Subjects:
and personal struggles. Knowles attended Phillips Exeter Academy, an exclusive New
Hampshire prep school, for two summer sessions in 1943 and 1944. This book vaguely
outlines his experiences at Exeter with himself as the main character but under the name
of Gene Forrester. Knowles' novel tells the story of a young man's struggle to escape from
himself and his world, to achieve a special and separate peace. Similar to A Separate
Peace, “The Catcher in the Rye” is also a story of an emotionally disturbed young teenage
boy, named Holden Caulfield. Holden is telling this story in first person, although the
whole thing is all one big flashback. The story is one of a young Boy trying to grow up in
an Adult world, and trying to show that he is an Adult. As Holden is learning, there are
many depressing things in the world. Holden, being the Idealist that he is, searches to find
everything that needs to be changed, but never gives an alternative to the situation or
thing. These novels can relate to each other through their themes which are, lack of
. . .
Holden believes that the children are almost perfect in the way that they are
truthful, innocent and not “phony”. Children are still discovering new things and are open to learning,
while adults do not learn, but conform. Throughout
the novel, Gene realizes the difference between his state 15 years after Devon, and his
state while at the school.
Children are still discovering new things and are open to learning, while adults do not
learn, but conform and therefore can't discern between reality and illusion. However, Gene would be hard
pressed to admit this, and tries to avoid the subject of his "savage" underpinning. Finny is far more complex, as we find out at the end, than Gene would like
to believe him to be; and as Gene finds out, what is on the surface sometimes does not
denote what is hidden underneath. Gene feels this especially, and this is one of the things
that traumatizes Leper, being suddenly thrown into the world of adulthood. Even after Finny's accident, Gene insists that Finny has never been
conflicted, after Finny has tried so hard to avoid implicating his friend despite his anger
and bitterness. ” Holden wants to preserve the innocence of children
because he sees children as the only people who are able to see the truth behind the
illusions of the world. Holden, like everyone, is struggling to disengage himself "from the illusions
of transitory actuality in order to lay hold upon the inner reality that alone endures". “They never try to impress others by being something
other than themselves. Just as the war encroaches upon Gene and the boys at school, their
adulthood also looms before them.
Holden slowly matures throughout the novel, finally growing up in the park at the
carousel. Gene tells of how they were children of "careless
peace," set apart from adults by their lack of knowledge of the war, and their utter
abandon to their own small, happy worlds.
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