In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is like Ray in that he does not agree with society’s values. However, Holden disagrees with what his society sees as “real.” The society that Holden lives in sees reality as everything that is superficial, such as what a person wears, what they look like, who they know, everything except who the person actually is. When Holden goes to see a movie where people were standing in line for hours. What amazed Holden was that they would stand in line for hours to see something totally fake that makes a spectacle of real life, and they refused to live their own life. These people were wasting their lives to see someone else live for them. Because society spends so much time looking at other people live, they have little time for intelligent conversation with people, or going outside to have fun. This is what Holden considered real, just talking to people, something that stimulates the mind, such as the interpretative literature he always wants to read. When he visits his sister, Phoebe, he enjoys talking to her because she is one of the few people actually worth listening or talking to. When she says that just sitting there talking is not real, he goes off on how this is the only thing that is real, that society has lost sight of that. Society does not realize that experiencing other people is what makes life worth living. It is impossible to experience other people when one sits in front of a television or movie screen all day. What exasperates Holden is when people have what he calls phony conversations, such as the conversation Sally Hayes has with the boy from Andover and they talk about people they know just to make conversation, that is what people have reduced conversations to. These conversations are not authentic and Holden finds these ridiculous and boring. The frustration and feeling of loneliness that stems from the superficiality of society is what drives him to the mental asylum. He cannot withstand the personal trials of trying to find a place for himself any longer. He was kicked out of Pencey, he could not go home, and he did not want to stay at his hotel. Holden rejected the societal standards, which isolated him from others who accepted these standards. He became lonely. There was no place in where Holden felt at peace.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is another individual who rejected the standards of his era. In his era, the laws set up that oppressed African-Americans so that they were inferior to whites and they were deprived of the opportunities and privileges that whites did have, such as a good education, employment, and the right to vote. King did not agree with this, so he went against his society’s rules to fight for his beliefs. He believed that we should live in a society in which all men and women are equal. When Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving to the back of a city bus, Martin Luther King, Jr. realized this was wrong, so he organized a massive non-violent boycott of the busing company until they would let African Americans sit at the front of the bus. When Martin Luther King, Jr. used non-violent protests, he was going against the majority of other civil rights activists, who thought that violence was justified. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a famous speech in which he promoted the freedom of African-Americans. In this speech he said, “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” King followed and pursued his dream, he lived his dream, and in the end he was a martyr for his dream. Unlike Ray and Holden, King was able to change his society for the better.
None of these three people would ever compromise their opinions or beliefs just to adhere to the opinions or beliefs of their respective societies. Holden would not submit the superficiality of his society, Ray did not sacrifice the things that he enjoyed to attain material wealth, and Martin Luther King, Jr. did not buckle under the oppression of the white people. People should accept and respect the differences in the visions of others. Having the freedom and courage to live one’s own vision is essential for leading a fulfilled life.