Texts that are composed are heavily influenced by the writer, their personal context and the society in which they are in. Values and messages of both the society and the composer are channelled through the characters and storyline to the audience. Within Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger in 1951, and Perks of Being a Wallflower, written and directed by Stephen Chbosky in 1999, there are many connections between the society they were written in and the plot. The societal standards of social acceptance and the effects of mental illness are just a few of the links that can be made.
The composers bring attention to the harsh societal standards through their character’s struggle with social acceptance. It is a shared human experience …show more content…
In both the 1950’s and 1990’s there are particular stigmas towards mental illness, because of this Charlie and Holden both hide these issues, creating them to become isolated from the society. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is constantly lying, or not telling the full truth, to the audience. Within the first chapter there is evidence of this when he contradicts himself about why he is at the hospital ‘I’m a pretty heavy smoker… that’s why I’m here.’ Later contradicted to ‘I got pretty run down so I had to come out here and take it easy for a while.’ The relationship that is built between the reader and Holden is one of distrust right from the beginning, and this is allowing the readers to understand the effects that mental illness can have on an individual. Salinger himself would have felt the effects of mental illness from post-traumatic stress acquired from his traumatic experiences from World War Two. He understood the effects of this as he was isolated and lived as hermit because of it. Furthermore ‘I was trying ... to feel some kind of good-by. I don 't care if it 's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I 'm leaving it. If you don 't, you feel even worse.’ This is more evidence of Holden being the spokesperson for Salinger’s PTSD. He is trying to make a connection, but his mental disorder creates a fear of human connection, making him lonely and isolated. Within Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie tries to hide his mental illness from the people around him, however this causes him to become isolated and cut off from the people he cares about. He has two faces, the one he shows to others, and the one that only he know of. This can be seen in the over shoulder shot where Charlie is writing in his typewriter and we see his real physical self and a blurred vision of him in the window. This is
The composers bring attention to the harsh societal standards through their character’s struggle with social acceptance. It is a shared human experience …show more content…
In both the 1950’s and 1990’s there are particular stigmas towards mental illness, because of this Charlie and Holden both hide these issues, creating them to become isolated from the society. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is constantly lying, or not telling the full truth, to the audience. Within the first chapter there is evidence of this when he contradicts himself about why he is at the hospital ‘I’m a pretty heavy smoker… that’s why I’m here.’ Later contradicted to ‘I got pretty run down so I had to come out here and take it easy for a while.’ The relationship that is built between the reader and Holden is one of distrust right from the beginning, and this is allowing the readers to understand the effects that mental illness can have on an individual. Salinger himself would have felt the effects of mental illness from post-traumatic stress acquired from his traumatic experiences from World War Two. He understood the effects of this as he was isolated and lived as hermit because of it. Furthermore ‘I was trying ... to feel some kind of good-by. I don 't care if it 's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I 'm leaving it. If you don 't, you feel even worse.’ This is more evidence of Holden being the spokesperson for Salinger’s PTSD. He is trying to make a connection, but his mental disorder creates a fear of human connection, making him lonely and isolated. Within Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie tries to hide his mental illness from the people around him, however this causes him to become isolated and cut off from the people he cares about. He has two faces, the one he shows to others, and the one that only he know of. This can be seen in the over shoulder shot where Charlie is writing in his typewriter and we see his real physical self and a blurred vision of him in the window. This is