About The Misfits

The society acts as a puppeteer. For a long time, it has influenced who different people in it turn out to be. As a result, culture, as well as a person’s immediate surroundings, have evolved to the point that they play a significant role in defining or affecting the diverse personalities of its people. Individuals will not always want to be ruled by society. However, society has a tendency to often place a person in situations that require them to behave or make choices in a certain manner, and this is essentially regulated by society. When an individual is influenced or controlled by the society they belong to, the result of this influence is more often than not a disadvantage. The individual may either be pushed to becoming someone they are not or getting into some situations that they cannot handle or handle wrongly. This would not be the case if society gave such an individual some sort of acceptance and security. As Bay writes, “An individual is more secure, the lower the probability that he will suffer damages or harm to vital interests” (Bay 74). The biggest loss in such cases is that some of these situations that the victims of society are driven to cannot be reversed.

As a result of all the ways through which the society or an individual’s surrounding can play a role in how they turn out, some individuals are affected more than others. Among the most affected are those who the society considers as outcasts or unfit to be among them. Such individuals can be referred to as misfits. A misfit, as pertaining to an individual’s place in a given society, can be defined as a person whose attitudes, behavior, characteristics or nature differentiates them or rather sets them apart from the other members of the society in a way that is often awkward or unusually tense. These misfits are often looked down upon by other people and treated unfairly. ”A society that relies heavily on elaborate and strictly enforced institutional sanctions is an oppressive one” (Bay 264). The plight that these misfits go through often drive them to either spend too much of their time trying to fit into a society, trying to change into a likeable person to those who look down on them. This may result in such people taking actions that may at times hurt them or the people around them. Examples of this can be seen in the novel’s Nineteen Minutes and The Catcher in the Rye. An individual does not always have to fit. It is okay, and most times even a good thing for someone to be different from the rest. More so, fitting into a group or a society is not an assurance of happiness. It is good to be different; failing to fit is not failing to make it.

In The Catcher of the Rye, loneliness is one of the themes brought out in the story. The main victim of loneliness in this story is Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield is a teenager studying at an institution in California but his home is in New York. The story begins with him revealing that he has been expelled from school but is afraid of how his parents will react to this. Throughout the story, Holden is looking for some sort of satisfaction in his rather uneventful life. He seems to never have his way and things in his life often go against his will. As a result, he develops unusual tendencies that he momentarily feels will resolve his lack of happiness, until the results prove otherwise. The plot of the story portrays him as a misfit and he is not seen taking part in the normal teenage escapades like his friends throughout the story. While other students are attending a football game at the school, he is left writing an assignment for his roommate who is out on a date. Worse off, his roommate is going on a date with a girl that Holden has a crush on. Holden is a lonely individual and this causes him a lot of sadness. Holden is significantly desperate for happiness and all he desires is some personal connection with someone. Due to the loneliness that arises from this he goes ahead to take part in vices such as attending a night club and even inviting a prostitute into his hotel room. These do not satisfy him in the way that he wishes. He is left in despair and still searching for ways to bring happiness in his life.

Peter is a teenager who lives in New Hampshire with his family. He studies at a local high school called Sterling High. In the story 19 Minutes, Peter is seen going through numerous cases of bullying by his more masculine counterparts at his school. Peter is also a victim of loneliness. He once had a close friend called Josie who would often stand up for him when he got bullied. However, Josie later joined the popular group of students and got into a relationship with one of the popular students at their school. As a result, she develops some resentment towards Peter so as to maintain her popularity and high status at the school. This hurts Peter severely as he has no close friend anymore and is left lonely. To make matters worse, Josie’s boyfriend, Matt, incites his fellow jocks into bullying him more. He is often an outcast and does not seem to fit in any group at his school. Due to the loneliness in Peter’s life, he becomes depressed and this pushes him to deciding on a dangerous way of resolving this feeling.

Another theme that has been brought out is that of family discord. Holden is from a somewhat dysfunctional family. Both his parents are present in his life and he has little sister, Phoebe who he loves very much and constantly thinks about, but his elder brother passed away while he was young. During his escapades in New York, before he was expected to be home, he is seen buying a record by the name Little Shirley beans, with his sister in mind. However, Holden is not at a very good place with his parents. Through the course of the story, he seems to be in fear of his parents. The first instance of this is when he was expelled from school for poor performance. He is seen taking measures that will ensure that he parents do not find soon that he has been expelled. Another instance where Holden’s distance from his parents is brought out is when he went to visit his sister and to give her the present that he had bought her. He sneaks into the house and talks to his sister but when he hears his parents getting home he sneaks out again and runs away. This shows that there is some discord between Holden and his family, which is the reason why he goes to seek personal connection from other people, such as Sully, the prostitute whom he only wanted to talk to and not have intimacy with. Lack of a good family relationship may cause an individual to look for the warmth of a family from the wrong sources. ”It seems to be more about what ―adulthood‖ regards cultural and political role in a traumatized society for which adults feel responsible.” (Yahya and Babaee 1825).

The theme of family discord is also seen in Peter’s story, 19 Minutes. Peter is from a family of four. Both his parents are present in life and he has an elder brother by the name of Joey. Family discord is clearly visible in Peter’s family, both between him and his parents as well as between him and his elder brother. His parents give Joey more attention than they do to Peter. Peter feels as though this is caused by the fact that Joey is an athletic child and is also a straight A student. This makes Peter feel left out and sad that his parents do not give him as much attention as they do to Joey. There is also discord between Peter and his brother Joey. Due to Peter’s unpopularity at school, Joey shuns him and refuses to be associated with him despite being his own brother. Joey goes ahead to start a rumor that Peter was actually adopted hence he is not really his brother. This shows a further rift between Peter and his family as well as its effects. It causes Peter to feel like an outcast the more. This family discord also contributes to the brutal act that Peter engaged in at his school. This is because, if Peter had been close to all or any member of his family. One would have been bound to either stop him from doing such a thing or even find out his plans to carry out such a gruesome deed.

Another theme that is dominant is that of rivalry. Individuals who are outcasts or misfits in a given society tend to develop rivalries either between them and a certain group of people or between them and one major rival. In The Catcher of the Rye, Holden develops some rivalry between him and a few of the other characters. The first instance of rivalry in the story is seen when Holden found out that his roommate Stradlater was going on a date with Jane, whom he had a crush on. When Stradlater gets back from the date, the two get into a confrontation on the same issue and Holden attempts to punch Stradlater who wins the fight that ensues. This rivalry is also caused by the fact that Holden is an outcast in among his peers. This is because, the fact that he was an outcast among his peers made him feel as though other people were infringing on his happiness. Jane, being Holden’s crush, was a symbol of happiness to him and seeing her out with someone else made him feel as though his happiness was getting invaded. This is why there developed some rivalry between him and Stradlater who was the one putting his happiness in jeopardy.

The theme of rivalry is also brought out by Peter, in 19 Minutes. Two major instances of rivalry are seen in this story. The first case of rivalry is seen between Peter and Matt. Matt often picked on and bullied Peter. More so, Matt would also often incite his fellow jocks into mistreating Peter. Finally, Matt got into an intimate relationship with Josie, who was once a close friend to Peter. This made Peter very unhappy as it widened the rift between them. This resulted in a huge rivalry developing between Matt and Peter. Matt was one of the victims of Peter’s shooting. Another instance of rivalry is seen between Peter and his elder brother Joey. Joey was a favorite of his parents and a popular student at school. Instead of Joey being a supportive elder brother and standing up for Peter, he added insult to injury by denying any ties between them. He spread a rumor claiming that Peter was an adopted child. This therefore led to there being sibling rivalry between Peter and his elder brother. This rivalry had a major impact on Peter because it affected him negatively both at school as well as at home. Rivalry had a rather worse effect on Peter than it did on Holden in The Catcher of the Rye. This is mainly because; rivalry was a major and most probably the main contribution to Peter being an outcast. His first rival, Matt was popular and as it would obviously turn out, if the popular kid hated someone or picked on them, so did the rest of the school. His second rivalry, between him and his brother Joey mad matters worse and made him even more disliked. Had Joey accepted Peter as he was and stood up for him, Peter would probably have fitted in with the other students due to his association with a jock and this would have not costed him anything. As explained by Blokland, ”within a democratic society, only those talents of the individual are developed which do not obstruct the development of the talents of others” (Blokland 95).

Another theme that stands out is the theme of escape. Every individual going through a struggle or any sort of destress always feels the need to find a solution that will either bring them some sort of relief or help them get away from their troubles momentarily. Outcasts often result to various means of dealing with their troubles. Some may be of benefit but for some people, they may choose wrong ways of escaping their misfortunes, often, ways that they have been exposed to or have seen working for other people. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is going through a number of struggles. First, he is failing in school and has been expelled, which he does not want his parents finding out. Another cause of destress is that his expulsion means that he will have leave the few friends that he has at his current school. His roommate is going out with a girl that he likes and this troubles him quite much. Last but not least, Holden is in desperate need of a personal connection with someone, but he has no success finding it. All these make Holden a very depressed and vulnerable individual. These issues lead him to go out of his way in such of happiness or means for him to escape from his troubles, whichever comes first. Holden opts to indulge in a rather eventful night out, on his own. He goes clubbing and drinking, with the hopes that this will make him happy and carry him away from his problems, even though it’s just for the night. This is an example of an escape that Holden chose, to deal with his hardships. To escape his need for a personal connection, Holden invited a prostitute to his hotel room but when she got there he did not want to have any intimate relations with her, instead he wanted to stay there with him and just talk. This failed to work, even after he had paid for her time. This was also an escape that Holden had chosen, to get away from his loneliness.

The theme of escape is also brought out in 19 Minutes by the main character Peter. Throughout the story, Peter goes through a series of troubles that cause him a significant amount of stress. The first challenge he is going through is that his long term and close friend, Josie drifts away from him and they are no longer friends. The other challenge that is going through is the bullying and unfair treatment he gets from one of the popular kids Matt, who also begins going out with Josie. This does not sit right with Peter. The other challenge that Peter is going through is the fact that his elder brother denies any association with him at school and while at home, he is the favorite child and receives all the attention from their parents. All these challenges push Peter closer and closer to the edge each passing day. Things always go against his will or rather his wish and the people who are around him do not make going through these challenges any easier for him. In the end, Peter is in urgent and desperate need of an escape from all his misery and he needs to a channel through which he can channel all his depression. This is what leads him to making a drastic move which ends up tragically. He shows up to school one day with a gun and fires randomly at his fellow students killing nine of them and a teacher. Despite this being a crime and a big blow to the family and friends of the deceased, Peter was not completely to blame for what he decided to do at that time. Peter is a teenager in high school and he is trying to grow up and discover himself just like the other students at his school. However, the individuals in his immediate surrounding did not make the environment conducive for him to grow normally and get to know himself, at his own pace. Instead, he was shunned by his own peers and made to feel as though he was beneath them. As a result, the young mind and heart in him needed to find a way to escape all this pressure or a way to make up for all what the society had put him through. He could not find the most satisfactory way to do this and this is what led him to do such heinous act. ”Thus, we can assume the madman as a person whose ideals does not compatible with the rest of the society and he resists the accepted norms” (Dashti and Bahar 179). In essence, Peter’s circumstances, drove him to some sort of madness, where he acted in a manner that was in no way normal.

Another major theme that is brought out in the films is the theme of innocence. Innocence is clearly seen in Holden’s story, The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the story, Holden expresses how much he values thee innocence of children. This high value that he has for innocence is due to the struggle he himself went through and is still going through while growing up. Holden also expresses his hatred for the world of adults and all the lack of legitimacy that this world seems to have. This is because the society does not let individuals be themselves, ”the more a society maximalizes the development of its members, the more democratic it is” (Blokland 95). Holden’s secret but most dominant desire and aim is to be The Catcher in the Rye. The root of this is that he constantly sees himself in a field of rye where numerous children are full of joy and also plenty of abandon. However, this field is at the edge of a steep cliff and in this metaphor, Holden is standing watch for any child that strays to or near the cliff and he is there to catch them so that they may not fall and die, which will signify their innocence coming to an end. This metaphor is Holden’s way of coping with the issues that he is trying to deal with. This is the thought that consoles him and acts as his mechanism for coping with all the stresses that he is dealing with.

The theme of innocence is also one that dominates in the novel 19 minutes. However, unlike in Holden’s story, innocence is portrayed differently in this story. In this story, Peter, though he does not realize it, is the symbol of innocence. The shooting that Peter took part in was not out of an evil heart. More so, it was not even something that he had long planned to do. This was simply a drastic and rational decision that he made at a time of weakness, vulnerability and a lot of pressure on him. As much as Peter was responsible and guilty of the shooting that he took part in, in real sense he was innocence. This is because, the people at the same school where he went on a shooting spree, was the same school where he got bullied, mistreated and pushed away more often than can be counted. These fellow students and negligent parents were the ones who took away his innocence by pushing him so far, to the point of him deciding on such an act as the solution. This shooting was his mechanism of coping with the challenges that he had been going through all this time. ”The essence of tragedy consciousness is subject to human physical mental state of the tragic survival as the reference survival to seeking truth and a special mental state of beauty.” (Jing and Xia 951).This was the mechanism that he felt to be the most fit for him to use to channel out all the anger and depression.

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden seems as though he starts getting a hold of himself and starting to learn some lessons. Towards the end of the story, after he has already changed to his new school, there seems to be a glimmer of hope. He seems to be growing up. As much as this means losing more of his innocence, it also means that he is gradually gaining the ability to handle and deal with the issues of the adult world.

Unlike in Holden’s story, In 19 Minutes, there is not much hope for Peter. After the incident at his school, what follows is a heavy law suit that ends in him being given a life sentence. This is despite clarity of the fact that what he did was as a result of psychological stress and not because he was driven by an ill motive or intended to engage in a terror act. Peter therefore goes from a bad situation, to a worse situation with no hope of things getting any better for him. The story ends with him committing suicide while in jail.

Conclusion

The most unfortunate aspect of the fact that in most cases society has an inevitable control on the outcome of an individual is that this control is in most cases not driven by good intentions. The society always seems to be making endless effort to bring down an individual who is doing well or further diminish an individual who is in a hopeless or unfortunate situation. This gets worse for individuals who are considered outcasts since it displeases people more, when someone beneath them or someone they look down upon starts doing well. However, individuals in such situations should develop a nature of self-dependence where they do not depend on the approval of the society but rather, build their own personality and go through life at the pace that fits them most. Also it is important for them to learn that being an outcast does not necessarily mean that they are wrong and the society is right, it could be the other way around. Failing to fit, is not failing to make it.

Works Cited

Bay, Christian. The structure of freedom. Stanford University Press, 1958.

Blokland, Hans Theodorus. Freedom and culture in western society. Vol. 5. Psychology Press, 1997.

Bloom, Harold. JD Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye. Infobase Publishing, 2014.

Dashti, Sorour Karampour, and Ida Baizura Binti Bahar. ”Resistance as madness in The Catcher in the Rye.“ Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5.3 (2015): 457.

Jing, J. I. N. G., and J. I. N. G. Xia. ”An Analysis of the Tragedy in The Catcher in the Rye.“ Sino-US English Teaching 12.12 (2015): 949-952.

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen minutes. Simon and Schuster, 2008

Yahya, Wan Roselezam Wan, and Ruzbeh Babaee. ”Salinger’s depiction of trauma in The Catcher in the Rye.“ Theory and Practice in Language Studies 4.9 (2014): 1825.