Rebel Without A Cause: A Literary Analysis

In today’s literature, there are books that tell it how it is and how it should be but it never seems to be in equal proportions. We as a group lose the truth because it is so entangled in idealism, in how things could be. But that’s just it, “could be” is not the same as “how it is”. The truth needs to be known and talked about before moving forward. Teenage literature shapes the young minds of its readers. This audience is in a vulnerable point in development where they can handle the truth and realism that actually occurs in today’s world. Claudia Mills said, “Children are children; they need to be introduced to the harsh realities of the world both gently and gradually.” (The Ethics of Representation: Realism and Idealism in Children’s
However, realistic novels like Catcher in the Rye and Rebel without a Cause have similar story lines. Both pieces of literature have a “loner” type main character who eventually comes to grow into his or her own, or into society. These realistic fiction novels are so similar because they are both coming of age. In personal experience, all the books I’ve read, the character has grown. That’s a standard idea. Literature like this allows the reader to accept that it’s okay to different or out there and that they can still find their way. One might argue that Idealistic books do the same, which is partially true, but there is a distinct difference. The realistic books take time and conflicts to overcome to reach the point of coming of age. Idealistic books have characters that “are typically transformed instantly- literally instantly- by their very first glimpse of the garden.” (Mills’s Essay) In idealist books, there is no struggle to solve the problem, the author writes the character’s successes just as easily as his or her conflict. In Rebel Without a Cause, the coming of age for Jim was realistic. Jims grows and wants to tell the police what happened because Jim knows it’s the right thing to do, but his parents won’t let him because they want to protect him. If this part were idealistic the parents would have told
These are important life lessons to young readers. More often than not, idealistic novels skip from the problem to the solution without ever having things get ugly. Teachers always say that the only student who benefits is the one who learns and does the work. Realistic literature shows the problem and challenges and how it can be worked through to be fixed. Idealistic literature simply tells you what things should be like. Fifty percent of students learn through action while only ten percent learn through listening (according to the University of Illinois). With numbers like this, it would make sense that novels with development and characters working through problems would be a way more effective style than characters telling it how it could be. At the end of the day, a mom would tell her child, “Actions speak louder than words.” Realism speaks louder than