Catcher In the Rye vs. Grapes of Wrath Essay

The inherent aversion to putridness in clubhouse often inspires individuals to respond to the issue in hopes of minimizing the drastic effects it may have on people. This shared disdain for such degeneration is analyzed in The catcher in the Rye and The Grapes of Wrath. two authors address the corruption however they do so from dissimilar perspectives they come to differing resolutions. Both jocks in their novels experience isolation as a number of societys corruption however, Salingers chooses to isolate himself whereas Steinbecks experiences isolation inadvertently. J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye and John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath share a social commentary about how corruption pervades every aspect of society and due to societys corruption, people either experience isolation by choice or through and through condemnation.Alienation and isolation due to societys corruption is relevant in both(prenominal) novels through the characterization of the protagonists. Fo r example, Salinger develops H centenarianen Caulfield, a socially inadequate teenager who distances himself from others due to their phoniness. From the onset of the novel, Salinger develops Holdens desire to remove himself from society because of his belief that everyone is a phony. Although he disguises his motives to Old Spencer for leaving schools, Holden admits that The movement he left hand Elkton Hills was because he was surrounded by phonies.Thats all. They were coming in the goddam window (13). Holden goes to great efforts to distance himself from others believing that he alone is genuine and original in society. Later in the novel, Holden offs plans to go on a date with Sally Hayes and nearly cancels on account of her phony language. Analyzing her talk Holden thinks Grand. If in that respects one word I hate, its grand. Its so phony. For a second, I was tempted to tell her to for hold up about the matinee (106). Holden also mentally isolates himself he avoids social situations and even when in them, he distances himself with the confidence that whomever he is with is not worth his time. Holdens discovery of fuck you being written or shape publically further augments his hatred for societys corruption and because of them, he condemns society as a whole, not willing to make an exception for anyone.He ponders his death and thinks If I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, itll say Holden Caulfield on it, and then right nether that itll say Fuck you. Im positive, in fact (204). Holden is positive that all of society is corrupted and he judges those he encounters, as nearly as those he does not, never completely grasping that he is practically suspending whatever social existence he may have had. In The Catcher in the Rye Salingers protagonists objective is to be uninvolved in societal functions due to its corruption.Similar to The Catcher in the Rye, a central focus of The Grapes of Wrath is separation from so ciety and modern culture. Steinbecks protagonist, tomcat Joad, upon his arrival in California, is alienated and shunned because he is labeled as an Okie. The humanity of Toms alienation is revealed through the conversation he has with a migrant returning from California who found no work. The migrant man informs Tom that the term Okie use ta hold still for you was from Oklahoma. Now it means youre a a dirty son-of-a-bitch. Okie means youre scum. Dont mean nothing itself, its the way they say it (206).Tom, representing his whole family, is discriminated against merely because he is from Oklahoma. After Tom and his family stop shortly on their journey the men who shroud them discuss how drug-addicted the Okies are. The men wonder how Tom can make it through with such a junky car and they say Them goddam Okies got no sense and no feeling. they aint human. A human being wouldnt live like they do. A human being couldnt association it to be so dirty and miserable. They aint a hell o f a lot better than gorillas (221). Tom is treated like he is subordinate largely due to his socioeconomic condition, which is significantly worse than the people of California. Such harsh condemnation due to a place of origination reveals how societys corruption has lead to the inadvertent alienation Tom receives throughout the novel. Though Holden Caulfields isolation from others is deliberate, and Tom Joad is involuntarily segregated, isolation as a result of societys corruption plays a significant role in both novels.Salinger and Steinbeck also use different motifs to illustrate societys corruption and its effect on people. In The Catcher in the Rye Salinger uses the motif of the preservation of innocence to clarify the gravity of societys corruption. Holden loses his innocence as a child when his brother Allie dies.Although he cannot come to terms with his brothers death, Holden is confident that he can find solace by sparing the other innocent children from the corrupt societ y they live in. Holden tells his younger sister Phoebe, his main inspiration for preserving innocence, that he has to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. He will comely be the catcher in the rye and all. He hunchs its crazy but thats the plainly thing hed really like to be (173). Holdens only ambition in life is to rescue children from falling into societys corruption. He is so infatuated with this notion that he even refuses to sleep with a prostitute that he has paid for. As the prostitute is waiting to do what she is getting paid for, Holden realizes how young she is and asks Dont you feel like talk for a while? and then acknowledges that It was a childish thing to say, but he was feeling so damn peculiar (95). So troubled by her disjointed innocence, Holden cannot bring himself to go through with it.Holden desires to drive out all evil throughout the novel, yet he realizes that he cannot. When Holden sees the words fuck you written in Phoebes school, Holden realizes that If you had a million years to do it in, you couldnt rub out even half the fuck you signs in the world. Its unachievable (202). The fact that he cannot save the world from societys corruption is difficult for Holden to accept but instills in him even much passion to do all he can to preserve as much innocence as possible. Thus, Salinger suggests that society and its corruption is far beyond salvable despite great efforts. orderlinesss corrupting influence of others can also be seen through Steinbecks motif of societys lies and deception. Steinbeck reveals the corruption in the car dealers as the Joad family is about to embark on their travels. The Joads need to get a car and such a process is full of lies from the car dealers who exploit the migrants necessities to make more profit. The dealers manipulate the migrants by the days bargain Makes folks come in though. If we sold that bargain at that price wed hardly make a dime. Tell em its jus sold (62). The cars dealer s are selling pieces of junk for ridiculous payments from the migrants who believe that they had missed the days bargain. Societys corruption is also embodied by the land owners in California who are sending out the handbills asking for men to work. A ragged old man informs the Joads that This fella wants eight hundred men.So he prints up five thousand of them things an maybe twenty thousan people sees em. An maybe two-three thousan folks get movin account a this here hanbill (189). The land owners are aware of the fact that migrants are so desperate for money and food and exploit their want by promoting their own need for people to work. When the multitudes of migrants come and are willing to work all day for only a couple biscuits, the land owners know they can use this for their own benefit by taking advantage of hard labor and little pay. Societys corruption is depicted through the authors development of motifs that reveal how pervasive it truly is.Salinger and Steinbecks comme ntary on the corruption of society and its effect differs greatly in the novels resolution of the protagonists and the development of their motifs. Although both authors use characterization to portray their social commentary, they go about it in two different manners. While the Grapes of Wrath, with respect to social alienation, focuses more on boon among those who are convincingly greater or high-class, The Catcher in the Ryes main characters intents are to be left out of societys affairs and people themselves. Salingers protagonist is a stagnant character who makes very little progress in works through societys corruption and trying to figure out how to handle it. Holden continues to fail to preserve the innocence as well as acknowledging his unfitness to get over the misconception that he himself has not been tainted by the corruption.On the other hand, Steinbeck develops Tom Joad, who goes about great transformation throughout the novel. Tom continues to raise up for what he knows to be a better form of society and even when he loses almost everything, continues to press on. The resolution of the two novels and their protagonists roles in them reveal the different views of social corruption they both have. Holdens lack of progress reveals Salingers belief that the corruption permeating society is incurable. Contrasting that, Steinbecks dynamic protagonist who makes society a little bit better reveals his confidence that there will be a day in which societys corruption will be minimized.The motifs developed by the two authors also expose the difference in social commentaries. Salingers motif of preserving innocence shows his desire to redeem what he can from society however, Holdens realization that such a task is impossible symbolizes his conviction that society will alship canal be corrupt. In contrast, the lies and deceit that pervade Steinbecks novel reveal societys corruption in every aspect and phase of life but he resolves his book with the Joads being successful. Although the two authors make the same social commentary about societys corruption, Steinbeck and Salinger present their ideas in fundamentally different ways with differing resolutions of their protagonists and differing motifs. Works CitedSteinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York Viking, 1939. Print. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston Little, Brown, 1951. Print.View as multi-pages