How Does Holden Caulfield Accept The Culture Of Conformity

In the 1950’s there was this “known” affirmed behavior assigned to genders and age groups, known as “culture of conformity”. This was a mainstream concept that began to blossom after World War II. The concept meant women were still expected to be at home cooking and caring for children and men were expected to be the head of the household bringing in majority of the income The children were expected to one day go to college, find a corporate base job, and marry (Pettingeal, lecture). As an American citizen you were supposed to conform to these uniform patterns of “way of living”. In “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caufield is a display of many teens that did not accept the conformity of the typical teen. The children of the 1950’s generation did not care to follow the conformity like their parents did. Holden Caufield displays the growing discontent within the 1950’s American culture through his physical disconnect with the community, his lack of urgency to be “something” and his rejection of affluence.
In the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” it is very apparent that the main character, Holden Caufiled is different and is the definition of being isolated. In the text he says, “ I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill…” (2) describing his experience

In the novel he states, “My father wants me to go to Yale, or maybe Princeton, but I swear, I wouldn't go to one of those Ivy League colleges, if I was dying, for God's sake” (46). Which clearly shows his disinterest in wanting to conform to these norms that were settled in his community. This is a huge disconnect in the community of affluence. He does not see any reason to be associated with this blasphemy in regards to his education or aesthetics. He just does not care to be associated with the norms of the regular