The protagonists, Holden Caulfield and Neddy Merrill struggle with the conflict of society’s norms which expects one to grow up and follow the social class structure as well as the association with wealth and money. Their struggle with such norms produced negative results even though they change and realize their mistakes. However, it is too late for Neddy. Caulfield and Merrill both illustrate behaviours that show their conflict with modern day social classes and how they perceive people on each scale as well as their treatment towards these people which is that the people on one scale tend to associate themselves with people on the same scale and their behaviours are influenced by it. Therefore, for someone on the upper class to …show more content…
However, it is too late for Neddy to fix it whereas Holden still has time to do so. In The Swimmer, the weather symbolizes Merrill growing up. At the beginning he believes that “the day was beautiful” and he saw “himself as a legendary figure” (Cheever 727) which shows the earlier years of his life. However, later “it would storm” and the “city- had risen and darkened” (Cheever 729) and “he found that the strength in his arms and shoulders had gone” which shows how he has gone tired and typically symbolizes the elderly. Neddy has gotten old and therefore, it is too late for him to fix his mistakes. Similarly, even though Holden still has time to fix his mistakes and get rid of his conflicts with social classes, he realizes that he is growing up and that things change. Holden states that: “A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I 'm going apply myself when I go back to school next September…I think I am” (Salinger 234). This quote shows how Holden is getting professional help and also plans on doing better in school from now on which foreshadows how Holden will change and succeed with this positive attitude. Another reason why it is too late for Neddy Merrill to fix his mistakes is when he “wondered what time it had gotten to be” (Cheever 729) which shows he is not aware of the time that is passing and not aware of his coming of age. As he reaches the house only to find that “the place was dark…doors were locked and rust came off the handles onto his hands….saw that the place was empty”(Cheever 737). Neddy’s dark and empty house symbolizes the darkness caused by these conflicts and the emptiness inside of him which is too late to fix now due to his old age. On the other hand, a change in Holden is evident when he admittedly states: “I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater
This essay outlines how J.D. Salinger creates a unique person in Holden Caulfield as he strives to find his place in the world as he moves from childhood to adulthood.. Holden narrates this story from the first person in flashback recounting events that happened to him over a two day span the previous year around Christmas. He narrates this story from some sort of mental hospital or institution. This is a clue as to how this journey affected him. This essay discusses how Holden views himself as he is growing up, affected by interaction with other characters, and how he is affected by loss of innocence moving from childhood to adulthood.
The author of the story presents the questions of what is valuable in society and how those that resist these values are dealt with and answers them through Bartleby's actions from his life to his death. Society values things such as money and working to make money where human things such as sentimentalities and emotions are not worth holding onto and when one refuses to work he is left with choices of imprisonment in a cell or imprisonment in a job where Bartleby instead chose to die, to be free of such a world that does not value freedoms and humanity.
Novelists such as Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald used themes of desire of wealth as a fundamental element to motivate their characters. In their novels, the theme is reflected by the rich Americans who primal desire is to obtain more and more wealth. These characters are so infatuated with and blinded by money that they no longer regard the more noble qualities of life. In each of their works, these authors present intricate, self-conscious characters that desire wealth in order to attain their dreams. In reality, wealth cannot buy people, ideas or even time.
John Cheever and F. Scott Fitzgerald are both 20th century writers whose story’s thematically reflected the despair and the emptiness of life. In both story’s “The Swimmer” and “Babylon Revisited” the main characters undergo similar problems, although they are presented differently in each story. The subject matter of both stories, pertain to the ultimate downfall of a man. “The Swimmer”, conveys the story of a man who swims his way into reality. He at first is very ignorant to his situation; however with the passing of time he becomes cognizant to the idea that he has lost everything. In “Babylon Revisited” the key character is a “recovering alcoholic”, who return to his homeland in hope to get his daughter back. However, problems from his past reemerge and deter his attempt to reunite. Ultimately, both stories share rather inconsolable endings with no direct resolution to their troubles.
Linda Sue Park’s poignant novella A Long Walk to Water examines the exhausting journey of a young Sudanese refugee who conquers daily afflictions threatening his survival. Salva Dut-Ariik, an elven-year-old adolescent, flees his war-torn village in search of refugee camps, as well as his family, throughout Africa. Salva continues to persevere through the conflicts he faces for instance, crossing the Akobo desert, despite the fact that the conflicts seem inescapable.
The novel, A Long Walk to Water is a written by Linda Sue Park where it tells the story of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” who are refugees who have fled from their villages during the Second Sudanese Civil War, whereas in the 1980s. Each boy traveled gruesome walks and threaded on survival, where the danger of both nature and violent human-works threatened with danger. But the main character of the story, Salva Dut was one of those “Lost Boys” who is based on a real-person, and have strikingly survived through all the tough trials of the war, to getting stung by bees for food to walking for several months to arrive at a refugee camp. But there were certain factors that made survival possible for Salva and go through the challenges of the war.
An underpinning theme is identity, at such a formative stage in life we look for a sense of Self. Like every adolescent, Holden is on the cusp of adulthood, and confronted with the pursuit of identity. Holden’s inability to find balance in belonging and being unique is explicit in the motif of loneliness. He can’t conform and grow up “…without disappearing,” (pg.218). Despite his desire for approval, he subverts from the socially acceptable to avoid being like the collective, a “phony”, and ultimately alienating himself. Even Stradlater said, “You always do everything backasswards… You don’t do one damn thing the way you’re supposed to,” (pg. 46-47). Holden consistently alienates himself by choosing to be different, he opposes society due to his anti-authoritarian stance and negative perspective of adults. During the 1950’s, where rebellion and rock n’ roll
Wealth, through time, has always been something that everyone has searched for. Sometimes money and being wealthy is something to strive for; however, people tend to let their desire for wealth turn into a corrupted dream. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who consistently shows his distrust towards materialistic people, such as Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy. He shows how “old money” and “new money” people are flamboyant, in an excessive way, when it comes to showing off their wealth. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald portrays wealth as corruptive while distinguishing clear lines between old and new money. Both social classes represent how people are affected negatively from materialistic aspirations.
The Catcher in the Rye was an extremely influential book in the 1950’s but the relevance of the text can still be argued today. The novel focuses on the conformity that occurred in the 1950’s through the eyes of an anti-conformist, Holden Caulfield. Holden is developed to not only be an influential character in The Catcher in the Rye, but also in the totality of American Literature. Holden develops throughout the novel as he is faced with an unfortunate situation of being kicked out of school. He experiences more and more conformity throughout the novel which further grows his belief of anticonformity. His personality and character traits are explained through a multitude of themes, the most prevalent being the misunderstanding and fixation
Almost everyone Holden encounters, such as his teachers, classmates, friends, and members of his New York community, is a “phony,” behaving in accordance with artificial conventions that he is trying to rebel against. (Aubry) This new wave of teenage rebellion conceived a brand new youth culture that is different than anything before, and Holden is caught up in the middle of it. “The Catcher in the Rye has served as a resonant expression of alienation for several generations of adolescent readers and adults who have considered themselves at odds with the norms and institutions of American society.” (Aubry) Holden finds himself at odds with these norms as struggles to conform to the expectations of conservative parents and a strict conformist society, and that is where his feelings of rebellion stem
Alfred Doolittle went from being a happy man with nothing to his name to a miserable man with a fortune. The lower class was the life; all freedoms, no complaints. At first glance the upper classmay appear to be marvelous, but very quickly that the world of money and power is a caged life. Doolittle was quickly placed in the middle class: torn between the upper and lower class. The circumstances of his inheritance caused him to make an effort to conform and try to fit in with the other classes. The conventions of the situations that entered his life gave him the terrible “middle class morality”(75). “Middle class morality”(75) is the middle, nobody likes the middle, people want a place to fit, being part of the middle class left Alfred stuck in limbo such as purgatory.
Jay Gatsby, as the protagonist of the novel, is one the few characters that is affiliated with the lower class. In Gatsby’s childhood, he suffers through poverty. Paradoxically, Gatsby is the most prestigious when compared to other characters, yet he was the only character to lack wealth in the past. With this, Fitzgerald proves that the current status of wealth justifies the current acceptance of a character. After attaining wealth, Gatsby remains distinguished from other wealthy characters due to the fact he once lived a life of destitution. Unlike Tom and Daisy, who live an empty life, Gatsby lives a life replete with motivation. Even though Gatsby was presented as one of the corrupted characters, he was considered prolific because he had a dream. This is achieved because Gatsby once experienced a low class life, unlike Tom and Daisy who grew up with prosperity.
“The Swimmer,” a short fiction by John Cheever, presents a theme to the reader about the unavoidable changes of life. The story focuses on the round character by the name of Neddy Merrill who is in extreme denial about the reality of his life. He has lost his youth, wealth, and family yet only at the end of the story does he develop the most by experiencing a glimpse of realization on all that he has indeed lost. In the short story “The Swimmer,” John Cheever uses point of view, setting and symbolism to show the value of true relationships and the moments of life that are taken for granted.
Through an analysis of the character’s personalities, it becomes evident that they do not depict the typical American dream. The traits attained by the characters define their personalities, which determine their actions, and this further supports Fitzgerald’s condemnation of the American dream. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald intentionally gives affluent characters negative personalities. The characters with money appear to be miserable, dysfunctional, and immoral. The grief of the upper class is portrayed by Fitzgerald’s poetic style. ...
In this article the researchers measured whether personality traits are associated with swimming as well as examining the concept that scores on some personality traits can have a reciprocal intermingled influence on other personality traits. They also studied on how gender can play a role in modulating personality. Personalities factors are determinates of psychological well-being and sports can and in fact do contribute to an individual’s well being thus affecting their personality factors. Sports can affect many personality traits and although there has been very little research on personality traits in regards to swimmers the research done in this article is very relevant and precise.