Catcher and the Rye Critical Lens

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Clare Laj Mr. Baxte English 11R February 2, 2014 “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” This was once said by the great Ralph Waldo Emerson. This quote suggests that only you can make yourself happy and you decide if you will be happy or unhappy. I would have to disagree with Emerson. I believe that peace and happiness comes from those that surround you, the experiences and the lessons you gain from human interaction and the environment in which you live. The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D Salinger, and Into the Wild, a non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer, are two works that prove my opinion of Emerson’s quote. In The Catcher in the Rye, a young man named Holden writes about a portion of his life. He is constantly telling how bad his life is and how lonely he feels. When he is alone he feels sad and wants to die but when he is in the company of his family his mood changes. “You don’t like anything that’s happening”… “I like Allie and I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff, and-“, in this conversation with Phoebe Holden shows that he is happiest when he is with his siblings. Holden finds himself depressed when he is alone with his thoughts but when around the people he loves he is happy. In the plot of the book Holden is usually alone thinking back to when he was with his family. His Character labels himself “yellow” and often feels isolated. It is only with the human interaction and in the place of their love that he feels happy. Jon Krakauer once wrote Into the Wild, a book about Christopher McCandless’s journey to Alaska. Christopher felt that society was plagued and that in order to be happy one must remove them self from the conformity and sadness and be without the ills of society. He spent many months alone in his search for happiness. And through his travels found that to be
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