|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
At first glance, Middlesex’s Cal Stephanides seems to be a completely unique character. ... The psychological and emotional trauma that she endures causes her to run away and have a sex change operation, thus starting a new life as a 14-year-old male, Cal. Despite the fact that his story is quite different from Cal’s, there is another character in literature whose story has myriad similarities: The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield. ... When people read it they find that they’re sympathizing with Callie as she goes through the metamorphosis… And then, of course, there’s also the great pleasure of story-telling and making your chaotic existence coherent in a way. ... Like Holden and Cal, he was forced to deal with a difficult adolescence, and responded to his confusion with sexuality and identity as best he could, as they do. The unique and difficult adolescences of Middlesex’s Cal Stephanides and The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield render each of the narrators a witty introvert who cannot connect with others, primarily because both characters respond to their problems by running away and shutting people out of their lives. Consequently, understanding Holden Caulfield, a narrator who “…stands for young people everywhere who felt themselves beset on all sides by pressures to grow up” can help us understand Cal, whose story sends the same message about the confusing epoch of adolescence but is obscured by his hermaphrodism.
Among the many things that Holden and Cal have in common are challenging and eventful adolescences. Cal’s early years are nothing short of unbelievable:
Like Tiresias, I was first one thing and then the other. ... An army tank led me into urban battle once; a swimming pool turned me into myth; I’ve left my body in order to occupy others- and all this happened before I was sixteen (Eugenides 3)
While Holden’s story of losing his younger brother to leukemia and getting expelled from four high schools is considerably more tranquil by comparison, the effect of these difficult years is very much the same as Cal’s. ... For example, before symptoms of hermaphrodism emerged, Cal was a beautiful girl. ... Everyone wanted to… Looking back now, I can only remember a time when the world seemed to have a million eyes, silently opening wherever I went… But increasingly my narcissistic pleasure was tempered by the unlovely condition of the pool into which I gazed (278)
This overt display of longing and contempt of change mirrors that of Holden’s. Frustrated and terrified at the thought of growing up, Holden expresses his wish that things would just stay the way they are, in perhaps the most famous quote in The Catcher in the Rye: “Certain things they should stay the way they are. ... ” (Salinger 122) It is important to note that I had difficulty grasping the meaning of Cal’s quote until I considered it with respect to Holden’s character. At first I was simply perplexed that a grown man was bragging about how he used to be the hottest prepubescent girl, but thanks to Holden’s similar outlook and simplistic character, I now understand that that was Cal’s way of saying that he wishes his 12-year-old self could have been put into Holden’s glass case to preserve the happiness that he once felt and the innocence that he once had.
The suffering endured by Holden and Cal produced in each of them philosophical maturation and the discerning eye of an introvert. ... This perceived social omniscience is a fundamental characteristic of Holden, who is quicker to criticize and categorize others than any character I’ve ever encountered. He spends the majority of The Catcher in the Rye stereotyping others as stupid, mean, and above all, “phony”; “Phoniness… is one of Holden’s favorite concepts.
Approximate Word count = 3114
Approximate Pages = 12.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|