J.D. Salinger :: essays research papers

Many critics consider J.D. Salinger a very controversial writer, for the subject matters that he writes.. J.D. Salingers works were generally written during two time finiss. The first time period was during World War II, and the second time period was during the 1960s. Critics feel that the works during the 1960 time period were very inappropriate, because of the problems for which he wrote. The main characters were generally misfits of society. In most of his works, he has the protagonist of the story go on a quest for happiness. Salinger does not adapt to the material happiness the characters undergo a spiritual happiness. The characters generally start out as in bad conditions, through the end of his works they undergone miscellanys that change them for the better. The works of J.D. Salinger show the quest for happiness through religion, loneliness, and symbolism. Salingers works often use religion in order to portray comfort. In Salingers Nine Stories Franny wish-wash keeps reciting the "Jesus Prayer" to cope with the suicide of her brother Seymour (Bloom in Bryfonski and Senick 69). Salinger is able to use this prayer as a means of comfort for Franny. The prayer stands for the lastly hope for Franny in this situation. Franny would be lost if there were no prayer. (Bryfonski and Senick 71). Salinger shows us comfort in Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield, the protagonist, is very much in discouragement for losing his girlfriend, so Caufield reads a passage in the Bible. This helps Holden change his outlook on life (Salzberg 75). Holden was all-alone at this point and had no one to turn back on, until he found the Bible (Salzberg 76). In both stories the characters had found themselves in bad situations. The characters in these works have obstacles, which they must overcome in order to bring home the bacon happiness (Salzman 34). Happiness is the very substance which all of these characters are striving for in Salingers works. Salinger uses religion in his works to comfort them so that they can march on on their quest to achieve happiness. Salinger uses religion as a means for carrier bag. Salinger uses much of the Zen philosophy, as in the case of Nine Stories, to achieve this liberation (Madsen 93). In Nine Stories one of the characters, Seymour Glass, is portrayed as Buddha in the sense that he wants to be liberated as Buddha was in his life (Madsen 93).