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The Rebel Adolescent: an essay on the adolescent literary figure |
Essential Question: How do societal views of teenagers as rebels reflect and/or conflict with expectations of the adolescent experience?
Young adult literature explores what it means to be an adolescent, delving into crucial conflicts and trials individuals face as they struggle to find their place in the world. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, is a particularly prevalent example of a character labeled as a "rebel" figure because he refuses to conform to societal norms. Holden views the culture of late 1940’s New York upper society as “phony” and something in which he cannot situate himself. His contrasting actions and opinions to the common thought causes him to clash with authority, which establishes this idea that he is “rebellious,” rather than simply an individual with personal thoughts and ideas. Upon examining the novel from a youth lens approach, Holden’s experience is highlighted as a figure who clashes against the construct set around adolescence/ts, and explains how conceptions of adolescence have real-life consequences. In the case of Holden, these consequences take shape in the form of depression, anxiety, and social isolation. The essential question that arises from critical analysis of Holden’s story is as follows: How do societal views of teenagers as rebels reflect and/or conflict with expectations of the adolescent experience? This question can be answered by examining not only The Catcher in the Rye, but also a number of young adult novels that deal with “rebellious” adolescents and other literary analysis articles such as the youth lens. Connections to modern-day adolescents and historical cultural events are also useful in illuminating the negative implications of societies on developing individuals similar to Holden.
One of the more commonly known “rebellious” literary adolescents is the protagonist of the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders follows the life of Ponyboy, who is the epitome of a teenage rebel, as he is part of a gang called “The Greasers” – and what says “rebel” more than being in a gang? What sets Ponyboy apart from his friends, however, is his love for literature and the movies, and a prominent respect for women; this is actually what sets him as a rebel, for he is a rebel to the gang stereotype. Ponyboy is a lot like Holden, in my opinion, because underneath his stereotype, he is a genuine and thoughtful young man simply trying to find his way. Ponyboy is expected to act a certain way based on the people he surrounds himself with, and the novel does an excellent job of breaking down his character and experience to more than just his position as a member of a gang. At first glance, Ponyboy is easily written off as a rebel, but it does not take much to see his individual character shining through despite his label as a gang member and outcast. He is the epitome of the well-known phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” as analysis reveals his persona to be quite contrary to the rebel stereotype. Ponyboy’s experiences can be analyzed through Bernard C. Kinnick’s article, “Holden Caulfield: Adolescents’ Enduring Model,” which discusses Holden’s position in society, and his struggle with conformity and societal expectations. He mentions how Holden is most often labeled as a rebel, “either against the materialism and ugliness of our society or against the realities of the adult world,” and argues that he is not a “satisfactory rebel” because he is rather a “searcher for idealism,” which could just as easily describe Ponyboy (Kinnick, 440;441). Kinnick delves into what it means to be an adolescent and how growing up means that one has to accept the world as it is in order successfully function within it.
Katniss Everdeen is a rebel figure very well-known by today’s youth, as The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins has become both a literary and blockbuster phenomenon in the past decade. Katniss is a rebel because she refuses to abide by the rules of the Capital, venturing into the forest and illegally hunting in barred territory. She continues to rebel throughout her time once she reaches the Capital, refusing to play by the rules of their games (literally). One of the most obvious example of her rebellion, for example, appears at the end of the first novel when she threatens to leave the games without a winner by eating poisonous berries with Peeta, her fellow competitor. Katniss’s experience shows how simple acts of rebellion can lead to a revolution, and though she is seen as a rebel, she is merely an individual fighting against the injustices imposed against herself and the people she cares about. Katniss’s intelligence and independence give the illusion of her as an adult, but, like Holden, she is still very immature and very much in need of guidance. Her fight against authority labels her as a rebel, despite the fact that it seems very obvious that the Capital is in the wrong, which exemplifies how societal views can create a negative image of an individual simply trying to do the right thing.
A literary example of individuals having their voices literally be controlled by the government is the futuristic novel Feed by M.T. Anderson. In the novel, each individual has a sort of microchip in their heads that they use to communicate with their peers and receive messages from the larger “government” that controls them. The protagonist of the novel develops a relationship with a girl who starts to resist the “feed,” and the girl eventually dies from complications, revealing that the difference between feed or no-feed is actually the difference between life and death. During their time together before her passing, however, the reader sees just how much of people’s beings are controlled by the government through the feed, and how inauthentic their lives are with the feed. By resisting the feed, the two are seen as rebels, however, they are simply two individuals trying to experience the world in all its glory authentically. Their experience strongly connects to Holden’s, as his opinion is that the common individual is not living life authentically. This novel exemplifies how society can take over one’s life almost completely, and essentially states that the choice is either conformity or death.
To a lesser yet still significant extreme, the novel Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli illustrates the cruelty of adolescents towards one another when face-to-face with nonconformity. This novel is one of my favorite books because it tells the story of a young boy changed by a girl who is clearly an outcast in their school, for she has an unusual name (Stargirl), dresses uniquely, and acts very strangely. In school, the girl is mocked at first, then gains friends and has her behavior mimicked by the other students, but once again is sentenced to be an outcast for the remainder of her time there. Nevertheless, she stays true to herself, and shows the protagonist Leo how to experience an authentic life and how to be happy despite lacking approval from one’s peers. The novel demonstrates how difficult it is to be different or unique in society, for one can so easily be outcasted and shunned if they do not conform to the stereotypes of what is “normal.” Holden and Stargirl would be great friends, I think, for she would appear to Holden as completely authentic and not at all “phony,” and they could find solace in each other. At the end of both novels, the protagonist has to physically remove themselves from the constraints of societies that have outcasted them and caused them to experience anxiety and depressive states, demonstrating the negative effects of such rigid expectations on developing youth.
One of the most famous classic novels of all time, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has a protagonist akin to Holden, practically an orphan on a journey unlike any other, expressing a profound opposition to the societal constraints in an incomparable narrative voice. The infamous novel tells the story of Huck and Jim (a slave escaped) on a journey along the Mississippi River. Huck goes against the values of society by helping Jim and refraining from turning him in to anyone who would send him back to his “owner.” Huck demonstrates that young adults are capable of making difficult decisions and thinking for themselves, despite the pressures society puts on them to follow common opinion. Seen as a rebel for his childhood mischief and his blatant refusal to act in accordance to society’s views of black people as objects and not individual human beings, Huck reveals how even by doing the right thing, one can be seen in a negative light by other members of society simply by going against the grain. As seen in The Hunger Games, it is painfully obvious that the norms of society – in this case, the acceptance of slavery – are not morally sound, and the protagonists, like Holden, are in constant conflict with this. Huck is also displaced from his society physically, rebelling freely yet still struggling to escape the nonphysical boundaries of societal expectations for adolescents, just as Holden cannot escape no matter where in New York he goes. In an article written in American Quarterly entitled “The Idea of Adolescence in American Fiction,” author Ihab H. Hassan divulges into what the adolescent experience really is, and how it is represented in literature. Mentioning The Catcher in the Rye, Hassan states, “the image of adolescence throws a new light on that perennial conflict between the self and the world to which Freud assigned a decisive role in any culture,” (Hassan, 313). This is a great description of Holden’s experience, for he truly is in a conflict with finding his place in a society that does not reflect his views or values. Hassan refers to “the cult of adolescence,” describing how in literature it is “both a form and vision, a complex symbol of the felt contradictions which history imposed on American tradition of innocence,” (Hassan, 314;315). Holden seeks to preserve innocence, thus struggling with the concept of growing up, caught up in this “cult” of the adolescent experience. Holden and Huck are still today two of the most common characters discussed in adolescent American literature, which reveals how significant their stories and personas are and how much students can learn from these “rebellious” literary figures.
Novels featuring rebellious adolescents take place in the past, present, and future, which illustrates how the constraints on individual growth and development by the rules and regulations of society persist throughout all time. Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a dystopian novel in which the society has developed a cure for love, which is seen as a disease. The government defines love (and other intense emotions) as detrimental to society because it makes people unpredictable. The novel tells the story of Lena, a young girl who is expected to undergo her procedure for the cure as all other young citizens do. Shortly before her appointment, though, she realizes she does not want to become an emotionless “zombie” (which is how cured members of society are portrayed) and she eventually refuses to receive it. Lena is seen as a rebel figure because she goes against the government, who uses fear to control society, and her dedication to finding true love instead of fitting in makes her unique compared to other individuals in society who are okay with giving up their intense emotions. Like Lena, Holden loves very passionately, and refuses to become the type of individual who seeks companionship for purely physical reasons, shying away from sexual interactions for lack of maturity but also because he has a desire to treat women with respect. Holden’s experience with the opposite sex is much different from the average pubescent male, and it is clear that Holden recognizes this as something that makes him seem less of a man in society’s eyes, which is why he attempts to initiate relations with the prostitute, though he fails. Love and sexuality are almost impossible to navigate, especially when society has such definitive rules about how individuals should go about it.
A real-life historical example of young adults in a clash with government and/or authority is The Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960’s. After a rule was made banning protests on campus preventing the students from being able to communicate with other students and potentially raising money for their causes, students took to protesting even more severely. In 1964, UC students were not permitted to distribute flyers or raise awareness about the major issues of the time. Students thus fought for their rights to free speech and academic freedom, inciting student activism and involvement. The movement lasted two months and resulted in the arrests of 773 people for occupying the administration building as well as eventually the election of Ronald Reagan as Governor of California in 1966. During this time period in the United States, there was an increase in youth participation in activism, visible in this movement as well as the hippie “Flower Child” phenomenon and the protests against the Vietnam War. Youth are often seen as children rather than adults, and when they raise their voices and act in ways that go against convention, they are seen as being rebels rather than individuals fighting for what they know is right.
Youth involvement is a powerful force in society, which demonstrates the sheer abilities of those whom are often characterized as immature and rebellious rather than praised for raising their voices against injustice. Shirley Steinberg’s article on “Redefining the Notion of Youth: Conceptualizing the Possible for Transformative Youth Leadership” discusses how youth leadership is discouraged, for it is feared by adults for its strength and power, yet is necessary to establish a safe and productive environment. She defines the “notion of the rebel youth” as appearing in the 1950’s, just one or two years after The Catcher in the Rye takes place (Steinberg, 268). It is emphasized in her article, just as in the young adult novels listed above, that the youth are characterized as a problem, from which develops the label of individuals as “rebels.” She proposes that “facilitating youth to become socially aware and ethical leaders requires a deep read of the lived world of each young man or woman,” which reflects the proposal that an adolescent’s environment has a profound effect on their development as individuals (Steinberg, 273). Holden, as well as other protagonists of well-known young adult literature, are on journeys to find their place in their respective worlds, yet are often forced to battle against themselves or others when they are put in situations that conflict with their morals or opinions. These contests against societal norms highlight the negative effects of rigid expectations on adolescents, and advocate for staying true to oneself despite the pressures of conformity.
This project inquires into the role that societal expectations have on the developing youth in historical, modern, and even futuristic societies. These notions can have detrimental effects on young individuals, yet those who refuse to change their ideals or personalities in order to fit the standards are considered rebellious and are therefore ostracized. In an article titled “The Rebel-Victim: Past and Present,” author Bonnie Jo Lundblad discusses the image of the modern rebel and how he or she is victimized. Real-life adolescents experience bullying and exclusion on the basis of their not conforming to the status quo, just as Holden lacks friends in the many schools he has attended and is instead isolated by his peers. Lundblad describes various ways in which one can examine a rebel figure such as Holden, listing questions to pose for class discussion and written composition, which will be very helpful in developing a unit plan based around The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is part of a large group of adolescents struggling to find their place in this world without conforming to the generally accepted cultural and social norms of society. His story helps shed light on the effects of the pressures of conformity and how the rebel figure is made a scapegoat by the larger society.
Works Cited
Anderson, M.T. Feed. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2002. Print.
Carpenter, Frederic I. “The Adolescent in American Fiction. The English Journal 46.6
(1957): 313-19. JSTOR. Web.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Detroit: Thorndike, 2009. Print.
Hassan, Ihab H. "The Idea of Adolescence in American Fiction." American Quarterly 10.3
(1958): 312-24. JSTOR. Web.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print.
Kinnick, Bernard M. "Holden Caulfield: Adolescents' Enduring Model." The High School
Journal 53.8 (1970): 440-43. JSTOR. Web.
Lundblad, Bonnie Jo. "The Rebel-Victim: Past and Present." The English Journal 60.6
(1971):763-66. JSTOR. Web.
Oliver, Lauren. Delirium. New York: Harper, 2011. Print.
Petrone, Robert, Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, and Mark A. Lewis. “The Youth Lens:
Analyzing Adolescence/ts in Literary Texts.” Journal of Literary Research (2015):
1-28. SagePub. Web.
Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. New York: Knopf, 2000. Print.
Steinberg, Shirley R. “Redefining the Notion of Youth: Contextualizing the Possible for
Transformative Youth Leadership.” Counterpoints, vol. 409, 2011, pp. 267–275
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Baronet, 1990. Print.
Young adult literature explores what it means to be an adolescent, delving into crucial conflicts and trials individuals face as they struggle to find their place in the world. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, is a particularly prevalent example of a character labeled as a "rebel" figure because he refuses to conform to societal norms. Holden views the culture of late 1940’s New York upper society as “phony” and something in which he cannot situate himself. His contrasting actions and opinions to the common thought causes him to clash with authority, which establishes this idea that he is “rebellious,” rather than simply an individual with personal thoughts and ideas. Upon examining the novel from a youth lens approach, Holden’s experience is highlighted as a figure who clashes against the construct set around adolescence/ts, and explains how conceptions of adolescence have real-life consequences. In the case of Holden, these consequences take shape in the form of depression, anxiety, and social isolation. The essential question that arises from critical analysis of Holden’s story is as follows: How do societal views of teenagers as rebels reflect and/or conflict with expectations of the adolescent experience? This question can be answered by examining not only The Catcher in the Rye, but also a number of young adult novels that deal with “rebellious” adolescents and other literary analysis articles such as the youth lens. Connections to modern-day adolescents and historical cultural events are also useful in illuminating the negative implications of societies on developing individuals similar to Holden.
One of the more commonly known “rebellious” literary adolescents is the protagonist of the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders follows the life of Ponyboy, who is the epitome of a teenage rebel, as he is part of a gang called “The Greasers” – and what says “rebel” more than being in a gang? What sets Ponyboy apart from his friends, however, is his love for literature and the movies, and a prominent respect for women; this is actually what sets him as a rebel, for he is a rebel to the gang stereotype. Ponyboy is a lot like Holden, in my opinion, because underneath his stereotype, he is a genuine and thoughtful young man simply trying to find his way. Ponyboy is expected to act a certain way based on the people he surrounds himself with, and the novel does an excellent job of breaking down his character and experience to more than just his position as a member of a gang. At first glance, Ponyboy is easily written off as a rebel, but it does not take much to see his individual character shining through despite his label as a gang member and outcast. He is the epitome of the well-known phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” as analysis reveals his persona to be quite contrary to the rebel stereotype. Ponyboy’s experiences can be analyzed through Bernard C. Kinnick’s article, “Holden Caulfield: Adolescents’ Enduring Model,” which discusses Holden’s position in society, and his struggle with conformity and societal expectations. He mentions how Holden is most often labeled as a rebel, “either against the materialism and ugliness of our society or against the realities of the adult world,” and argues that he is not a “satisfactory rebel” because he is rather a “searcher for idealism,” which could just as easily describe Ponyboy (Kinnick, 440;441). Kinnick delves into what it means to be an adolescent and how growing up means that one has to accept the world as it is in order successfully function within it.
Katniss Everdeen is a rebel figure very well-known by today’s youth, as The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins has become both a literary and blockbuster phenomenon in the past decade. Katniss is a rebel because she refuses to abide by the rules of the Capital, venturing into the forest and illegally hunting in barred territory. She continues to rebel throughout her time once she reaches the Capital, refusing to play by the rules of their games (literally). One of the most obvious example of her rebellion, for example, appears at the end of the first novel when she threatens to leave the games without a winner by eating poisonous berries with Peeta, her fellow competitor. Katniss’s experience shows how simple acts of rebellion can lead to a revolution, and though she is seen as a rebel, she is merely an individual fighting against the injustices imposed against herself and the people she cares about. Katniss’s intelligence and independence give the illusion of her as an adult, but, like Holden, she is still very immature and very much in need of guidance. Her fight against authority labels her as a rebel, despite the fact that it seems very obvious that the Capital is in the wrong, which exemplifies how societal views can create a negative image of an individual simply trying to do the right thing.
A literary example of individuals having their voices literally be controlled by the government is the futuristic novel Feed by M.T. Anderson. In the novel, each individual has a sort of microchip in their heads that they use to communicate with their peers and receive messages from the larger “government” that controls them. The protagonist of the novel develops a relationship with a girl who starts to resist the “feed,” and the girl eventually dies from complications, revealing that the difference between feed or no-feed is actually the difference between life and death. During their time together before her passing, however, the reader sees just how much of people’s beings are controlled by the government through the feed, and how inauthentic their lives are with the feed. By resisting the feed, the two are seen as rebels, however, they are simply two individuals trying to experience the world in all its glory authentically. Their experience strongly connects to Holden’s, as his opinion is that the common individual is not living life authentically. This novel exemplifies how society can take over one’s life almost completely, and essentially states that the choice is either conformity or death.
To a lesser yet still significant extreme, the novel Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli illustrates the cruelty of adolescents towards one another when face-to-face with nonconformity. This novel is one of my favorite books because it tells the story of a young boy changed by a girl who is clearly an outcast in their school, for she has an unusual name (Stargirl), dresses uniquely, and acts very strangely. In school, the girl is mocked at first, then gains friends and has her behavior mimicked by the other students, but once again is sentenced to be an outcast for the remainder of her time there. Nevertheless, she stays true to herself, and shows the protagonist Leo how to experience an authentic life and how to be happy despite lacking approval from one’s peers. The novel demonstrates how difficult it is to be different or unique in society, for one can so easily be outcasted and shunned if they do not conform to the stereotypes of what is “normal.” Holden and Stargirl would be great friends, I think, for she would appear to Holden as completely authentic and not at all “phony,” and they could find solace in each other. At the end of both novels, the protagonist has to physically remove themselves from the constraints of societies that have outcasted them and caused them to experience anxiety and depressive states, demonstrating the negative effects of such rigid expectations on developing youth.
One of the most famous classic novels of all time, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has a protagonist akin to Holden, practically an orphan on a journey unlike any other, expressing a profound opposition to the societal constraints in an incomparable narrative voice. The infamous novel tells the story of Huck and Jim (a slave escaped) on a journey along the Mississippi River. Huck goes against the values of society by helping Jim and refraining from turning him in to anyone who would send him back to his “owner.” Huck demonstrates that young adults are capable of making difficult decisions and thinking for themselves, despite the pressures society puts on them to follow common opinion. Seen as a rebel for his childhood mischief and his blatant refusal to act in accordance to society’s views of black people as objects and not individual human beings, Huck reveals how even by doing the right thing, one can be seen in a negative light by other members of society simply by going against the grain. As seen in The Hunger Games, it is painfully obvious that the norms of society – in this case, the acceptance of slavery – are not morally sound, and the protagonists, like Holden, are in constant conflict with this. Huck is also displaced from his society physically, rebelling freely yet still struggling to escape the nonphysical boundaries of societal expectations for adolescents, just as Holden cannot escape no matter where in New York he goes. In an article written in American Quarterly entitled “The Idea of Adolescence in American Fiction,” author Ihab H. Hassan divulges into what the adolescent experience really is, and how it is represented in literature. Mentioning The Catcher in the Rye, Hassan states, “the image of adolescence throws a new light on that perennial conflict between the self and the world to which Freud assigned a decisive role in any culture,” (Hassan, 313). This is a great description of Holden’s experience, for he truly is in a conflict with finding his place in a society that does not reflect his views or values. Hassan refers to “the cult of adolescence,” describing how in literature it is “both a form and vision, a complex symbol of the felt contradictions which history imposed on American tradition of innocence,” (Hassan, 314;315). Holden seeks to preserve innocence, thus struggling with the concept of growing up, caught up in this “cult” of the adolescent experience. Holden and Huck are still today two of the most common characters discussed in adolescent American literature, which reveals how significant their stories and personas are and how much students can learn from these “rebellious” literary figures.
Novels featuring rebellious adolescents take place in the past, present, and future, which illustrates how the constraints on individual growth and development by the rules and regulations of society persist throughout all time. Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a dystopian novel in which the society has developed a cure for love, which is seen as a disease. The government defines love (and other intense emotions) as detrimental to society because it makes people unpredictable. The novel tells the story of Lena, a young girl who is expected to undergo her procedure for the cure as all other young citizens do. Shortly before her appointment, though, she realizes she does not want to become an emotionless “zombie” (which is how cured members of society are portrayed) and she eventually refuses to receive it. Lena is seen as a rebel figure because she goes against the government, who uses fear to control society, and her dedication to finding true love instead of fitting in makes her unique compared to other individuals in society who are okay with giving up their intense emotions. Like Lena, Holden loves very passionately, and refuses to become the type of individual who seeks companionship for purely physical reasons, shying away from sexual interactions for lack of maturity but also because he has a desire to treat women with respect. Holden’s experience with the opposite sex is much different from the average pubescent male, and it is clear that Holden recognizes this as something that makes him seem less of a man in society’s eyes, which is why he attempts to initiate relations with the prostitute, though he fails. Love and sexuality are almost impossible to navigate, especially when society has such definitive rules about how individuals should go about it.
A real-life historical example of young adults in a clash with government and/or authority is The Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960’s. After a rule was made banning protests on campus preventing the students from being able to communicate with other students and potentially raising money for their causes, students took to protesting even more severely. In 1964, UC students were not permitted to distribute flyers or raise awareness about the major issues of the time. Students thus fought for their rights to free speech and academic freedom, inciting student activism and involvement. The movement lasted two months and resulted in the arrests of 773 people for occupying the administration building as well as eventually the election of Ronald Reagan as Governor of California in 1966. During this time period in the United States, there was an increase in youth participation in activism, visible in this movement as well as the hippie “Flower Child” phenomenon and the protests against the Vietnam War. Youth are often seen as children rather than adults, and when they raise their voices and act in ways that go against convention, they are seen as being rebels rather than individuals fighting for what they know is right.
Youth involvement is a powerful force in society, which demonstrates the sheer abilities of those whom are often characterized as immature and rebellious rather than praised for raising their voices against injustice. Shirley Steinberg’s article on “Redefining the Notion of Youth: Conceptualizing the Possible for Transformative Youth Leadership” discusses how youth leadership is discouraged, for it is feared by adults for its strength and power, yet is necessary to establish a safe and productive environment. She defines the “notion of the rebel youth” as appearing in the 1950’s, just one or two years after The Catcher in the Rye takes place (Steinberg, 268). It is emphasized in her article, just as in the young adult novels listed above, that the youth are characterized as a problem, from which develops the label of individuals as “rebels.” She proposes that “facilitating youth to become socially aware and ethical leaders requires a deep read of the lived world of each young man or woman,” which reflects the proposal that an adolescent’s environment has a profound effect on their development as individuals (Steinberg, 273). Holden, as well as other protagonists of well-known young adult literature, are on journeys to find their place in their respective worlds, yet are often forced to battle against themselves or others when they are put in situations that conflict with their morals or opinions. These contests against societal norms highlight the negative effects of rigid expectations on adolescents, and advocate for staying true to oneself despite the pressures of conformity.
This project inquires into the role that societal expectations have on the developing youth in historical, modern, and even futuristic societies. These notions can have detrimental effects on young individuals, yet those who refuse to change their ideals or personalities in order to fit the standards are considered rebellious and are therefore ostracized. In an article titled “The Rebel-Victim: Past and Present,” author Bonnie Jo Lundblad discusses the image of the modern rebel and how he or she is victimized. Real-life adolescents experience bullying and exclusion on the basis of their not conforming to the status quo, just as Holden lacks friends in the many schools he has attended and is instead isolated by his peers. Lundblad describes various ways in which one can examine a rebel figure such as Holden, listing questions to pose for class discussion and written composition, which will be very helpful in developing a unit plan based around The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is part of a large group of adolescents struggling to find their place in this world without conforming to the generally accepted cultural and social norms of society. His story helps shed light on the effects of the pressures of conformity and how the rebel figure is made a scapegoat by the larger society.
Works Cited
Anderson, M.T. Feed. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2002. Print.
Carpenter, Frederic I. “The Adolescent in American Fiction. The English Journal 46.6
(1957): 313-19. JSTOR. Web.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Detroit: Thorndike, 2009. Print.
Hassan, Ihab H. "The Idea of Adolescence in American Fiction." American Quarterly 10.3
(1958): 312-24. JSTOR. Web.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print.
Kinnick, Bernard M. "Holden Caulfield: Adolescents' Enduring Model." The High School
Journal 53.8 (1970): 440-43. JSTOR. Web.
Lundblad, Bonnie Jo. "The Rebel-Victim: Past and Present." The English Journal 60.6
(1971):763-66. JSTOR. Web.
Oliver, Lauren. Delirium. New York: Harper, 2011. Print.
Petrone, Robert, Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, and Mark A. Lewis. “The Youth Lens:
Analyzing Adolescence/ts in Literary Texts.” Journal of Literary Research (2015):
1-28. SagePub. Web.
Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. New York: Knopf, 2000. Print.
Steinberg, Shirley R. “Redefining the Notion of Youth: Contextualizing the Possible for
Transformative Youth Leadership.” Counterpoints, vol. 409, 2011, pp. 267–275
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Baronet, 1990. Print.