Çavdar Tarlasinda Çocuklar: Masumi̇yeti̇n Sesi̇ Holden Caulfield

Abstract

The Catcher in the Rye is a social critique of the realities of America after World War II. The author, J.D. Salinger, addresses the psychological traumas and social changes after the war and adolescent problems. However, readers see social realities through the eyes of an adolescent, Holden Caulfield. Holden rebels against the conditions of modern life and adults’ intervention in the adolescent world; his rebellion is an escape. Since adolescence has its own culture and language, the adolescent language in the novel is unique and is an uncensored adolescent expression. It is this voice of adolescence that causes a conflict between adults and adolescents. Thus, Holden is both an adolescent critique of American society in the 1950s and an adolescent response to that society. In this study, adolescent problems and what shaped their development are excavated in terms of the way adolescents and adults perceive life.