“There's a moment when you have to chose whether to be silent or stand up” (Malala Yousafzai). Society brings upon rules that serve as guidelines for people to live by; fittingly, society expects all people to obey the rules, but not everyone decides to do so. Individuals yearn to break from these set ways and take their own path based on their own beliefs. The characters Sammy, in “A&P,” by John Updike, and Holden, in “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger, are some of those individuals with their own unique views on life. These characters reveal the authors’ purpose to demonstrate how the importance of personal beliefs drive a person to challenge society with their own views.
In effect to the boundaries society puts on their lives, Sammy …show more content…
Sammy leads a boring job in the supermarket, so when three girls in bathing suits enter the market he is immediately captured by their actions. The girls’ presence sparks a controversy in the market as “it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach . . . and another thing in the cool of the A & P” (Updike 2). Lengel takes this ‘offending act’ into a long lecture about how to ‘decently’ dress, based off his made up policy that asserts his authority over the girls. For this reason, Sammy decides to take a stand against the unfair society, which treats women as objects rather than equals to men. With this in mind, Sammy quits his job as the girls leave the market in an attempt to attract their attention by standing up for them and being their hero. On the other hand, Holden is inspired by Phoebe’s youthful innocence to fight for the maintenance of purity in children. Phoebe embodies purity and Holden’s happiness, for she is capable of making Holden “so damn happy all of a sudden” (Salinger 213) during his lowest times. In addition, Holden tries to maintain his own innocence by creating lame excuses about having “an operation very recently” (Salinger 96) when he comes close to having sex for the first time. Thanks to the mainy influences on Holden’s life, Holden strives to preserve innocence in spite of the negative feedback society throws back at him. Hence,
In effect to the boundaries society puts on their lives, Sammy …show more content…
Sammy leads a boring job in the supermarket, so when three girls in bathing suits enter the market he is immediately captured by their actions. The girls’ presence sparks a controversy in the market as “it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach . . . and another thing in the cool of the A & P” (Updike 2). Lengel takes this ‘offending act’ into a long lecture about how to ‘decently’ dress, based off his made up policy that asserts his authority over the girls. For this reason, Sammy decides to take a stand against the unfair society, which treats women as objects rather than equals to men. With this in mind, Sammy quits his job as the girls leave the market in an attempt to attract their attention by standing up for them and being their hero. On the other hand, Holden is inspired by Phoebe’s youthful innocence to fight for the maintenance of purity in children. Phoebe embodies purity and Holden’s happiness, for she is capable of making Holden “so damn happy all of a sudden” (Salinger 213) during his lowest times. In addition, Holden tries to maintain his own innocence by creating lame excuses about having “an operation very recently” (Salinger 96) when he comes close to having sex for the first time. Thanks to the mainy influences on Holden’s life, Holden strives to preserve innocence in spite of the negative feedback society throws back at him. Hence,