pure and perfect girl that he can

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Pleasantville And Fahrenheit 451

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    “We shall either find what we are seeking, or free ourselves from the persuasion that we know what we do not know.” ― Mary Renault. In many dystopian texts and films, there would always be a person who rebels and looks for change, like Jonas in the Giver,. In Pleasantville and Fahrenheit 451, the main characters are living in a dystopia and they rebel in diverse ways for a change.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Joy Luck Club And Catcher In The Rye

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • The Perks Of Being A Wallflower And Catcher In The Rye

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    While societal attitudes attitudes may change over time, the challenges associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood remain constant. The ideas of individuality, alienation and loss of innocence fortify the theme of coming of age across the texts The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Catcher in the Rye, a bildungsroman novel written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, focuses on teenager Holden Caulfield’s transition from childhood to adulthood in 1950’s America, whereas the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower directed by Stephen Chbosky in 2012 follows teenager Charlie experiencing a similar transition in 1990’s America. Despite their varying contexts, these ideas are presented in both texts through the use the

    Read More

  • Theme Comparison Of The Catcher In The Rye And Franny And Zooey

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    The world today is very deceptive and phony. J.D. Salinger’s well known novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey attack this fake and superficial society which is evident through the lives, ideas, actions, and words expressed by the characters in these literary pieces. The transition from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood is inevitable. The protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through this stage and finds himself in a crisis. He alienates himself from everyone who is around him and tries his best not to grow up. Holden often dwells upon his childhood and the life he had with his family. Franny in Franny and Zooey has already passed this stage but finds it difficult to live in a world where everyone she is surrounded by is only concerned with outward appearances. In these worlds, both characters, Holden and Franny, reveal their struggle of growing up and trying to live as an adult in a world full of deception and shallow-minded people who only care about appearances.

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye Transition Into Adulthood Essay

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    He complains about his school, saying that it is just like any other school and uses language that makes him sound very obnoxious. Holden seems to focus on girls quite a bit, just like any other teenage boy. He seems to focus on one girl in particular, a girl named Jane. We soon learn that Holden’s personality is not your average personality. Holden does seem to have some friends but he does not fall into many peer groups with the type of personality he has. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. For this reason, he seems to play around a lot in the wrong situations. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. Holden’s resistance to emerging adulthood is the cause of many of the problems he is faced with during the

    Read More

More about Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And Pleasantville

Open Document