Adolescence in the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye

Adolescence in the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye Adolescence in the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye Adolescence is the period between puberty and adulthood. Every teenager experience this moment in life differently some sail through happily to carry on with a peaceful life where as others are less fortunate and find that this moment is much more harder and stressful then they thought. Esther Greenwood and Holden Caulfield are one of the less fortunate and have bad experiences through their adolescent. Salinger and Plath present this in their novels Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar. Both novelists use first person narrative giving us as readers a more personal description about their story, involving us more into their†¦show more content†¦Esther also wants to loose her virginity so that she can be even with Buddy who presented himself as innocent and this annoyed Esther. Esther hears that women can be divided into two groups when it comes to sex: whores and virgins Eric believes that sex reduces women to animals and that nice girls should remain innocent Esther rejects this idea, she believes that she can have sex and not turn into a dirty animal and remain her dignity. Esther obsesses about losing her virginity and wanting it to be with someone who is very intelligent. Esther believes that when the event actually happens she will be transformed â€Å"I thought a spectacular change would come over me the day I crossed the boundary line.† Finally the moment she’d been waiting for had come with a man named Irwin who she met in Cambridge although it wasn’t what she had expected â€Å"Waiting for the miraculous change to make itself felt. But all I felt was a sharp, startlingly bad pain.† The night didn’t fulfil any intimacy or passion this mirrors with Holden’s near first encounter with Sunny. For a moment Esther didn’t even think that it happened because Irwin just got up and had a shower she only found out when she felt blood dripping down her leg. It probably didn’t even live up to her expectations but she was just relived that she was rid of it. â€Å"I couldn’t possibly be a virgin anymore. I smiled into the dark.† Esther’s reasons for wanting to loose her virginity are completelyShow MoreRelatedUnreliable Narrator Of John Allen Poe s The Catcher Rye 1326 Words   |  6 Pagesreader. They might be unable to distinguish between reality and imagination. Or, they are stricken with insanity. Edgar Allen Poe’s character Montresor is a prime example of an unreliable narrator. As is J. D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in Rye. However, it can be difficult to distinguish between what is a reliable narrator, and what is not. An unreliable narrator is one who cannot be trusted to tell the story in a factual manner. Their narration should be taken with a grain of saltRead MoreThe, Loss Suffered By Holden Acts As A Contributing Factor For His Inner Turmoil And Mental Illness2376 Words   |  10 Pageswould have liked him’ when personally addressing the reader. We therefore feel involved in his story and emotion is evoked when we hear of his passing. It also acts as an explanation for Holden’s difficulties. He struggles immensely throughout adolescence as he fails to accept the transition from childhood to adulthood, perhaps because he described Allie as ‘mature’ for his age. This could perhaps be why Holden has such negative associations with growing older: all he sees ahead is death. ThereforeRead MoreThe Hippie Counterculture Movement1751 Words   |  8 Pagesgraphics, with bloodshed and calamity everywhere; these children had their innocence taken at such a young age that the y were hesitant to cross the door of adulthood. Holden Caufield struggles with his transition from adolescence to adulthood evident in the 1950s novel Catcher in the Rye. His inner tension stems from his unsuccessful approach in connecting with people condensing him into a lonesome character who fosters psychological issues. His problem, however, arises from the childhood trauma ofRead MoreLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 Pages(1929)[29] Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (1936) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1936) Native Son by Richard Wright (1940) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943) The Green Years by A. J. Cronin (1944) The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger (1951)[30] The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (for plot character Eustace Scrubb) by C. S. Lewis (1952) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) In the Castle of My Skin, by George Lamming (1953)[31] Goodbye, Columbus, by Philip