Morality In Demian And Catcher In The R

In the coming-of-age novels, Demian by Hermann Hesse and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, personal morality plays a major role in defining who the novels' protagonists are. In Demian, the protagonist Emil Sinclair at the beginning of the novel describes his parents' room as a moral sanctuary, one that represents all that is good and right in the eyes of Sinclair. In Catcher in the Rye, protagonist Holden Caulfield finds his moral sanctuary in childhood innocence, a time in an individual's life that he sees as pure and one that has yet to be corrupted by "phonies" and the sins of the adult world and in individual authenticity. Throughout these novels, Hesse and Salinger challenge their protagonists' morality in an effort to present the characters with the opportunity to grow more into who they are, or to show a point where that character's growth regressed. These challenges often lead the characters off of their originally intended paths and in the process, they lose sight of what was once important to them. Sometimes this leads characters to the end of their journey, …show more content…
Sinclair has seen worse in his life, and he has lived through tougher situations than Franz Kromer. He is now well equipped to face the challenges that the world presents him, even if those challenges are in the middle of a battlefield. When Sinclair wakes the next morning and finds that Demian is no longer there, he doesn't feel alone and scared like he did when his parents forced him to go to another school. Sinclair knows what being alone feels like, but he also knows the difference between being alone and being an individual. He knows that though Demian is not with him physically, Demian will always be with him. "Perhaps you'll need me again sometime, against Kromer or something. If you call me then I won't come crudely, on horseback or by train. You'll have to listen within yourself, then you will notice that I am within