The Catcher in the Rye | Literary Precedents
Because The Catcher in the Rye deals with those perennial themes of American fiction, the struggle of the individual with society and the struggle against Time, it has been compared with almost all of its major predecessors. Holden has been related to such diverse figures as Jay Gatsby, sensitive to the rich possibilities of life but trapped in an acquisitive and phony society; Henry David Thoreau, drawn to a purer life in the woods; and even Captain Ahab, on a quest for the Absolute. If nothing else, these genealogical charts show that The Catcher in the Rye lies in the mainstream of...
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