Various people hold different opinions on what is wrong with the world today. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild is the novel of a young man named Chris McCandless. Chris’ heterodox views about the government and society cause a rift between his friends, family, and himself. In 1990, he decides to leave his family and friends behind while he embarks on a wild adventure to get closer to nature. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a tale written in the 50’s, of a seventeen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden escapes from another one of his many failed boarding schools and takes off to New York. He attempts to keep everything from changing by surrounding himself with pieces of his past. Despite the gap between the times in which Holden …show more content…
My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal… I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time. The freedom and simple beauty of it are just too good to pass up (Krakauer). This emphasizes Chris’ belief that money ruins peoples’ view of the world and blinds them from the beauty surrounding them. Holden is very reckless and impulsive when spending his own money, but dislikes people who do the same thing with theirs. He doesn’t like how “phony” rich people are, or how they constantly point out the amount of money they have. Both men think very differently than most people in society, and it usually causes many disagreements between them and their peers. Holden despises when people say or do things that they don’t actually mean. “Grand. If there’s one word I really hate, it’s grand. It’s so phony” (Salinger 118). Holden hates it when people who aren’t intelligent try to cover it up with words like “grand” or “marvelous.” Holden becomes very upset when he sees things like vulgar language in pubic places, because he knows that some kid will see it, ask about it, and will lose some of their innocence to it. Chris believes the problem with people is that they are very selfish. He doesn’t understand why he would receive a new car when he has a perfectly good one already, and children in other places are starving. Chris wants to help people that are struggling to get by. He is
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger's novel set in the 1950s, told the story of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Deciding that he's had enough of Pencey, his fourth school that he'd failed, he goes to Manhattan three days before his scheduled return to home, not wanting to inform his parents that he'd been expelled and sent back. He explores the city, calls up some old friends, gets nicked by the elevator operator, and gradually becomes bitter about the world and people. He then visited his sister Phoebe. After fleeing from the house of Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher, because of mistaking his actions for a homosexual overture, Holden went to Phoebe's school and sent her a note telling her he was leaving home and to meet him at the museum. When Phoebe arrived, Holden angrily refused her request to take her with him and she ignored to speak to him. He then took her across the park to a carousel, bought her a ticket and watched her ride. Holden ended his narrative here, telling the reader that he was not going to tell the story of how he went home and got "sick". He planned to go to a new school in the fall and was cautiously optimistic about his future.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a popular novel that was originally published in the 1950’s. In the book, Salinger explores various themes through the main character Holden and his interactions with others. Some of these themes include, alienation, loss and betrayal. Holden constantly feels betrayed throughout the novel by several people, including his roommate, teacher, and sister.
Since Holden was isolated from his family, in order to not get hurt again he tries to find hypocrisy in people to stop himself from trusting others. Holden feels isolated after being sent to a boarding school that “was full of phonies” by his parents (Salinger 90). Salinger’s message to the audience with this quote is that when
Chris gave up everything he owned knowing that the materials he possessed were the only things keeping him from finding freedom. He wanted to have his own independence and to be away from his parents providing him with his necessities. “My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.” (Krakauer 33) Most times when people have access to money, they seem to forget about anything else that goes around in the world and magically thinks everything is about them. Just like movies stars, many do not know the commoners outside their own community. With “No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes.” Chris was able to isolate himself temporarily from society and not have people tell him what to do. Chris wanted to reach out into the unknown world and see what changes he can provide the
Most things came easy to Chris. In reality, there were very few things that he was not good at. He came from a privileged background. He was accepted and graduated from Emory University, an elite academic institution. All of these variables resulted in Chris despising the society from which he be... ...
Holden often talked about how phony people in his life were, however, he was also a phony, which made him a hypocrite. Holden would often mention things he hated that someone did, but sooner or later Holden was guilty of doing the exact same thing. In chapter one Holden is hypocritical towards his older brother, D.B. He says “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute.”(Salinger
Craig Medred’s “The fiction of John Krakauer’s Into the Wild” makes claim as to why Into the Wild should be referred to as a novel, in comparison to what the story is currently classified as. Backing this statement up with multiple valid points, Medred brings to light information such as; the interview with Jeff Apple Benowitz, that Krakauer basically disregarded – though it was an admittedly hard to believe story – the multiple stories that Krakauer made up based on one or two worded entries, or even the disregarded entries like “DREAM” or “many mushrooms”. However, Medred also seems hell bent on proving that Krakauer was so extremely biased towards McCandless and his actions, that Medred purposefully misled his own audience, by laying out interesting claims and
that he is trying to hide his true identity. He does not want people to know who he really is or that he was kicked out of his fourth school. Holden is always using fake names and tries speaking in a tone to persuade someone to think a cretin way. He does this when he talks to women. While he is talking to the psychiatrist he explains peoples reactions to his lies like they really believe him, when it is very possible that he is a horrible liar and they are looking at him with a “what are you talking a bout?” expression. Holden often lies to the point where he is lying to him self.
He also dislikes movies. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.”(2). Holden think that actors are phonies . He also thinks his brother D.B sold out for the financial success of Hollywood. Holden calls everyone phonies because they have a different perspectives and they don’t think like him. It is a way for Holden to separate himself from other people. Holden thinks the world is about to get him. Holden is a hypocrite because he calls people phonies but he said “I am the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It is awful.”(16). This quote show how of a terrific liar Holden really is and how he is not reliable.
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a remarkable book that gives readers a unique and perhaps gloomy perspective of the 1950's through Holden Caulfield, a cynical and peculiar teenager. Through The Catcher in the Rye Salinger describes important aspects of the 1950's. Salinger emphasizes several key characteristics of the 50's and criticizes them through Holden. In addition, Holden Caulfield is a very interesting character with several traits that put him at odds with society.
The Catcher in the Rye by, J.D. Salinger is told through Holden the narrative in the story. The setting of the novel takes place in the 1940's early 1950's. Holden is sixteen years old and he has a lot of problems in his life. He becomes seriously depressed to the point he cannot deal with people and life around him. The 1940's were different from today. However, Holden Caulfield is similar to many other teenagers who go through the same problems.
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Chris does not agree with a lot of the values of society. He shuns the day-to-day sheltered routine that comes with the security of the material world. Chris does not hold the security of the government with a high esteem, as shown in the following quote, “‘H*ll, no… How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. F*ck their stupid rules’” (Krakauer 7). Chris doesn’t even enjoy the comfort of modern living. He prefers minimal
He discusses the hypocrisy of the adult world. Holden constantly uses the word “phony” and stands out a lot. This can be used to show off more dislike of growing old, and to reinforce the idea that everything in the world is fake. There is also a secondary theme of using isolation in order to stay clear of harmful situations. Holden doesn't like that he is very recluse
These are some rave reviews by renown critics. The most interesting points are highlighted in bold: Author: Roger Ebert in Chicago Sun-Times Date: September 27, 2007 Source: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/into-the-wild-2007 “Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, which I read with a fascinated dread, tells the story of a 20-year-old college graduate who cashes in his law school fund and, in the words of Mark Twain, lights out for the territory. He drives west until he can drive no farther, and then north into the Alaskan wilderness.