Achieving Set Goals The Catcher In The Rye
Everyone has personal goals, whether it is losing twenty pounds by Christmas or passing English with 80 %. Goals and expectations set by others need to be accomplished or at least attempted. People do not always live up to what is expected from them, and they must cope with letting people down. Some goals set by others may not correspond with the personal goals and expectations set by the individual. In this case the individual must decide what to do. Numerous people in society have standards, expectations, and goals that are placed upon others, sometimes unwillingly. Neil Perry from “Dead Poets Society” by Peter Weir and Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger are both faced with the difficulties that arise when trying to accomplish these goals set by others. The boys are not always successful in accomplishing the goals and fulfilling the expectations set. Neil and Holden have goals and expectations to live up to, set by the schools they attend, themselves, and the teachers who teach them. It is difficult to disappoint the people who try to help the boys on their journey in life.
Neil Perry’s teacher, Mr. Keating, and Holden’s teacher, Mr. Antolini, have many similarities and differences in their teaching methods. Both teachers try to convey the greater reason for being in school other than to just teach the boys. They connect to Neil and Holden on a personal level and help the boys outside of just the academics of school. Mr. Antolini knows Holden’s family and is a family friend as well as his teacher. He tells Holden “I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, a terrible fall…This fall I think you’re riding for - it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself fall” (Salinger 186-187). Mr. Antolini is afraid that Holden has no goal in life, he will soon end up dead or taking a great fall in his life mentally, and he won’t even know...
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