Normalcy in The Catcher in the Rye.
Rebellion is when one refuses to accept authority. The transition of childhood into adulthood is most often represented by actions of rebellious nature. Quentin Crisp, an English writer once said, “The young always have the same problem-how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.” Crisp is explaining how teenagers think they rebel in groups, when in reality they conforming because they are all following one another. The average teen is always looking for away to escape conformity. Two works that express a common theme of rebellion vs. conformity are The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and “Prayer of the Refuge” by Rise Against. They express this common theme through external conflict and imagery.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye the main character, Holden Caulfield, goes through many hardships in trying to search for his place in society. Holden rebels throughout the whole book against rules, schools, and people that he encountered. In the early 1950’s it was very difficult to be unique during this time of conformity. An example of external conflict was Holden’s date with sally. At the end of their date, Holden shares a dream of running away with her to escape the normalcy in everyday society, “I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take it out when it opens in the morning, and then I could go down and get this guy's car. No kidding. We'll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out,” (Salinger 132.) Sally, on the other hand, wants to follow the conformity way of life, “We'll have oodles of time to do those things--all those things. I mean after you go to college and all, and if we should get married and all. There'll be oodles of marvelous places to go to,” (Salinger 133.) Another example of external conflict is Holden getting kicked out of his school Pency. Holden get kicks out because he did not comply with the academic requirements and refused to show any effort. During his stay at Pency, Holden is unable to create deep relationships with his peers. This shows his inability to deal with people in a wealthy environment which is abnormal in the eyes of society. Moreover, the novel is still very much relevant to today’s teems, despite dealing with problems that are somewhat outdated. “Perks of Being a Wallflower” also deals with similar teenage angst themes, which a large portion of teenagers can relate to; drug use, sexual experimentation, growing up and that transition between childhood and adulthood, coupled with losing a loved one.
