Both Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are the main protagonists of their respective texts. Both Caulfield and Huck undertake a journey in their text, in which the character learns from their experiences and meet new people, who alter their outlook on life. Both these characters are still not mature, and this is shown throughout the two books, but the boys have to mature soon, as they are becoming adults. The way in which the boys undertake the journey means they do so without proper guidance, which causes them to make their own judgments, causing the two protagonists to make mistakes. The characters have their internal struggles within themselves …show more content…
During Catcher, the whole story is set as a first person recount from the view of Holden Caulfield, but during this recount, there are some small instances of Holden thinking of his life as a child. The recount is from Holden’s point of view as he is obtaining psychiatric help, after he has been found to have mental issues. The majority of these small flashback moments during the text are about Holden’s younger brother Allie, who passed away with Leukemia when Holden was a few years younger. Holden holds strong and happy memories of his younger brother’s life, and during this extended flashback, he tells the author about his brother, and although Allie does not take part within the story, the audience learns lots about him. Holden is very much traumatised by the death of his younger brother, and this traumatic event has helped in making Caulfield the socially awkward person that he is during the recount. Similarly, Huck has flashbacks within his journey; however, there are much less flashbacks than there were in Catcher. When Huck decides to write the letter about how he now felt “clean for the first time” when discussing the way that he helped out and befriended Jim. Within this short flashback, Huck remembers all the good times that he had spent with Jim, and how they evolved from strangers to good friends. After spending so much time with Jim, Huck begins to …show more content…
As Holden thinks about his older brother D.B. he cannot think of any other way to describe his brother other than calling him a ‘prostitute’ for moving away to Hollywood. As Salinger writes Caulfield from this point of view, the readers of the novel are able to understand some of the more complex feelings that Caulfield has towards others, without him having to discuss it towards other people. As Caulfield narrates the book, you understand more so about his genuine feelings and thoughts about those around him. Similarly, Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Huck, allowing for comparable thoughts and opinions to be shared with the reader, without Huck discussing these points with others around him. Huck is much less judgmental of those around him, although he also disagrees with the main body of society like Caulfield, Huck does not scrutinize others around him as much. Although Huck finds himself disagreeing with many of society’s rules and regulations, he doesn 't condemn them, such as the issue of slavery, Huck is well aware that everyone else is for it, but he doesn 't want to stand for it, as he realises that the slaves are indeed people as much as he is, but he doesn 't
Likewise, critic Laurel Bollinger describes Huck as “…courageous enough to stand against the moral conventions of his society…rather than conform to the "sivilizing" process of communities he rejects” (Bollinger). During his epiphany, he truly sees all the flaws in a “sivilized” life and realizes he cannot live his life according to ideals he does not agree with. Consequently, Huck decides, “And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again…” (Twain 215). He resolves to ignore what society thinks, because society’s beliefs are fallacious.
(pg. 81) In this quote Huck explains his uneasiness with the idea of slaves being freed. Huck’s uneasiness displays how he has matured because he begins to think about what he believes to be right or wrong. In this particular case, Huck is bothered by Jim freeing his family because in Huck’s time society understood slaves to be property. As such, if Jim was to free his family, he would be stealing.
As both an adult and adolescent narrator Holden, the protagonist in “The Catcher in
In the opening chapters of the novel, Huck’s nonconformity to his corrupted
The story starts with Holden starting to tell you what happened to him to have gotten him in this mental institution in California. Holden begins his journey at Pencey Prep, a boarding school in New York. It 's a Saturday and there 's a big football game going on and Holden decides not to go to. Following Holden to his history teacher 's house, Holden is given a stern talk to about his expulsion. After the talk with Mr. Spencer, Holden heads back to his dorm room, where you meet Ackley, a student of Pencey Prep and Holden 's next door neighbor.
To begin, Huck’s struggles within the deformed conscience of an entire society leads to his maturation. Throughout the book, Huck struggles within himself whether or not to follow his heart or to follow society’s deformed views. In one situation, Huck begins to feel guilty about helping a runaway slave, Jim, to freedom. Huck narrates, “My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, ‘let up on me- it ain’t too late yet-
In the beginning of the novel, Huck receives spelling lessons and continues to look for ways to improve his behavior. After meeting up with Tom Sawyer, he
In this moment of reflection, Huck is therefore able to remove the stigma society places on him being friends with Jim because of their races; he is able to think for himself without the fear of society’s influence or thought on his choices. When Huck wakes up in the
When Allie died Holden was thirteen years old. “I’m seventeen now sixteen then and I still sometimes act like I’m thirteen” Holden fears that if he grew up that he would forget Allie and become a phony adult. In is grief Holden wants to become the catcher in the rye to keep kids from falling from grace and innocence so he too doesn't have to grow up. “I’ll catch them as they fall off the cliff.” Holden’s immaturity is a sign of his grief for Allie.
Throughout the exciting escapades in the story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the conflicts and complements between individuals and society are constantly shown in the book especially when dealing with matters of conscience and personal principles of right or wrong. The author, Mark Twain, shows his point of view on these uncertainties by developing an internal struggle in the main character Huckleberry Finn to help give the reader a better idea of his own morals. Mark Twain has a lot of opinions about society and he conveys these opinions through his characters. One opinion about ignorance is shown in the following example: When Pap returns to town, he demands ownership of Huck. Huck refuses to stay with Pap, but society (in the form of the new judge) imposes the rule that Huck should rightfully be with Pap.
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield sways between maturity and immaturity. While Holden is extremely observant and often has thoughtful views on the world around him, he continues to act rashly and immaturely at times, letting his emotions get the best of him. As critic James Bryan puts it, Holden “is poised between two worlds, one he cannot return to and one he fears to enter.” Holden Caulfield embodies the limbo between the worlds of childhood and adulthood by play-acting at both adulthood and childhood, never fully embracing either.
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.
To begin, Twain targets Huckleberry Finn's innocence and uses it as a way to show that anyone being raised in a racist, pro-slavery America was conflicted between morals and laws. At first, Huck is a "rebel" in his own mind, so to say, and tries to avoid becoming "sivilized" from the Widow Douglas. He sticks to what he knows, and uses his experience with people and his own judgment to make decisions like an adult, something quite
Towards the end, Huck is the boy who helped a slave get his freedom and his rights, If there were to be another boy in Huck’s place, he would’ve loved having a slave do all his work for him. Huck on the other hand is very uncomfortable having a slave do his work for him, because he is not used to it and rather do everything himself. Although Huck hold on to the aspect of racism, he still has more respect for blacks than others at the time being. Huck’s has been raised in a place and time, where slavery and difference between men was normal. In the beginning of the novel, Huck didn’t respect black people and didn’t care about them either.
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has abnormal tendencies. Although he could just be a typical teenager, dealing with difficult situations, after analyzing his behavior it is believed that he is suffering from a mental ailment of some sort. Events from Holden’s past are still currently haunting him and it is evident that he is struggling. He needs the guidance of those around him in order to help himself through these tough time.