Social norms can be defined as the informal understanding that govern the behavior of members of society. Based on this definition Holden Caulfield and Chris McCandless can be seen as the antonym of social norms. Holden Caulfield is a rich teenager that has been kicked out of more schools that he can count. Holden believes that nearly everyone and anything is a phony and expresses his disgust of them throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye created by J.D Salinger. Because of Salinger’s refusal to give up the movie rights for the movie there has been no adaptation of this novel. However, Chris McCandless’ true story came close enough to the classic by Salinger. Chris leaves his family behind and embarks on a journey into the wild, appropriately
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Both Holden and Chris are trying to get more and more distant from the things that they fear. For Holden it is the fear of social norms and how other people think of him, and for Chris it is his parents he is trying to go distant from and all the nightmares that society has made. In Catcher in the Rye distance is symbolised by the ducks. In the novel if Holden ever gets the chance he will ask “do you happen to know where all the ducks are”. In the end most people don’t answer his question because nobody would expect to be asked that in any case. However, the ducks represent distance because the ducks flew away from the cold weather. Much how like Holden escapes the norms of society. In other words, the ducks symbolize Holden getting more distant from the norms of society which is represented by the cold weather. In addition, this shows why Holden is an outcast among people because he was the one duck left behind and he is trying his best to escape it. Similarly, Into the Wild has symbols representing distance. For instance, the rivers that Chris encounter are the hardships and difficulties he faced it also represents what he is keeping distant from. Chris acquires a canoe so he can finally travel down the river getting ever more distant from the point at where he started. The river represents what he is afraid of, his family, greed, and the nightmares of society. This becomes evident when Chris almost drowns in a river representing the difficulties he had in his past. And that's why he moves down the river. To get
Both Holden and Chris are trying to get more and more distant from the things that they fear. For Holden it is the fear of social norms and how other people think of him, and for Chris it is his parents he is trying to go distant from and all the nightmares that society has made. In Catcher in the Rye distance is symbolised by the ducks. In the novel if Holden ever gets the chance he will ask “do you happen to know where all the ducks are”. In the end most people don’t answer his question because nobody would expect to be asked that in any case. However, the ducks represent distance because the ducks flew away from the cold weather. Much how like Holden escapes the norms of society. In other words, the ducks symbolize Holden getting more distant from the norms of society which is represented by the cold weather. In addition, this shows why Holden is an outcast among people because he was the one duck left behind and he is trying his best to escape it. Similarly, Into the Wild has symbols representing distance. For instance, the rivers that Chris encounter are the hardships and difficulties he faced it also represents what he is keeping distant from. Chris acquires a canoe so he can finally travel down the river getting ever more distant from the point at where he started. The river represents what he is afraid of, his family, greed, and the nightmares of society. This becomes evident when Chris almost drowns in a river representing the difficulties he had in his past. And that's why he moves down the river. To get