Through the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden is portrayed as a controversial adolescent to the 1950’s society he grew up in. He was constantly breaking traditional values, causing him to stand out among the rest of the teens his age. The teen culture illustrated by Holden has not influenced teen culture today due to teenagers do not view things in the same way Holden has throughout the novel. Teens today are more optimistic about their futures, strive to fit in with society, and aren’t so sensitive towards insignificant things they encounter on a daily basis.To begin, in today’s society, failing out of academics is not quite simple.
Success is the main goal for several teenagers seeking for a brighter future. Within the novel, Holden appears negligent towards his academics and succeeding in general. Although he was immensely intelligent, he never applied himself towards the classes he took and resorted to allowing himself to be discharged from Pencey Prep permanently. Finlo Rohrer states, “Holden is 16. Expelled from his prep school for flunking too many subjects, he travels to New York his hometown. He drinks smokes, sees a prostitute is punched by a pimp goes on a date, has a strange encounter with a former teacher, spends a fair amount of time in the park, and really does not a great deal else” (Roher para 4). If a teen were to attempt that today, it would be highly looked down upon by both teens and adults. Many people would refer to Holden as “ignorant” and “unrealistic” being it would be challenging for him to provide for himself under such circumstances at a young age. According to Jennifer Schuessler, “These days teenagers seem more interested in getting into Harvard than flunking out of Pencey Prep.” (Schuessler para 10). Teens are made aware of the importance of being successful. Despite how great someone may dislike going to school on a day-to-day basis, they know they must cope with the antipathy in
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Through the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden is portrayed as a controversial adolescent to the 1950’s society he grew up in. He was constantly breaking traditional values, causing him to stand out among the rest of the teens his age. The teen culture illustrated by Holden has not influenced teen culture today due to teenagers do not view things in the same way Holden has throughout the novel. Teens today are more optimistic about their futures, strive to fit in with society, and aren’t so sensitive towards insignificant things they encounter on a daily basis.
To begin, in today’s society, failing out of academics is not quite simple. Success is the main goal for several teenagers seeking for a brighter future. Within the novel, Holden appears negligent towards his academics and succeeding in general. Although he was immensely intelligent, he never applied himself towards the classes he took and resorted to allowing himself to be discharged from Pencey Prep permanently. Finlo Rohrer states, “Holden is 16. Expelled from his prep school for flunking too many subjects, he travels to New York his hometown. He drinks smokes, sees a prostitute is punched by a pimp goes on a date, has a strange encounter with a former teacher, spends a fair amount of time in the park, and really does not a great deal else” (Roher para 4). If a teen were to attempt that today, it would be highly looked down upon by both teens and adults. Many people would refer to Holden as “ignorant” and “unrealistic” being it would be challenging for him to provide for himself under such circumstances at a young age. According to Jennifer Schuessler, “These days teenagers seem more interested in getting into Harvard than flunking out of Pencey Prep.” (Schuessler para 10). Teens are made aware of the importance of being successful. Despite how great someone may dislike going to school on a day-to-day basis, they know they must cope with the antipathy in virtue of how significant education truly is. Even if a teen ultimately decides they want to drop out of school, it would require a significantly long process involving various amounts of signatures from adults in order for a teen to do so. Education sets teens up for their future and without it they may end up somewhere on the streets similar to Holden..
Next, most teens aim towards fitting in with society rather than being the odd one out. Growing up as a teen today is mainly about following the latest trends and making sure you are up to date with the rest of the things going on during the time being. Holden, contrarily, is the exact opposite. Through The Catcher in the Rye, Holden constantly isolated himself throughout the novel and never seemed to fit in with the people attending Pencey Prep. But, he oddly enjoyed doing things differently from everyone else. For instance, at football games, you found Holden standing on top of the hill while everyone else was cheering on the players. In addition, he buys a red hunting hat for only a dollar, which is something nobody has ever seen before. Although it may not be a positive quality, teens rather be pressured into being “cool” and “normal” rather than being someone who can be easily pointed out by the rest. According to Jennifer Schuessler, “In general they do not have much sympathy for alienated anti-heroes; they are more focused on distinguishing themselves in society as it is presently constituted than in trying to change it.” (Schessler para 7). This illustrates that in contrary to Holden, teens are looking to have a place in society rather than trying to change the way it functions. While most teens may have their own independent opinion on certain trends, for the time being they usually find it much easier to follow what everyone else is doing than distinguishing themselves from the rest to avoid the hate they may receive from other people.
Finally, unlike Holden, teens are not sensitive or dramatic towards inconsequential things they face almost all the time. Holden throughout the novel was consistently whining about the simplest subjects that normally, someone would not focus too much about. For instance, Through The Catcher in the Rye, Holden could not seem to shake off features such as Ackley’s yellow teeth, pimples, and unorganized character. Today, these are all typical characteristics teens not only encounter but acquire themselves. Holden also indicates how phony everyone appears. With social media as a huge part of their daily life, teens understand that people tend to be deceiving and you simply cannot believe everything you see. Teens are knowledgeable of the fact that these are all aspects of life and there are bigger issues they need to worry about. According to Roher, “But, despite its gazillions of sales, there are plenty of people- teenage and adult- who just cannot understand what the fuss is about.” (Roher para 17). Holden throughout the story is just simply overdramatic and negative towards certain subjects teens today are aware of but would not even stop to think about. Holden not only appears stuck up for criticizing aspects associated with growing up but also appears unaware of the way society operates.
Thus, Holden did not have a direct impact on today’s teen culture considering his outlook on life differs from how most teens view things today. Teens are taught to value their future and aim towards success. In addition, teens enjoy the feeling of fitting in, rather than trying to isolate themselves from society. Lastly, teens are not distressed by simple aspects that they encounter on a daily basis. Throughout the novel, Holden’s idea of a teen culture greatly contradicts the rest of the teens during his time. Likewise, Holden would continue to contradict teen culture today.
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