Conformity In Holden Caufield In The Catcher In The Rye

Holden Caufield in the story Catcher in the Rye represents a growing discontent with 1950 America’s culture of conformity by not following the â€Å"norm†, or what he likes to call phony people. â€Å"The culture of conformity† a cultural shift in the 1950’s that caused people, young and old to stop trying to truly be themselves, instead they would start following group norms. The norm was basically you would have to do good in high school then grind away at college to excel there, then you would finish college and get a corporate job and climb the ladder to get to the top. Then you would get married, have kids, buy a house, and live then rest of your life. This was the â€Å"formula† most Americans would follow to lead to a â€Å"good life† and to become†¦show more content†¦Holden is more of an extreme case when it comes to the resentment of conformity in American culture as he was extremely judgmental, however because of the extre me judgement he was not blinded by the norms that came with the culture of conformity, trying to fit or being accepted. Holden was able to tell right from wrong an example would be when he was talking about how the people in his college were bullies, they would let certain people in certain activities if they didn’t look a certain way or if they didn’t fit the norms of beauty. All these norm such as gender roles, and societal expectations were spawned after war, they were formed to build America into a peaceful and affluent society, as you can see the end goal was a good one but creating norms lead American’s to believe that their was only one way to success and it lead to people changing their core being just to fit into whatever social norm they wanted to fit to, they lost their individuality which was what America was suppose to be about all along. To wrap this all up in conclusion Holden Caufield from J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the rye was essentially a manifestation of the rebellion against Americas culture of conformity in the 1950’s. He manifested this rebelli on by simply not being sucked into acting or doing certain thing to fit a norm created by society, he was not blinded by norm’s and was able to see when people were not being themselves orShow MoreRelatedEssay on Dead Poets Catcher Inthe Rye1012 Words   |  5 PagesDead Poets Society/Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye and Dead Poets Society are very similar stories. Both deal with the coming of age in the lives of prestigious young men. These two stories also deal with the conformity of these young men in their transition from private boys school to the real world. There are two young men from each of the stories whose lives are alike yet different in some ways. Holden Caufield and Neil Perry are two young men coming of age searching forRead MoreCatcher In The Rye Narrative Analysis1031 Words   |  5 PagesSalingers The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger creates a unique narration through the way Holden speaks. 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