Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And Pleasantville

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When kids reach their puberty they go through many changes establishing their personalities and adapting to their environments. During puberty, it could be confusing, filled with contradicting feelings, for kids. The movie Pleasantville written and directed by Gary Ross and the book Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger address those very issues. The movie and the book have many of similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are: both protagonists are idealistic teenage boys who do not fit into their environment, they both fantasize about the girls they like but didn't have the courage to act on their feelings; throughout the storylines, they both try to protect the innocents. However, they differed in their attitude toward …show more content…

David in the opening scene of the movie was fantasizing in asking a blonde girl out on a date. He pretended to ask her from a distance where he could not be heard. ¨Well-- I was just wondering--'cause I see you all the time in Algebra and I heard you humming that Van Halen song and I really like that song too… Anyhow, I don't know what you're doing this weekend but my Mom's leaving town and she said I could use her car so...¨. When the camera pans out, the audience realizes that the girl was talking to another cooler boy across the school yard. The girl didn't notice him. Just like David, Holden also liked his former neighbor, Jane Gallagher. Like the blonde girl, Jane was going out with Stradlater, Holden´s ¨high quality¨ roommate. Holden knew a lot of details about Jane, while Stradlater didn't even know her name. ¨I know old Jane like a book. I still couldn't get her off my brain. I knew her like a book. I mean, besides checkers, she was quite fond of all athletic sports, and after I got to know her, the whole summer long we played tennis together almost every morning and golf almost every afternoon.¨ (Chapter 11) Even though Holden had plenty of opportunities to say hi to Jane. Ultimately, he talked himself out of

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