... when his son learns a story of his relations with Ellen and speaks to him about it many years after (Wharton 41). The lesson that he learns is that society is very concerned with the affairs of its members and even his wife had heard the rumors about the two cousins. While May was busy upholding her traditional role as faithful wife, she also was acting within social norms and ignoring his infatuation with her cousin Ellen, and allowing a facade of a strong marriage to continue. The violence presented in this book, while not as obvious as that in The Piano or Medea, is no less intense. May's innocent look but underlying manipulation of Archer's feelings towards her and his feelings of obligation demonstrate a great struggle between the "innocent" May Welland who looks "blankly at blankness" and the "fiery beauty" of Ellen, and both of their desires for Archer.
Holden Caulfield is an intriguing narrator who guides us through his world with amazing honesty. By experiencing the world through his words and ideas we are in a position to understand the character better than anyone else in the novel. Specifically through his comments and attitudes about sex he reveals his sensitive and caring nature, his innocence and naïveté, and a fierce fear of change. Above all else it is revealed that Holden is not prepared to grow up and whether he ever will be is left uncertain.
The red army barred the burden of war the soviets suffered the larger loss of resources, people and equipment.as the war worsened America declared it's unprepared for war and doesn't get immediately involved in the war till 1944, singling out the soviets.soviets union holds their own just when the war started to look grim soviets pushed germany's advance all the way back to Berlin and capture it. After that truman ends the war in August 1945 with the atomic bomb which starts the cold war . TWO superpowers with opposing views (communism & capitalism).
In the novel, Hamid also explores Changez’s relationship with Erica as a metaphor of the challenges faced by South Asian Americans in their efforts to assimilate and “become” American through one, the morning after Changez came down for breakfast, he and Erica were the only two there and so they had a conversation. In their conversation, Erica asked him about his home life in Pakistan, to which Changez replied,
The 1960s was a period well remembered for all the civil rights movements that occurred during that time frame and the impact these movements had on the social and political dynamics of the United States. The three largest movements that were striving in the 1960s were the African American civil rights movement, the New Left movement and the feminist movement. These three movements were in a lot of ways influenced by each other and were very similar in terms of their goals and strategies. However, within each of these movements there were divisions in the way they tried to approach the issues they were fighting against. Looking at each of these movements individually will reveal the relationship they all share as well as the changes that were brought forth as a result of each groups actions.
Holden, struggling to find his true identity fears the thought of change. Seeking the Museum of Natural History for the comfort of sameness, he expresses his admiration for the unchanging exhibits, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move.” (135) With continuous fear of change, Holden puts himself into an even further whirlwind of emotional distress and isolation, all while constantly picking apart everyone around him and judging them merely on the way that they speak or the words that they say. In the very first sentence of chapter three, Holden admits to being a liar, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.”
Throughout the novel, we watch as Holden Caulfield’s story unfolds before us. He shares his story to his therapist, ensuring us that it is the truth. Holden is so concerned we do not believe him, he tells us frequently that this is the truth. He refers to everyone around him a phony, and even his little sister points out that he does not have many interests. He seems to dislike many things and is not particularly fond of anybody. Throughout the novel, we see as Holden’s attitude and perspective of the world changes drastically.
Innocence, according to Holden Caulfield, is sacred. He is so obsessed about protecting children from corruption that is tear’s him apart. The swear words written on the school walls represent the corruption that children face everywhere they go. These swear words make Holden unbelievably angry, for he thinks that they expose school children to adult themes that they should not know at such a young age. He is also infatuated with the idea of being a ‘catcher in the rye’, as mentioned when talking to his sister Phoebe.
When Holden feels as if some sort of purity is threatened he assumes a bitter, angry tone. When Stradlater, someone he knows as very sexually intimate, went on a date with Jane, Holden’s childhood friend, Holden became so angry that he reacted physically: “I got off from the bed… and then I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddamn throat open” (43). This shows that Holden feels it his responsibility to preserve all innocence, to prevent people or things from becoming phony. His failure to do so results in uncontrollable bouts of rage. When he reads swear words in the bathroom of his sister’s school, he says “I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it” (201). He was thinking about all the children who would see the words, and felt powerless to stop its effects, so he became extremely angry.
Although Holden’s rather cynical language, negative attitude, and troubled past are all aggravating, the majority of readers are bothered most by the fact that Holden is not a reliable narrator. Because Holden does not wish to look beyond one’s physical appearance, he sees no difference in anyone but himself, as he is convinced he is the only person with complexities. In the novel, the reader is only allowed Holden’s end of the story; therefore, every event is based on his thoughts and experiences, and thus, the audience must form conclusions based on these particular opinions and ideas alone. Furthermore, Holden often seems to be at odds with other characters in addition to being extremely incapable of making correct judgements about his
Despite Holden’s further development into adulthood during the three days in which the novel partakes, the characteristic Holden holds in the highest esteem is innocence. Characters such as Allie, Jane Gallagher, and Phoebe, whom Holden cherishes most, all contain a certain degree of innocence which draws Holden to them. This value, and Holden’s sense of protection for it is seen in Holden’s ultimate
Throughout the book, it seems Holden’s favorite word is “phony.” His experiences have led him to believe that people are not as kind as he used to believe. He is quick to voice his opinion that people only act in consideration of others because they have to. When talking about society, he says “It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques'" (131). He has lost much of the innocence he once had, in fact he might do good to gain some of it back. Holden very bluntly expresses how he feels about everyone to the reader. He has come to the realization that nobody is completely who they say they are. Another way that Holden experiences the emotional truths of things, is when he discovers that when people are being kind to one another, it is usually fake, because they “have” to. Holden rants, "You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write 'F*ck you' right under your nose" (204). Readers can see how truly awful Holden views other people. He does not believe in the “everybody loves everybody” way of life that he once was taught to believe as a child. Lastly, Holden says something near the end of the book that expresses how he feels about humanity, even after his journey. He says, “Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior” (185). Holden shows us that he has finally realized himself what kind of people exist in the world. He has come to the sad truth that our world is
This offers additional insight into his character, and does so often through the use of a single word. It also shows that Holden's vocabulary is somewhat inadequate, as observed in a person much younger than himself. Holden's regular use of cursing reveals not only the depth of his emotion, but indicates to the reader the fact that he is caught in the stage where childhood and approaching maturity collide. In vain, Holden tries to bridge the gap between adolescence and adulthood with the use of
He is even fashionably late to the Opera because “it was ‘not the thing’ to arrive early to the Opera” (24). When Countess Ellen Olenska first arrives on the scene, Newland is horrified, along with the rest of the community that Ellen referred to as the “black sheep” is being seen in public. In addition, he is terribly embarrassed that his future family was “producing her in public, at the Opera of all places, and in the very box with the young girl whose engagement to him, Newland Archer, was to be announced within a few weeks” (32). But it does not take long until Newland is fascinated by Ellen and realizes he wants to learn more about her, and subsequently, her lifestyle. It is due to his fascination with Ellen and the life that she leads that Newland’s internal self-alienation from society begins. The first case of this is seen as early as at dinner with Mr. Jackson when “The case of Countess Olenska had stirred up old settled convictions and set them drifting through his mind” (62). Countess Olenska brings out a new side in Newland; Newland says at the dinner table, “Women should be free--- as free as we are” (63). This is a very unconventional thing to say in his neighborhood. Soon after, Newland proposes the idea of eloping with May, which is totally taboo for that society. When May declines and calls the act of eloping “vulgar”, Newland shows his desire to challenge society when
Holden doesn’t like the complexity of life and relationships. This is why he distances himself from his family and friends. After Holden is expelled from his school, he tries to stay away from his parents for fear of their reaction, even though learning of his expulsion is inevitable. He visits his sister Phoebe in their home multiple times throughout the novel because due to her young age, his sister and his relationship is simple. "For instance, within Holden, the desire to reject others conflicts with the desire to be accepted by others: he doesn't want to lend Stradlater his coat, but his overt actions belie this covert, warring want: he despises Ackley, but he invites him to see a movie; he hates movies, believing them to foster phoniness in society” (Mitchell). Holden struggles to “catch” others because he believes he is not accepted by others.