J.D. Salinger and Catcher

Salinger's life does contain many elements of Holden's life, and may relate enough to the story line of Catcher In the Rye for a substantial amount of critics to be convinced that maybe the story is autobiographical of Salinger's life. The fact that Salinger changed many schools, and that his once wife Oona O'Neil left him for Charlie Chaplin, reflects some of the angst that J.D. Salinger portrays from Holden's perspective. But when confronted with these similarities one has to ask if it was Salinger's intent to reflect elements of his life through a literary character, and maybe the answer to this question is evident if one studies Salinger's life along with Holden's.

As previously mentioned, Salinger had been transferred from colleges and when he was finished with high school, he attended the Valley Forge Military Academy to escape his strict mother. This has parallels to Holden because Holden left his school, not for a military academy, but to rome New York City before it was his time to come home:"All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey-right that same night and all. I mean not wait till Wednesday or anything...So what I decided to do, I decided I'd take a room in a hotel in New York-some very inexpensive hotel and all-and just take it easy till wednesday" (51). Unlike Salinger, though, Holden had not only changed schools but had been kicked out of these schools. Salinger himself was never really kicked out of school, but transferred from colleges such as Ursinus College and Columbia University because of Austria being annexed by Nazi Germany. Also Similar to Holden was Salinger's parents, of whom his father did not even want him to pursue an art that he loved: acting and theatre.

Holden, typical teenager?

Holden's emotional fluctuations are a universal experience amongst teenagers but the only thing which sets him apart is the magnitude of his emotions. Holden experiences sexual frustration, sadness, and different forms of confusion throughout his story but just at levels that may vary from the "typical" teen. "It was getting daylight outside. Boy, I felt so miserable...What I did, I started talking, sort of loud, to Allie." (98). Also, what quite evidently sets holden apart from a "typical" teenager is his situation to begin with. A "typical" teenager would not be roaming New York city voluntarily, or be so sad that they are speaking to a deceased sibling. Maybe this would be the case if a typical teen had been placed in Holden's situation, but it is difficult to say that this is a situation that generally fits the "typical" teenager.

But perhaps what makes Holden similar to a good amount of teenagers is his academic apathy. Many kids enjoy venturing off into their own pursuits, whether academic or not, finding joy in intrinsically reading or writing something on their own, not being pressured by a school system to read or write something that is unenjoyable. Like Holden who read Romeo and Juliet on his spare time: " 'I mean I felt so much sorrier when Mercutio got killed than when Romeo and Juliet did'" (111). Therefore he is an intelligent kid but just doesn't apply the time to allow himself to succeed academically, and he is reminded by many older figures that this is so.

One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest: Film vs. Novel

The movie and the novel of One flew over the cuckoo's nest do generally share the same story line, however, the movie has to fit a huge amount of events into 133 minutes. Because the film contains only a limited amount of time, it narrows the scope of events that occur within the originally written novel. But although this is true, there may have been a couple relevant scenes in the novel that could have made the film a bit more effective, not affecting the time duration of the film. It is true that perchance the producer of the film also wanted to incorporate their own style to the film, not wanting to completely simulate the feel of the novel.

One of the visual elements that changes from the novel to the film is that McMurphy is portrayed different, as Jack Nicholson playing his character. Thus, in the film McMurphy doesn't have red hair or tattoos, and isn't as muscularly defined as the McMurphy in the novel: “Nobody’s sure if this barrel-chested man with the scar and the wild grin is play-acting or if he’s crazy enough to be just like he talks…” (18). A similarity between them though, would be that Jack Nicholson does a great job emulating McMurphy from the novel's personality, being the gambling jokester and taking on the persona of a leader. Therefore McMurphy's overall character is preserved, just not the proper visualization of him.

Also a drastic difference between the novel and the film is the portrayal of chief Bromden. In the novel the reader has a profound insight into the inner workings of chief's mind, and the reader has an intimate knowledge of the metaphor and motif of "The machine". This allows the reader to get to know chief much more well than the viewer of the film. The film creates a void between the watcher and chief by not "letting them in" to chief's mind, which means that the film doesn't express chief's angst and schizophrenia as well as the novel. In the novel we are constantly taken through chief's stream of consciousness and are enriched with a wide range of literary description and devices that the film can't express similarly.