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The trope “parent-child relationships,” encompassing both parental and mentor relationships, appears in many stories or texts. Not surprisingly, parent-child and mentor relationships run throughout all of the books examined this year in English class, most obviously in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. The two protagonists in these novels, both of whom are boys struggling to find their place in the world, have significant adult figures who try to guide them in their journeys to maturity. Amir finds solace in Rahim Khan, and Holden receives guidance from both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini; however, Amir and Holden’s mentors are very different and cause very different outcomes. Amir’s distant relationship with his father causes him to seek out thoughtful and effective Rahim Khan, who guides him to maturity; whereas Holden chooses to …show more content…
The contrast between these two coming-of-age works and their protagonists’ different resolutions highlights that mentors make the ultimate difference in characters’ journeys to adulthood. Amir’s dead mother and his hopelessly aloof father do not provide him with much guidance or love; their inattention to Amir is what causes him to seek alternate mentorship. After his mother dies giving birth to him, Amir is left alone with only one parent - Baba, his father. One would assume that as the sole members of their family, father and son would be close, but instead they have a distant and chilly relationship. This dynamic is a result of Baba’s actions - he is consistently cold and aloof to Amir, despite Amir’s attempts to garner a warm
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.
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
It is tragic to hear the anguished cry of parents: "What have we done to harm him? Why doesn't he care about anything? He is a bright boy, but why does he fail to pass his examination? Why won't he talk to us?" A remarkable and absorbing novel, J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," may serve to calm the apprehensions of fathers and mothers about their own responsibilities, though it doesn't attempt to explain why all boys who dismay their elders have failed to successfully pass the barrier between childhood and young manhood.
In addition, the relationship between Amir and Baba softens. Baba admits to Amir after he
Protected by a cocoon of naiveté, Holden Caulfield, the principal character in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, therapeutically relates his lonely 24 hour stay in downtown New York city, experiencing the "phony" adult world while dealing with the death of his innocent younger brother. Through this well-developed teenage character, JD Salinger, uses simple language and dialogue to outline many of the complex underlying problems haunting adolescents. With a unique beginning and ending, and an original look at our new society, The Catcher in the Rye is understood and appreciated on multiple levels of comprehension. The book provides new insights and a fresh view of the world in which adolescents live.
The movie The Kite Runner is based on the book and it contains both subtle and explicit differences as all books and movies do. Both the book and the movie have very compelling and moralistic themes though at times the movie’s themes seem limited. The themes presented throughout the movie and the book are penance, loyalty, prejudice, religion and growing up. The characterization, overall plot of the movie and the setting of the book seem to be consistent with each other though at times they both may vary both slightly and drastically.
At the beginning of the novel, Amir and Baba do not get along. Amir sees Baba as “a force of nature,
A father as a role model is crucial in a boy’s transition into manhood. When a father guides his son from child to adult and still maintains power over his son, he succeeds. In Homer’s The Odyssey, we see how without Odysseus, Telemachus is still a childish, and how with the mentorship of Athena, who is disguised as a man, he is able to resemble his father and not overpower him. Similarly in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is very childish as he has no role model to follow. Holden seeks them out although, they give him irrelevant advice for his voyage to adulthood. However, because Holden is having trouble finding viable advice, he is negatively influenced by the movies. The reader is now able to see Telemachus and Holden both look to mentors for the guidance that they do not receive from their fathers, but while disguised Athena helps Telemachus to become a more like his father and a man as they are seen in society, Holden’s would-be mentors fail him because he is given bad advice such as when Mr. Spencer fails to give him advice for the future and Mr. Antolini’s misunderstood intimacy and is left with the entertainment industry for mentorship . Contrasting the roles that mentor characters play in the two novels highlights a fundamental difference between them: unlike The Odyssey, The Catcher in the Rye implies without the father figure in place, boys are left to turn to the movies for guidance into manhood.
Holden’s true self is constricted by Pencey. He feels as if acting as himself, while a good thing, causes him to do poorly in school and not succeed. Throughout the book he blames both Pencey and the students in it for being phony. He feels as if the constant focus on the future by his peers and students is useless, and that he should be able to decide he life as he goes. He expresses this disregard for his future when he says, “Oh I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure I do….But not too much I guess” (20). Holden doesn’t want his future to be determined by others or his school, he wants to find it himself. Similarly, Sarty is unable to find his identity because of his dad. During their first court date, Sarty doesn’t seem to know what to do. While he wants to be able to tell the truth and be a moral citizen, his dad restricts him. His dad illustrates this restrictive personality when he says, “’You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him….’ You got to stick to your own blood or you aint going to have any blood to stick to” (3). He is faced with the issue of whether or not he should follow his family as his dad wants, or testify and potentially face the consequences of turning against his own blood. Both feel as if they have more to offer to the world and themselves, but do not know how to express this in their restrictive
Holden in “The Catcher in the Rye” and Conrad in “Ordinary People” are very similar in a multitude of ways, but also differ in a some ways. They both are dealing with the death of a brother in many similar fashions. Holden and Conrad both keep most of their feelings to themselves and often feel lesser compared to their deceased siblings. Seemingly every action is affected by their brothers’ deaths and as a result, their maturity is drastically slowed. The difference in the two novels comes in the form of the ending and how they both learn to deal with their problems. Holden just begins to understand that his desires are beyond the realm of possibility, while Conrad comes to terms with his situation, changes his outlook and forgives himself.
Idenity is something that people must find for themselves without society telling them what it should be. However, there are many instances where society predetermines who people are. In Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Awakening by Kate Chopin, society plays a key role in determining the identity of the main characters by placing high expectations on them which causes the main characters to isolate themselves from society. Isolation is a common theme that is present in both novels. In The Awakening, after Mrs. Pontellier accepts Robert's invitation to go to the beach, the author writes, "In short, [she] was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to
In the novels, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Ordinary People by Judith Guest, both Holden Caulfield and Conrad Jarrett experience internal anxiety. Both Holden and Conrad are about the same age and have problems within and outside the school walls. Their behavior problems originate because both Holden and Conrad have been traumatized by the loss of their brothers. The two experienced an abundant amount of stress within school grounds and outside of them, but had no one to express their feelings to. Although being from intact families who were well above average financially, the two struggled with communicating to their parents. Throughout the story we realize that getting over the loss of a loved one can be extremely difficult
This novel presents two almost irreconcilable individuals. The main character, Amir, was raised without a mother; therefore, Amir was left with his father, Baba, to please as he grew up. Early on in his life, it became obvious that pleasing Baba would prove to be problematic. They simply did not have similar interests as a consequence of Baba “fathering a son who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting” (Hosseini 19). Baba was described as a very dominating figuring standing at a monstrous six feet five inches tall who often enjoyed hunting and ran his own business. Amir, on the other hand, was of insignificant stature even for his young age and often was found reading poetry and stories with his friend and servant, Hassan, who, although being a year younger than Amir, often beats Amir in the area of athletic prowess such as throwing rocks when “Hassan made his stone skip eight times. The most I [Amir] managed was five,” (Hosseini 14) or even simply running when Amir said, “Hassan ran faster than I [Amir] did, and I was falling behind,” (Hosseini 53). The son was simply not very sportive. Inversely, The athletic father also greatly enjoyed playing soccer as a child and later enjoyed being a spectator of this sport; consequ...
I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter” (Hosseini, Kite Runner) Amir admired his father plenty, but could never be accepted by him. Amir perceived himself as a failure as he could not live up to his father's standards. Both stories involve dominant characters,
This year summer assignment required students to read and analyze The Bell Jar written by Sylvia Plath, and The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger. From there we are introduced to two characters, Esther and Holden. Both share multiple traits but are respectively still differ from each other. Because of their similarities, Holden and Esther go through similar struggles in life, therefore giving the books common themes. The three major themes that are covered throughout the novels are the search for identity, the American Dream, and the melting pot.