The two books that I am comparing are The Catcher in the Rye, and Lord of the Flies. The two books are very interesting and are very opposite yet the same in many ways. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is an idealistic character who becomes more of a realist as the novel progresses, while in the Lord of the Flies, many characters assume different roles. But the main argument between the two novels is that Holden has a dream job of being the catcher in the rye.
The catcher in the rye symbolizes that Holden is on an imaginary cliff, trying to keep the children from falling off. The rye symbolizes childhood and innocence, but falling off would mean falling into the “phony” world of adult-hood. Holden wants to keep the kids on the rye preserving their innocence. In the Lord of the Flies, the boys are stuck on an island without adult supervision and quickly lose their innocence, becoming savages. Jack is the leader of the savages, and he is always acting very wild and crazy on the island. Jack yelled this quote a number of times, ” Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” ( Golding 126).
The theme I am trying to connect, is it possible to stay innocent your whole life, or will everyone eventually lose their innocence?In the Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Piggy are the two main characters trying to keep innocence on the island by trying to restore a democratic island. Piggy tries to use his wisdom, while Ralph tries to use the little power he has left. But in order to restore democracy and innocence on the island they must compete with Jack, who is controlling the island by making everyone believe that eating meat is more important than being rescued. He even lets down his guard at the signal fire and loses their chances of being rescued; but even though Jack is not the right guy to be leader on the island, because he doesn’t think for the long run, the boys like Jack because he fills their stomachs with meat. Ralph and Piggy can be compared to Holden’s dream job of being the catcher in the rye.
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Both things are unrealistic, as it is impossible to keep kids from falling into adulthood and losing their innocence, because it is a normal, healthy part of life, and Holden eventually learns that, and Ralph and Piggy realize that it is unrealistic to compete with Jack’s group of savages, and that everyone will eventually lose their innocence.Holden Caulfield believes that all kids are innocent, and when they go into the adult world, they all become phonies. Holden feels that all adults in the book are phonies, except for the nuns. Holden thinks that all adults ruin children and take away their innocence.
