Physical violence in Catcher in the Rye served an important role as well. Most notably perhaps was Holden’s encounter with Stradlater. Holden could not contain his anger upon seeing Stradlater rip up his essay about Allie’s baseball glove and attacked Stradlater. While this fight had ended in absolute failure for Holden, it did serve to show how Holden was prone to anger. Of these events, the most significant one may have been upon Holden’s realization that Stradlater was taking Jane Gallagher out for a date. Holden had made it clear earlier in the novel that he still had strong feelings for Jane. However, with Stradlater taking Jane out for a date, he was acting just as how death had taken Allie away from him. This refers to when Holden recalled an anecdote where he had gone around his home and broken all of the windows upon hearing of Allie’s death. Physical violence served as form of frustration that Holden could no longer have his brother with him, leaving him and Phoebe alone. In this manner, loneliness as a theme is finally introduced. When Holden had a feeling of depressing isolation, he “…got up and went over and looked out the window. I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome. I just didn't want to hang around anymore. It made me too sad and lonesome ” (48). Once again, Holden’s internal loneliness is revealed as a major staple of his character and serves to define him for the rest of the book until he finds Phoebe as truly the only other one he could care about. Violence is once again visited when Holden goes to the hotel and gets in a fight with Maurice over not paying for his prostitute Sunny. While left up to interpretation, Holden’s visit of Sunny may possibly reflect his constant search for someone he could find and no longer feel lonely with. However, with Maurice beating Holden to pay twice as much, the same result is mirrored as with Stradlater. Holden found himself lonely because of his inability to deal with “phonies,” which was Maruice and Stradlater both embodied. To Holden, both of them were the worst people he could have encountered and typified the very thing that Holden despised about the world. With greed, pure hypocrisy, and narcissism, Holden found himself in a situation where he could do nothing but fight against this shadow of what he had so despised. Ironically, in fighting away this perceived stigma, Holden had become alone. They both took away any chance of Holden finding someone to be with to no longer feel lonely with Stradlater taking Jane and Maurice taking Sunny. As a result, Holden’s refusal to conform to this “phony” standard resulted in his loneliness. The physical violence serves merely as a gate to open up Holden’s mind. Through this, the reader can truly grasp the inner workings of Holden’s mind which ultimately serves to redefine his image from the beginning of the novel as a rebellious youth into simply a lonely wanderer in search of a companion.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, verbal violence also holds a key role in defining characters, mostly serving to develop Janie. For the most part, Janie displays a degree of verbal violence towards Joe Starks, her second husband, in some portions of the novel. Throughout her marriage with Joe, Janie is put under tight control and not allowed to freely mingle with the community, making her a self-made outcast of sorts. Joe was jealously protective of Janie and only saw her as an object. However, her marriage with him came to an end when he had fallen ill. Ironically enough, Janie had taken that opportunity to verbally insult him for all he had done towards her and causes Joe to die at that point with Joe cursing Janie as well. Represented here was Joe’s dependence upon Janie as well as Janie’s separation from society. When Joe falls ill, Janie begins to verbally abuse him, and a clear connection is made. In order to stay with Joe, Janie needed to display a degree of peace. However, so long as Joe remained alive, Janie was isolated from society. In accepting that society and the world was an innately violent place, Janie had taken the reigns herself and unleashed her own verbal barrage of sorts towards Joe Starks. Hurston characterizes Janie here as a woman who was learning and maturing throughout her journey. This particular point of the novel shows Janie’s acceptance that the world was innately violent and such violence was required for it to continue to function. After Joe’s death, Janie felt elated and free saying, " 'Tain't dat Ah worries over Joe's death, Phoeby. Ah jus' loves dis freedom' " (93). As such, the amount of violence, whether it is physical or verbal, continually increases through the novel. This increase portrays Janie’s growth and maturity throughout her time traveling. Much like Holden, violence serves as a learning device for her character, revealing the true underbelly of what the world truly was. The world shown to them was an ugly world which violence was required in order to live. Such peace as Janie had shown would only keep her in her shell away from society and subsequently prevent her from growing as a person as well as learning anything at all. Like a butterfly, Janie needed to forcibly push her way out of her cocoon of peace and accept a world where anything could happen and where violence was a high chance and a part of the world.
Of course, verbal violence was not the only output of such frustration. Physical violence also served as a means to portray the themes of the novel. Some of this violence did not come from a character but rather from a hurricane which occurs in the novel. This hurricane was the culmination of what the violence of the world was when Janie had left Joe. In leaving Joe, Janie had accepted that this was a possibility. As Tea Cake notices, “The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God ” (160). The hurricane had wiped out hundreds of people and homes, though Tea Cake noticed that there was also new life coming out as a result. Ironically, Tea Cake notes that while the hurricane destroyed, new things that were previously dead were now given a chance to come alive again. This type of violence represented the cycle of which the world ran upon. As Janie had discovered during her time with Joe, violence and death was a requirement in order to survive in the world. Here, Tea Cake found that in order for some things to come alive, others need to be swept away. This hurricane serves all sorts of symbols. Perhaps one is the striking similarity to that of the flood which God had sent down onto Earth to wipe out everything and allow for new life to prosper. This Biblical reference not only serves to represent a form of renewal but also shows how life was to be ended and to make way for new life. The violence portrayed here by the hurricane is not necessarily violence that purely meant death. This form of violence was needed to exist otherwise other life would not be even given a chance without even being given a fresh start. Hurston realized this and placed this hurricane and the destruction is caused to signal a theme of the progression of life and how all stages of life must come to an end. In a way, Janie followed such a similar pattern, though her own mental hurricane was to come later on in her violence towards Tea Cake. In terms of the physical violence directed towards Tea Cake, Hurston uses this to signal to the overlying theme of the novel: the growth and maturation of Janie as a woman. Whereas in the beginning of the novel Janie was relatively calm and passive, it comes at this point where her foreshadowed “hurricane” arrives. Beforehand, Tea Cake had taught Janie how to shoot with a gun, another sign towards her characterization of a woman accepting the violence of the world. Tea Cake goes through this change as well, though it was mainly due to his being bitten by a rabid dog which caused him to go insane. As a result, both Tea Cake and Janie were thrown into a conflict where they were forced to face their own mental hurricanes. Eventually, it culminated to the point where Janie was forced to shoot Tea Cake in self-defense. As a result, this final killing of Tea Cake by Janie provides closure for both characters. Tea Cake was given his own closure by meeting his eventual end and allowing his death to pave the way for Janie to accept her own life and to finally realize the violence of the world. Much like how the hurricane was forced to sweep away everything for life to continue, Janie was forced to kill Tea Cake in order to realize her own acceptance of the true vision of life. Such physical violence throughout the whole novel from Joe to Tea Cake eventually resulted in Janie at last having realized the world for what it was. Much like how Holden had come to terms with a world he no longer could call beautiful, Janie had found solace in a world which she had been so sheltered from but discovered its true colors.
Both characters had discovered a revelation of each of their own. Janie had discovered a world that was innately violent while Holden had come to terms with one he already knew was violent and dark. Such a type of closure for the characters allows for them to show the journey they had gone through. From the naïve boy and girl that Holden and Janie were to the adults that they were in the end, it could be safely said that the violence which was so often vilified could also be used as a tool for self-exploration and revelation. Violence in the common term is naturally frowned upon as it implied attacking or harming another. However, as harsh as it is, violence is what makes the world continue to go on. It is a built in part of human nature that cannot be merely ignored. Both authors in the end managed to show such transformation and maturation in a world where it did not seem so. Regardless of whatever opinion one may have, there is no denying that both the characters of Holden and Janie went through changes whether it was for the better or for the worse. However, as with every hero from Odysseus to Janie who goes on an adventure, there is almost always a happy ending. While the new world that both of them see may not be as happy or bright as before, the truth before them may be enough to clear a path that replaces optimism with true beauty and clarity.
by
joon12 (student)
