Preview

Persuasive Writing Assignment

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
463 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Persuasive Writing Assignment
Persuasive Writing Assignment

Conspiracy Theory and the Catcher in the Rye

Conformity

Rebellion is when one refuses to accept authority. The transition of childhood into adulthood is most often represented by actions of rebellious nature. The average teen is always looking for away to escape conformity. Two pieces of work that express a common theme of rebellion and conformity are, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and the movie Conspiracy Theory starting Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts. Both pieces express this common theme of rebellious and conformity in a society that simply won’t allow it.

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye the main character, Holden Caulfield, goes through many hardships in trying to search for his place in society. Holden rebels throughout the whole book against rules, schools, and people that he encountered. An example of Holden’s external conflict with conformity was on his date with Sally. At the end of their date, Holden shares a dream of running away with her to escape the normalcy in everyday society, “I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take it out when it opens in the morning, and then I could go down and get this guy's car. No kidding. We'll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out,” (Page 132).

How the movie Conspiracy Theory is related to The Catcher in the Rye, is that the movie’s main character Jerry Fletcher is a New York City Taxi driver who is always telling people that a list events trigged in the world are done by Government conspiracies but he never seems to get anywhere with his theories. However one of the conspiracies comes true and the CIA is trying to shut Jerry up before he does anymore damage. Now the reason why these two are connected is because, in both cases each character are trying to achieve being different and don’t want to be tied down by what other people tell them to do. In Jerry’s case he is trying to tell the truth about these

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Two books written by J.D. Salinger, known for his “Catcher in the Rye”, proposes two alternative thinking towards the defiance against society and its current state of “accepted” reality. Below you’ll find a short comparison of the similarities and differences of the characters Seymour Glass, a war veteran, and The Misfit, an escaped convict.…

    • 2218 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When someone is young, they tend to have innocence about them. As children grow up, they no longer possess this natural innocence. Exposure to all of the hatred in the world causes this loss. Holden Caulfield realizes this simple fact, as he himself grows up, and has a difficult time with the change. He experiences problems with communication as well as his school work. A common theme used throughout The Catcher in the Rye has to do with contradictions Holden makes. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, first person point of view is used to highlight contradictions Holden makes throughout the novel.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leaving home and living on his own is an aspiration of Holden’s, but this is made into a child-like fantasy world in his mind. Holden dreams of being a protector over children, a “catcher in the rye”, from the danger of becoming an adult.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Similar observations are made by academic writer and author Sarah Graham in her book entitled Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, Graham addresses a variety of reading techniques, themes, and comparisons/contrasts in regards to Salinger’s most popular novel, but she specifically addresses the main theme of Holden’s attempt to escape the phony 1950’s materialistic focused society surrounding him. Graham begins her take on this theme of escaping society with a chapter on Holden’s rebellion: “Developing the theme of rebellion, Holden’s visit to Mr. Spencer confirms that he is opposed to the conventional ideas that school and society encourage in order to promote stability” (34). During this visit to Mr. Spencer’s house that Graham…

    • 1991 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Liking Holden Caulfield

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye is the story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield’s wanderings through New York City after he is expelled from yet another prestigious boarding school. He is alone for most of the time; however, he constantly thinks about meeting up with people, desperate to make a human connection. For example, while riding in a taxi cab, Holden attempts to make friends with the driver. He says, "Well – take me to the Edmont then … and would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me.” At this point, Holden is desperate for someone to talk to. This is one of his first attempts to connect with another person.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catcher in the Rye is a fictional novel written by J.D Salinger. The protagonist in the novel is Holden Caulfield. Throughout the novel Holden begins to exhibit signs of depression. His depression is driven by the death of his younger brother. In everyday life normal people experience breakdowns, they cannot handle what is being thrown at them. Holden Caulfield attended a prep school known as Pencey, where people are not used to this kind of behavior. Holden exhibits many signs of psychological weakness. He often puts himself at risk and is in a very fragile emotional state which leads him to making impulsive decisions. Holden's behavior favors his stay in a “rest home.”…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this novel, Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his school and stays in New York for a couple of days before returning home. During his travels Holden does not maintain any relationships and he associates most adults with being phony. He is constantly trying to protect himself and his sister Phoebe from being exposed to the harsh adult world. In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses rhetorical devices to explain Holden’s struggles and establish the theme of preserving his own innocence and the innocence of those around him.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Themes

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Holden Caulfield is a character that has some resistance in things that are natural and some in society. The theme of the book is about growing up and the observation of it in the surroundings. The society of New York in Catcher in the Rye is full of phonies and other people. Holden constantly resists the unchangeable future of growing up. Salinger developed the society of New York and Holden who realizes the event of growing up and tries his hardest to resist…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher in the Rye is a book narrated by a 17 year old boy named Holden Caulfield who remains curious and naive throughout the story he tells. The story begins with Holden explaining how he was kicked out of a prep school and then takes us through his Christmas in New York while he waits until his parents have been notified of his expulsion. During the time he tries to keep himself busy in order to avoid his parents, he manages to experience many things for the first time and be able to act like he's been through it all before. Holden is an immature boy who in trying to seem older tends to lean more towards phoniness, a quality he despises in others. Little things, such as his interest with the ducks in central park and the glass cases in the museum were not just put in to the story to fill pages, it has meaning behind it. Therefore, the symbolism in Catcher in the Rye adds to the plot and makes for a more interesting story.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Also something I was reading about on Time Magazine. At the end of the paragraph they talk about how most people do not know the storyline of The Catcher in the Rye that is why so many people want it challenged or banned. A high school teacher named Shelly Keller-Gage faced issues when she was trying to tell her students to read the Catcher in the Rye. Keller-Gage makes a comment that the students are acting like Holden from the Catcher in the…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Workforced Issues, January 2012. URL 11 http://www.aacap.org/aacap/Resources_for_Primary_Care/Workforce_Issues.aspx United States v…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Essay

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton was a pioneer nurse who founded the American Red Cross. In addition to being a hospital nurse, she worked as a teacher, patent clerk, and humanitarian. At a time when relatively few women worked outside the home, Barton built a career helping others. She was never married, as she knew the restrictions of a married woman at the time, but had a relationship with John J. Elwell. During the end of the American Civil War, Barton worked at a hospital she made helping the people at the Andersonville prison camp where 13,000 people died.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Persuasive Essay

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1930s- In the 1930s money was scarce because of the depression. People tried what they could too to keep themselves happy. They would watch movies, play games, and such. In the great depression the American dream had become a nightmare. The great place that was once called the land of opportunity was now known as the land of desperation. The best place for a better life was California.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rebellion comes in many forms, not only in teens but in children, movies, books, and music. Teen rebellion in specific is widely spread across the country in things such as movies, books, and music. For example, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet are two teenagers who rebel against their parents in an act of love. This can also be compared to the movie The Breakfast Club. Teen rebellion can not only found in movies but found in books, books like the book Paper Towns.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about an adolescent boy struggling with the idea of adulthood and all the impurities it contains. The teenaged boy, Holden Caulfield, is slightly psychologically unstable and does not do well in any of his classes a preparatory school, because he refuses to apply himself. Holden experiences a mental breakdown as a result of tragic events in his past, his perception of the world, specifically the adults, and the effect it has on him, and his raging hormones.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics