Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Salinger, J.D. - Salinger as Studied

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Salinger as Studied

OTHER AUTHORS STUDIED WITH SALINGER

MARK TWAIN (1835-1910): Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), like The Catcher in the Rye, features a first-person narrator who speaks with a distinct voice in the American idiom. Both novels follow in the tradition of the quest narrative and provide strong criticism of American society. Alienated from their societies, Huck and Holden retain moral purity while affirming goodness and opposing whatever demeans other human beings. Both books present social indictments and attack hypocrisy and pretentiousness. Perhaps one of the most interesting comparisons between Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye is each protagonist’s perspective concerning formal religion—in particular, the conflict between what practitioners of religion say and what they do. Both Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield seek not only to avoid the societal evils that...

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1. Introduction
2. About J. D. Salinger
3. Salinger at Work
4. Salinger’s Era
5. Salinger’s Works
6. Salinger on Salinger
7. Salinger as Studied
8. Study Questions
9. Bibliography
10. Copyright