Conformity In American Literature

Hedhili, S. N. (2016). From Pure Values to Corruption: The Death of the American Dream. A study of the Process of American Literature. The University of Oslo.

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger’s American classic that has found itself on many “Banned Books” lists because of its profane language and seemingly dark concepts, raises many questions for readers and critics alike surrounding antihero, Holden Caulfield’s cynical disposition. Alex Pitofsky, a professor of English at Appalachian State University, explores a potential cause for Caulfield’s temperament in his 2011 review, “Masculine Competition and Boarding School Culture in The Catcher in the Rye.” By analyzing how Caulfield responds to certain characters and situations in the novel, Pitofsky concludes that a major source of Caulfield’s dissatisfaction with society stems from the importance of materialistic success and masculine competition that is imposed on students in private Boarding Schools.

Literature is considered a mirror of the society. The pool of content in literary writing stems from the environment in which the writer is placed. A writer will use this environment to advance his/her views of the society and at the same time drive into the audience/readers important information that he/she wishes to pass. Hunter S. Thompson has used his creativity in the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas written in the 1960s to reflect on American society with Las Vegas as the point of reference.

Over the past 75 years, the American people, while reading either short stories, novels, or longer publications, have been indoctrinated with the idea of modernism. This idea, has been pushed forwards be authors in all ages, and in all forms of publication. Modernism can be described, as looking at society and culture through a lens to find criticisms and critiques of the way that we perceive it. One of the best example of modernism that has been published in the past 75 years was by Flannery O’Conner, during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Flannery O’Connor throughout her short story, uses character’s and phrases to demonstrate the presence of evil in society as well as in each and every one of us.

Often heralded as the world’s greatest nation, the United States is also considered home to the world’s greatest authors. Reputable authors such as Fitzgerald, Twain, and Steinbeck remain relevant even through the washing waves of time. One such timeless author, Ray Bradbury, ventured the hazardous path of taboo to write of change. Through his novels of innocent youths evolving into children enlightened beyond their years, Bradbury utilizes the motif of time, innocence, and the philosophical movements of existentialism, transcendentalism, and romanticism to describe catastrophic events the American culture could face if existing destitute judgments continue to prevail. Ray Bradbury dared to reveal his voice.

From the very start of this essay, it is quite clear that the narrative perspective in Jack London’s “In a Far Country” is very different than the one in J.D.Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”. Both authors have managed to catch the reader’s hearts, but each of them through their specific, unique way of storytelling. Jack London has shown us the beauty and the cruelty of nature through his mesmerizing descriptions of the Great Wild, while Salinger had his own way of showing us that adulthood shouldn’t stop us from being the children we’ve hidden because of the responsibilities and problems life has brought unto us.

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

Conformity wouldn’t be so bad if what there was to conform to was positive. In this great land of the free and home of the Big Mac, forgive me for not putting my admiration or faith into the general public. The society we live in is built on hate and oppression. It dates back all the way to the genocide of the native population by the European invaders----excuse me, “settlers” that allowed this country to be established in the first place, and the slavery that allowed this country’s economy to start up and prosper. Institutionalized racism continues to be prevalent in everyday life; articles on police brutality from twenty years ago might as well have been written last week. Ethnic minorities are targeted and shot down in the streets; young

During early 20th century, American writers were influenced by the changing world of industrialization and globalization. The horrors and World War 1 and the invention of new technologies had people questioning the future of humanity. Writers and journalist used this time to voice their views and experiences during these troubling times. Henry Louis Mencken is well-known writer who had a powerful influence on America’s writing style during the 1920s. His writing style was known for it’s wit, and harsh criticism towards American social and cultural weaknesses. His essay “The Libido for the Ugly” sends the message to the reader that America needs to change its way of living because they are too content with their current ugly lifestyle.

The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American literature held fast, a fact clearly demonstrated in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an era of post-war disillusionment, when idealism succumbed to hedonistic materialism, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel,

American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation

Considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, The Catcher in the Rye has affected readers around the globe since its publication in 1951. Its contemporary critics, however, gave the novel mixed reviews. Compared to the ideals of 1950s America, Holden Caulfield, the emotionally immature, extremely judgmental, teen-aged main character of “Catcher,” embodies the antithesis. Holden was an affront to the new social order, which demanded conformity and propagated the “father knows best” mentality. Americans, however, despite the postwar economic boom, remained suspicious of authority. In idyllic suburban neighborhoods across the country, while families huddled around their new television screens, people discussed their neighbors’ movements, made distrustful even of their closest friends by the “Red Scare”. The American Dream seemed like a golden ring just out of reach, leaving people feeling like they were going around in circles without a clear destination or purpose. With his sense of nostalgia for better times, his bleak perspective of the future, and his contradictory nature, Holden speaks directly to this sense of confusion at the world that Americans felt during the 1950s.

In the various works provided to the class many themes are present in all of them, this paper will be focusing on the authors methods of critiquing social norms. The short story, A Telephone Call by Dorothy Parker paints a harsh reality from the perspective of a highly anxious woman forced into a lifestyle that many would relate to in the 1900s. “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning exposes the duke and the terrible social norms he reinforces through a poetic format allowing the reader to interpret his strange behavior on their own. Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel, by Zora Neale Hurston attempts to defy social norms and showcase the positive outcomes of such. Lastly, A Streetcar Named Desire is a play by Tennessee Williams which satirically points out the extremist behaviors that are approved and even rewarded by society. These pieces of literature from different genres still point out the same issues in social norms in regards to the power struggle between men and women and gender roles. Although the perspective changes, as the characters are different or the economy of words is different between the genres the message stays the same.

Early American literature may be said to begin with the Colonial period. John Smith and John Winthrop are two examples of the types of writing at this period: the former kept a romantic journal of his adventures in the New World; the latter kept a journal (or history) of life in New England, where religious matters were of utmost importance. The Puritans had come seeking a life free from religious persecution (which, they ironically brought with them however, as their descendent Nathaniel Hawthorne would show in The Scarlet Letter).

Throughout the duration of this class, I had the opportunity to encounter a great deal of fantastic examples of literature. The stories were as similar as they were different, each one with a unique premise but somehow also reflective of one another. Perhaps it is be accident, or more likely it is because the stories are a part of the fabric of our nation and the American condition. The stories are of their respective times while also being able to fairly and accurately critique American society, culture, and values. From capitalism to America’s changing thoughts on morality throughout the decades, the writings were introspective to the story of our nation.