Outsider Comparison Essay

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Everyone at some point in their lives feels alienated. You feel so isolated from society that you wish you were never a part of it to begin with. But some people take it so far that they completely go against what society has ever told them. The characters that display this alienation, but taken to the next level are Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher and the Rye" and Meursault from "The Outsider". My arguments that I will be discussing are depression that the two main characters show throughout their everyday lives, how they have difficulty in socializing with others and the negative emotional states, differences and struggles that is demonstrated by the two main characters in these novels. Meursault and Holden don't care much for life and never do their best at anything. We see early on that the two characters never perform to the best of their abilities. In "The Catcher and the Rye" Holden is doing very poorly in school, he is failing four out of five subjects. He doesn't try and does whatever he can to keep away from others. He'll never see post secondary school with these grades and will continue to alienate himself. In "The Outsider" Meursault had said that all the ambition he once had as a child is now gone. This didn't seem to upset him which shows a depressed state of mind, which nothing really matters to him. This negativity is expressed in everything he does. For instance when Meursault is convicted he doesn't try to defend himself. He doesn't believe in living and doesn't want to fight for his life. He clearly doesn't care and would rather be taken away from society to alienate himself once again. Meursault and Holden aren't the greatest with other people. Which is why I want to argue why alienating themselves causes problems when it comes to socializing with other people. Holden has trouble seeing what other people see. He views life completely

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