“Rebel Without a Cause”, 1955, displays a superior reflection on “Coming of Age” to modern audiences than “The Catcher in the Rye”, 1951. Although both titles had been released in similar years, “Rebel Without a Cause” relates more adjacently to day-to-day modern teenage life.
Jim Stark, from the film Rebel Without a Cause, and Holden Caulfield, from The Catcher in the Rye, are both teenage protagonists set in the 1950’s. Both titles carry the genre of “Coming of Age”. Although they were released in similar times; Rebel Without a Cause is more appealing and effective as a “Coming of Age” narrative to modern audiences. This is due to many factors that differentiate the two stories, such as, the protagonist. Another factor that impacts the…show more content… Jim is a much more appealing character and resembles modern day teenage life to the audiences of today. The reasoning to why Holden Caulfield is less relative to modern audiences is because he portrays a teenage boy who is an outcast compared to his peers. This outcast characteristic is exhibited many times throughout The Catcher in the Rye. “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game. […] I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. […] You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. […] You could hear them all yelling.” (Salinger, 2) This quote is displaying the fact that instead of attending the football game with the rest of the students and making social interactions, Holden decided to watch over the game by himself. Unlike Holden, Jim puts in effort to fit in but is always unsuccessful due to the constant relocation of his schooling. Jim’s eagerness to fit in was shown when he was being apologetic and understanding to his fellow classmate, who had been hounding him for stepping on the school’s logo. The need to fit in, shown by Jim in Rebel Without a Cause, is something many teenagers from today encounter in day-to-day
