The Catcher in the Rye A perspective from the 1950s English 11

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The Catcher in the Rye A perspective from the
1950sEnglish 11
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The Catcher in the Rye

• Author J.D. Salinger

Introducing literatures most cynical teenager
circa 1951
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The 1950s
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The classic American family

• Traditional roles
• Dad was the only provider and head of the house
• Mom was a stay at home type tended to cooking,
  cleaning and child raising
• Kids spent most of their time outdoors exploring
  their community (it was safe)

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And the TEENS?

• Education was much less of a priority than it is
  today
• If you finished high school, college was a
  relatively infrequent opportunity
• Getting a job and getting married straight out of
  high school were much more common
• Anyone interested in this way of life?

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What changed?
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WE WIN!

• After World War II ended in 1945, the
  conventional family structure and roles started
  to take on different perspectives
• Victorious war effort left the U.S. much more
  financially stablepeople had money again!
• And what do people do when they have money?

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Spend it!

• In the late 1940s early 50s, there were two
  consumer products that helped to create a modern
  concept of the teenager
• The television
• The automobile

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So.

• How would an increase in TV and car purchases
  change families?
• More specifically, how would these purchases
  impact teenagers?
• Discuss

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TVs/Hollywood

• Advertising created demographics
• (men, women, old, young, AND the teen)
• Family time changed
• Different shows appealed to different ages
• Music became more and more rebellious

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1950s
2000s
Anne
Marilyn
Leo
James
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Elvis Presley
Justin Timberlake
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Cars

• More accessible more affordable
• Detract from family
• Sense of freedom
• Images of cool
• Emergence of fast food
• Possibilities for drinking sex

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The new Teenager

• Basically, the 1950s was the inception period of
  the modern teenager
• Holden Caulfield, the narrator of The Catcher in
  the Rye, is arguably the first modern teenager
  of literature