The Children of Holden (Paperback)

J.D. Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye" introduced American literature to a new kind of protagonist - the angst ridden teenager stuck in the mire of adolescence. Holden Caulfield was frustrated, cynical, and weary of a society that was full of disappointment. His struggles with school, the opposite sex, and the loss of his brother Allie helped him to become the voice of a generation of teenagers. Out of Holden's skepticism over his future - "I think I am, but how do I know?" - a new literary genre was created contending with the tumultuousness of adolescence itself. Applying psychologist Erik Erickson's concept of the "identity crisis," this thesis will explore three representations of teen angst adolescent identity conflict, and the problems associated with it - identity foreclosure, negative identity, and identity diffusion. Erickson's identity crisis usefully describes the angst that accompanies the grief, trauma, and maturation struggles that characterize "The Catcher in the Rye," and its progeny, the Children of Holden: Laurie Halse Anderson's "Catalyst," Jean Ferris's "Bad," and Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."