Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger can be viewed as a misfit avoiding adulthood while Pi from Life of Pi by Yann Martel is fighting for his life and will to survive at sea. While Holden is struggling mentally to find a happiness and breaks down near the end of his journey in New York, Pi says mentally strong, with prayer and a strong willpower to survive when he was shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean. Both of the young men will deal with mental obstacles throughout their story. Holden can be described as a failure looking to start a new which the ending of Catcher in the Rye hinted he would. Pi, however feels that he was given this challenge of being lost at sea to prove himself that he is capable of the impossible. He will try his hardest to not let the darker thoughts consume him or he will never …show more content…
They indirectly challenged themselves and went in believing that it would be a suitable punishment and challenge that would keep them entertained. Holden will often question society and judge those he dislikes, Pi didn’t question how his situation became real even though readers know he was the lone survivor of his family. Pi will forget the past since he and his family were escaping India and attempting to create a new future in Canada. Holden is afraid to lose everything of his past and innocent years because he is scared of the fakeness of the adult world. Even though both of their minds are on opposed from each other their reasoning is the same since Holden is trying to run from his future and save his past and Pi was escaping his past to seek a better future. Pi is known by his community to never have stuck to one religion which is unheard of and disrespectful to all religions but Pi doesn’t care since he wants to balance his beliefs and not to be bound to certain beliefs. Both Holden and Pi will for fear their future, Pi wants to escape his past and find a better future while Holden wants to save his past and escape