Runaways Caught in the Rye Lost in the System
The novel by J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye portrays adisaffected youth named Holden Caulfield whom has recently been expelledfrom his preparatory school for his poor academic performance. Caulfieldhas also failed to socially thrive within the narrow confines of hisschool. Thus, Caulfield must return home to his parent's apartment, butnot before he essentially runs amuck for several days in New York City,living in a transient fashion. However, he is not relegated to the street. Caulfield is of an affluent Manhattan family, as his status in preparatoryschool attests to. His adventures revolve around him attending swankynightclubs and staying overnight in motels and talking-and just talking-toprostitutes. Eventually, Caulfield must return home, mainly because hedesires see his beloved younger sister Phoebe, before he is shipped off toa mental institution, a status he notes at the beginning and the end of the In some ways, however, Caulfield is not so different from many youngrunaways today of very different socioeconomic status. Although he is froma wealthy family, he feels a strong sense of moral and social alienationfrom his parents as well as the peer groups of his gen
As Holden is a rather unreliable narrator, it is difficult to knowwhen to take him entirely seriously when he boasts of his older appearance. This is evident of his contemptand conflict his more conventionally sexed and confident male roommates. He plays with hissister, and fantasies about saving other children, enabling them to remainin a state of infantile purity, rather than really addressing his ownpressing problems in a mature fashion. But like so many runaways, he finds that his problemsonly become exacerbated in his flight. 3million runaway and homeless kids living on the streets in the UnitedStates at the present moment. His behavior towards the prostitute whom he contracts and also the youngwoman he takes out dancing is alternatively shy and boastful in a way thathighlights his teenage insecurities around the opposite gender. But clearly he perceives himself as more mature than his peers. Heattempts to scrub away a curse word on a wall, as a way of showing hisdisgust and sense of moral values, rather than actually attempting toconfront the teachers and individuals whom he dislikes. As noted by Holden earlyin his narrative, he feels that his brother has essentially sold his talentto Hollywood, and become phony, like all of the phony people Holden seesaround him. What must be done is to address the reasons foralienation-for abuse, for social oppression because of homosexuality, forsimply being different, for being rejected when help is sought (or soughtin ineffective ways by the child) in school. Holden prefers to live in a world of his owninternal creation, rather than the 'real world' in a strategy that isanything but psychologically and socially healthy. Also, s children feel more adult at younger ages today, particularlybecause of the increasingly youthful age of puberty amongst many youngadolescents, especially girls, this sense of maturity causes them to feelequipped to leave the home long before they are truly able to emotionallyor financially. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, an organization thattakes calls and helps children who have run away or are thinking of runningaway, it is predicted that one in seven children between the ages of tenand eighteen will run away from home in the coming year. "As many as 100,000 of these runaway andhomeless kids in the United States are preteens," and some of the mostcommon reasons cited for the children's desire to flee their homes isfailing out of school, the very reason for Holden's flight and avoidance ofhis parents.
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Acceptance Essays
