Consumerism In Catcher In The Rye

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 The family within society

1.1Historical context 1.1.1 Post- war era in the USA 1.1.2 Initiation of consumerism 1.1.3 Position of woman/man within society

1.2 Nuclear family

1.3 The youth culture

1.4 Educational institutions in 1950

2 The Relationships 2.1 Father- son relationship 2.2 Mother- son relationship 2.3 Holden- siblings’ relationship 2.4 Holden- peers/tutors’ relationship

Conclusion

Résumé

References

Introduction

Traditional family values and cultural concepts might be described very widely, called norms as well; beliefs, role models, ideals within one society, especially of a traditional/conservative kind which are held to promote the sound functioning of the

Jerome David Salinger, the author of the novel The Catcher in the Rye might be called the initiative representative of the WWII period of the literature aiming at the problematic of adolescence. The criticism towards the novel, which is the subject of this thesis, was shortly after its publication dispensed into two opposing points of view. The conservative camp found the novel “a nightmarish medley of loneliness, bravado, and supineness…wholly repellent in its mingled vulgarity, naiveté, and sly perversion” (Longstreth 30) , which was to some extent opinion compatible with the attitude of the majority of the parents that generation bringing up their children in 1950’s conformism stating of the society was lately prevailed by reviews considering the novel as “engaging and believable…full of right observation and sharp insight” (Engle 3) that “one finds it hard to believe that a true lover of children could father this tale” (Longstreth 30). The reason why the merit of the novel was so disputable was mainly due to the fact that it puts the values of the 1950s society- moral, cultural and ethical- under the critical light, in context of the period through the eyes of the adolescent, sixteen- year- old Holden Caulfield, yearning not to become the part of the society

The conflict which is central theme of The Catcher in the Rye is the conflict of expectancy of the society and the suppressed inner space in the period of conformity, somehow bordering with madness rooted in the feeling of inability to preserve idealistic visions. As it was noted The Catcher in the Rye can be counted as the new representative of novels dealing with adolescence. Initiation as the process is, “the process leading through right action and consecrated knowledge, to a viable mode of life in the word ending with confirmation.” (Hassan 35) This confirmation is well-visible as well at the end of the book where Holden is facing ascertainment that he is not able to preserve all the children from losing their innocence, but mainly that he is not able to help himself and finally has to