Catcher In The Rye Critical Lens Analysis

Beauty is known to come through many differentiating forms; some may consider the natural beauty of the outdoors, while another may find beauty in other living beings. However, there is a great sense of beauty where the average person may not expect to find it: in fictional literature. One may wonder how fiction is able to constitute beauty. Through the novels To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, we are able to constitute parallels between similar concepts, themes, and ideas that appear in both of the works, that therefore portray a sense of beauty to the reader. These include, but are not limited to, attempts to make a change in society, being and acting different from the rest of the world, having

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout acts differently than most girls in her time period. While it is expected that, as a girl, she is supposed to wear dresses and not play with other boys, she often wears overalls and plays outside with Jem and Dill. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches… she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born…” Scout does not wish to have anything to do with what Aunt Alexandra envisions her to be. Comparatively, Holden, in The Catcher in the Rye, has a strong hate for most of the adults in the world, making him unable to connect with the majority of them. "... you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior… men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now.” Holden does not take liking to the behavior of the people he is around, as he thinks to himself that they are phony, dumb, or another derogatory term. He thinks that children are much better than adults, because they are innocent and hardly ever act ‘phony’. However, this

While To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily focused overall on growing up, there are certain parts of the novel we can pick out to tell that Scout and Jem are slowly maturing over time. In the very last chapter, after walking Boo back to his house, Scout starts thinking that she had learned much about life. “As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra.” Scout realizes everything she has been through and seen in the past few years of her life. She feels as though she already has had the experiences an adult should have, and all of the lessons in life that come with it. We are able to notice the change of her maturity from the start to the end of the novel. The Catcher in the Rye displays themes of growing up though Holden’s observations he sees in the world around him. Throughout the novel, he adores the innocence of childhood, and notably states he wants to be a ‘catcher in the rye’ who would save children from the drop into adulthood. However, the most notable segment on growing up is near the end of the novel, where Holden is realizing that you can’t stop children from growing up. “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let