In Catcher in the Rye and
Hamlet, both Holden and Hamlet rant and complain about their
respective societies, and they are justified in doing so. Post-war America was full of
corrupt, materialistic, sex-starved phonies. Likewise, Denmark was a prison-like police
state full of murder, incest, and adultery.
Both Holden and
Hamlet have moralistic obsessions: they are all conscience. Holden is obsessed with
calling out phonies and protecting children and art from obsenity and commercialism.
Hamlet is obsessed with revenge, salvation, and his mother's
sins.
Neither Holden nor Hamlet offer any redeeming moral
advice or solutions to solve society's problems. They seem to think their societies are
beyond repair, and they may be right. Both of them nearly commit suicide because they
find themselves trapped in inescapable, meaningless existences. Both Holden and Hamlet
are marginalized: they exist on the fringes of society only as critics. But, they have
the courage to, in Holden's case, go home, and in Hamlet's case, fight
on.
I don't see their viewpoints as negative. I don't see
them as whiners. Rather, their rants and complaints are noble and courageous. The
complain about themselves as much as others. Both call themselves cowards, but at least
they are cowards with something so say (which, in Holden's case, I find hilarious).
Indeed, they say what most of us are afraid to say ourselves. Living outside a
corrupt, materialistic, and conformist society is a kind of religious
duty.
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