Formation of Identity through Negotiation in The Catcher in the Rye and The Giver

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the process of young adult’s coming of an age in J D. Salinger’s The Cather in the Rye and Lowis Lowry’s The Giver. Young adult characters, Holden and Jonas negotiate the social structure in their own way, yet they come to the same point—gaining maturity through assertive behavior—at the end of these novels. Examining in the framework of Petru Golban’s bildungsroman approach these two characters’ journey to maturity successfully negotiates existing social structures. Both of the young adult narratives revolve around characters’ coming of age experiences. Holden’s social structure makes him a rebel, whereas Jonas’ social structure makes him a controlled subject. Nevertheless, they challenge the social structures in the process of growing into indurated individuals. The negotiation to the structure occurs through resistance and complicity: Holden resists and Jonas becomes a part of the existing structure. Finally, both of the characters challenge the existing structure which is an indication of their character formation. The research concludes that both Holden and Jonas take a different route to maturity but they grow into being assertive individual. Protagonist in Salinger’s The Cather in the Rye and Lowry’s The Giver undergo a transformation of consciousness and both of them grow up to be assertive individuals albeit in a reverse trajectories. And, the research concludes that the formation of identity completes when Holden decides to stay back with his sister and Jonas successfully rescues Gabriel and runs out of the community.