Catcher In The Rye Society

The Society and Its Effect on People
Children are our future. They are a new generation, a new version of us, with more possibilities and resources than ever before. For children to thrive in the society, they will need to mature and learn new things that will help them as adults. However, as they mature, they will also be exposed to the corrupt nature of adulthood. While increasingly becoming jaded and alienated from his sobering realization of corrupt adulthood, Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye identifies that the root of corruption in adulthood lies in adults’ growing awareness of others which causes them to behave according to socially constructed ideals driven by monetary and superficial values. While defining the
One instance when Holden encounters people attempting to falsely promote their social status, is when he finds “his suitcases pulled back on the rack” (108) by his roommate. Holden tells us that his roommate wanted people to think that the expensive suitcases were his, as opposed to his cheap ones. This ties to the materialistic motives that take over people’s authenticity. To others, the outer looks are the first thing a judgement is made upon, but that is as far as it gets. On the other hand, superficiality can be embodied not just in the presentation of the self to others, but also in the way people perceive others.. People may conclude many things about others, just based from external appearance. This “phoniness” occurs to Holden himself, when he meets the nuns at the subway station. He observes these nuns with cheap suitcases and says that “[he] can get to hate somebody just by looking at them” (108). Even though Holden himself criticizes people’s tendency to make shallow judgments based on external appearance, he too is subject to that superficial behavior. He judges people only by their outer looks, and not by their actions. This superficiality in viewing others develops and serves as a barrier towards finding deeper and more meaningful qualities in
Many people want to live life without any burden, as they did when they were children. However, the methods in Holden tries to escape reality is ironically in contradiction to his wish to retain his innocence. For example, when Holden misses his brother, he “[sits] in a chair for a while and [smokes] a couple of cigarettes” (144). He knows the wrongs of smoking and,its association with adulthood as a symbol of death, but takes part in them anyways in hopes that he would feel better. Likewise, as the highest level in society, adults wish to be free and independent. They turn to doing drugs, some already