Similarities Between The Rye And Rebel Without A Cause

In both the book The Catcher in The Rye and the movie “Rebel Without a Cause” the adolescent protagonists experience monumental changes, and face many struggles which shape the way they view society. In “Rebel Without a Cause” Jim Stark, a teenager living in the 50’s is constantly moving from place to place because his parents want to maintain a picture-perfect image for society. This instability puts him at odds with his family and sets up a generational conflict. At his newest school, Jim starts to be influenced by two friends, Judy and Plato, who push him to rebel against his parents and society. Like Jim, Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in The Rye, is also a teenager living during the 50’s. However Holden, who seems

Jim’s creates a belief system that revolves around distancing himself from his fathers beliefs and morals to separate himself from his family. When Jim is deciding to race in the Chickie Run, his father suggests he make a pro and con list to weigh out his decision effectively. Jim scoffs at his father’s caution and immediately goes against his father’s advice of participating. Jim feels his father is weak and has little respect for him. Jim wants to be his own man because he can’t rely on his father to be a role model. Likewise, Holden also forms a belief system for the purpose of protecting himself. He judges and blames everyone else so he does not have to deal with his own problems. As Holden fails out of another prep school instead of feeling remorse for his own actions, he leaves with shout, “...and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, "Sleep tight, ya morons!" I'll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor” (Salinger, 59). Yelling his goodbyes to his peers makes Holden feel better about himself. He will not allow others to witness his true feelings so he convinces them and himself that he does not care. Holden is protecting himself from sustaining even more hurt. Both protagonists create a world which provides a safe haven for them to

Jim creates a tough guy persona to prove to others he is not a chicken. When Jim talks to Judy in front of her boyfriend Buzz, he finds himself on the edge of a knife fight. Jim did not want to fight with Buzz until Buzz called him a chicken. Jim immediately reacts and defends himself. Jim wants to prove his manhood and he believes the best way to do so is act tough and protect himself against others. He doesn’t want an individual calling him a chicken because that is what Jim believes his father to be. As for Holden, throughout the novel, he does his best to display a carefree persona to the world. When Holden leaves Pencey Prep, he heads to New York City without a plan or a place to stay. "All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey....So what I decided to do, I decided I'd take a room in a hotel in New York . . . and just take it easy till Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday, I'd go home all rested up and feeling swell" (Salinger, 51). Instead of going directly home and telling his parents he failed out, Holden acts it's no big deal and goes off into New York city to take it easy. Holden wants others to believe that he has his life under control so he acts like nothing matters. Jim and Holden want to frame the narratives around them in order to control their