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Catcher In The Rye American Dream Essay

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Catcher In The Rye American Dream Essay
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an overview of a young man facing life in a box. In this book you see him go through life trying to unscramble the missing pieces for himself. He twist and turn the boundaries of what it really means to live in a society. Making leaps with this book it is discovered what Holden goes through and how he feel towards the world. He indulges in the ideas of, for the search of social identity, the idea of “melting pot”, and what the American Dream really means. Social Identity is is a relation of comparison with others around us. Holden is a sixteen year old boy who deals with social identification in a unique way then most teenage boys would. Esther Greenwood is a young women who also deals with the …show more content…
In The Catcher in Rye by J.D. this topic is discussed and it is a phrase that can be debated for what it means. In a quote it was stated that,“Most guys at Pencey just talked about having sexual intercourse with girls all the time---like ackley for instance.”(Salinger 55). Informing the readers of one of the many American Dreams which is to have intercourse with many girls as once as a sign to show that you are cool and with the crowd. Holden never understood this so not everyone can get the American Dream , even the minor things like this although most want to they usually end up not succeeding. In fact another quote showing an American Dream is,“Nobody’s making any cracks about your goddam religion.”(Salinger 57). Ackley is telling Holden not to laugh about what he believes in because you are entitled to have your own opinion and own beliefs, it is a free land. The concept of the American Dream is what everyone else wants or does that he doesn't want or need in his life at this point. All in all, showing his American Dream in a way opposes the “normal” meaning of what the dream around the world really is for others, not everyone is fortunate to reach the same American Dream many might be striving

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