Kubler 1

John Kubler
English 429
14 February 2015
The World is Too Much With Them: the Impact of Rigid Group Norms on Identity Formation
in The Outsiders and Catcher in the Rye
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers
William Wordsworth (1802)
Wordsworths clarion warning about the potential harmful effects of industrialization in the
early 19th century seems eerily timeless, foreshadowing the rise of rampant greed and materialism in
our own past century. And its call is relevant even in todays postmodern 21st century in view of the
recent documented excesses of deceitful financial practices that led to the Great Recession of the
past decade. To put it bluntly, adult society, for the last fifty years, has provided few attractive
models for teenagers to emulate as they navigate through the dangerous minefield of hazards
enroute to building a personal identity that might lead them to a life of fulfilled happiness. This
failure of adult society to provide adequate positive role models has devastating consequences, as
can be seen in the following investigation of two novels with adolescent protagonists living in the
second half of the 20th centuryS.E. Hintons The Outsiders and J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the
Rye. The chief obstacle that obstructs our young adults journeys to maturity lies in their attempts
to follow rigid conceptions of what their societies teach them are normal identity behaviors
without first interrogating these indoctrinated codes of behavior to expose their shallow values and
hypocrisies. Similar to Wordsworths humanist desire to invigorate his society by creating a more
meaningful poetic language rid of ornamental artifice, the teenage heroes in these two novels learn
to use the power of written language to tell narratives that show the secret to self-fulfillment lies in
independent thinking and a rejection of the phoniness of stereotypical assumptions of others.
Granted, the road leading to self-esteem and a fulfilling identity is difficult for teens. As the
respected developmental psychologist Erik Erikson discusses in two of his books, Identity: Youth

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and Crisis (1968) and The Life Cycle Completed (1997), our self-identity is made up of two broad
subcategories of awareness: our psychosocial identity, referred to as an occupational identity that
focuses on how we live amongst others outside the self (1968: 132,135) and our existential identity
that focuses on developing the internal individual I. As we age and gain maturity, more attention
is directed to developing our existential identity compared to attention given over to our
psychosocial identity (1997: 73). Unfortunately for teens, according to Erikson, because they
havent had much time to develop their existential identity formation process, often times a sense of
bewilderment and uncertainty results, leading to a sense of identity loss. As a defense mechanism
against this uncertainty and identity crisis, teens compensate by focusing on building their
psychosocial identity through the search for external role models. To keep themselves together
[teens] temporarily over-identify with the heroes of cliques and crowds to the point of an apparently
complete loss of individuality Erikson argues (1968: 132). However, here is where the power of
peer pressure and the potential harmful impacts of a narrow-minded uninterrogated cultural
ideology can be observed on teen behavior, resulting in xenophobic demonizing and othering of
those who live outside ones peer group and economic background, who dress, speak, and behave
differently, either because of skin color or lack of capital resources. Stereotypes, prejudices, and the
belief in ideological enemies soon emerge.
The Power of Teenage Authorship to Overcome Class Prejudice
Nowhere is this harmful impact of rigid narrow-minded ideology on the development of the
psychosocial self more easily observed than in Hintons chief characters in her young adult novel,
The Outsiders. In the Midwestern Oklahoma small-town culture of the early 1960s depicted in the
novel, adult society has created the harmful model of ideological warfare between the lower
economic social class (the Greasers) and the upper economic class (the Socs). The narratorprotagonist of the novel is Ponyboy Curtis, a fourteen year old boy from the disadvantaged Greaser
class, who, throughout most of the novel, follows peer pressure and the restrictive code of model

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behavior laid down by his older brothers, even if these behaviors can cause harm: You take up for
your buddies, no matter what they do. When youre a gang, you stick up for the members
otherwise a dog-eat-dog back-stabbing anarchy would result, Ponyboy tells us (24). Polarization
between the two youth groups has existed for years: Socs have good grades, good cars, good [wellbehaved] girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs (32), while the Greasers are almost like hoods:
we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations Ponyboy confesses (4).
Although not visibly dramatized in the plot of the novel, the reader hears it is the adults who
have established this world of segregated social order; as one of the privileged Soc students, Cherry
Valance asserts to Ponyboy (justifying her avoidance of him in school), we couldnt let our parents
see us with you all (40). Hence, the sins of the fathers are visited onto the children in this novel
leading to successive years of resentful intolerance through which the tacit adult prejudices are
physically manifested in violence between the two respective gangs of teenagers. Eventually,
echoing some of the earlier plot lines from Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, the escalating
peer pressure and revengeful gang warfare leads to the deaths of three young adultsPonyboys
friends Johnny and Dally, and one of the Socs, Bob Sheldon. Hence, the desire to build ones selfidentity by following the established polarizing norms of divisive gang behavior has terrible
consequences for the youth in this community.
However, do any of the central characters show signs of learning from their mistakes of
blindly following externalized group pressure and maintaining the status quo of social behaviors
and attitudes? Do any of them think independently and carve out their own pathways to develop a
strong existential identity discussed above by Erikson? Lets first assess the leading characters
from the Socs group to find out. The only male Soc character who is depicted with any sensitivity
is Randy Adderson who was a close friend to the Soc boy who was killed by the Greaser, Johnny
Cade. Randy makes progress towards resisting his indoctrinated code of hating the Greasers when
he drops his guard and establishes a respectful dialogue with Ponyboy. Randy magnanimously

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confesses he is sympathetic to Johnnys injuries suffered in the heroic rescue of the children from
the church fire and is sick of this whole mess [the gang violence] because it doesnt do any good
(98). This is a good start towards building a new self-identity apart from the usual ideology of the
Socs. However, Randy is still not entirely free from his traditional divisive ways of thinking when
he comments on the doomed inevitable segregation of the two groups: he cynically argues to
Ponyboy You cant win, even if you whip us. Youll still be where you wereat the bottom. . . .
Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Hence, Randy is still trapped within the
status quo of social class antagonism and standardized ways of group thinking.
The sympathetically-portrayed main Soc female character, Cherry Valance (the closest we
have to a romantic heroine in the novel), also shows glimpses of a positive meta-awareness of the
harmful impact of the continual feuding between the two groups. She has the courage to cross
borders and reach out to the Greasers. Befriending Ponyboy at the movie and later walking home
with him, she clearly thinks for herself and criticizes her social class materialistic values of
constantly craving more and more of everything always searching for something to satisfy us, and
never finding it as in a rat race. Likewise, she has awareness of the phoniness and pretentiousness
of her peer groups lifestyle: Nothing is real with us . . . . I dont really think a beer blast on the
river bottom is super-cool, but Ill rave about one to a girl-friend just to be saying something (33).
Yet, its not clear whether Cherry is ready to embark on a complete overhaul of her self-identity,
dissolve all boundaries between the two groups, and develop a new attitude of commonality, or, on
the other hand, will simply reluctantly accept, like Randy, that the two groups must forever remain
separate but equal. On the one hand, Cherry does continue to break away from her peer groups
model code of behavior and think for herself by crossing lines and warns the Greasers about what
the Socs are planning for the upcoming rumble, despite the fact her own boy-friend Bob was the
one who was killed by Johnny. But her journey to independence here remains problematic; she
wont break ranks enough to go visit the dying Johnny in the hospital, and Ponyboy scolds her by

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insinuating that the Greasers dont want her to pity them (110). So, in the end, Cherry, like Randy,
is only partially free from her peers socialized norms of behaviors and attitudes.
On the Greasers side, Johnny also shows only limited attempts at breaking away from the
rigid norms of behaving taught to him by older members of his social class. At the movie, he
instinctively breaks ranks and criticizes his own hero Dally for harassing the two Soc girls, Cherry
and Marcia. Both he and Ponyboy begin to realize that Socsif these girls were any example
were just like us (33). Yet, Johnny later acquiesces to the psychosocial codes and assumptions of
his lower class group by falling victim to his indoctrinated fears and nervously makes sure his knife
is ready to defend himself whenever any of the Socs drive by. In this manner, he is not yet ready to
rid himself of all weapons and ideas of retaliating against the others, and eventually falls into the
trap of stabbing one of the Socs during the fight. Furthermore, in his dying epitaph note written to
Ponyboy in the hospital, Johnny does tell us about his meta-awareness epiphany that it is noble to
sacrifice oneself to save innocent kids from a burning church and that there is still goodness in the
world. However, he does not instruct Ponyboy to forgive the Socs altogether, consider them
common brothers, and reject the Greasers rigid attitude that maintains eternal hostility towards
these rich kids. He inadvertently hints at the real solutionthe need for clear independent thinking
and rejecting stereotypical assumptionsand writes to Ponyboy You still have a lot of time to
make yourself be what you want [emphasis added], but also maintains in the same breath And
dont be so bugged about being a greaser (152). So, whats the best adviceremain a Greaser, or
strike out on your own? We never find out. In light of this, I will argue that the novel offers no
convincing evidence that Johnny, even in dying, discovers a pathway to individualized identity
formation apart from traditional Greaser values.
On the other hand, Ponyboy, the main Greaser character, certainly does show a development
of an independent self-identity apart from the usual model codes of his social class, although he
does waffles back and forth on his choice of identity roles throughout the novel, until the very end.

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For the most part, Ponyboys conflicted formative process of struggling to discover the type of
person he wants to become is the major dramatic action that underscores the entire plot events of
the book. He explains this to the reader in his self-reflexive assessment of the tension that is
mounting inside himself while he navigates a pathway through the mires of the potential choices for
Greaser behavioral identity: I couldnt just take it or leave it like Two-Bit [being a disadvantaged
member of society], or ignore it and love life anyway like Sodapop, or harden myself beyond
caring like Dally, or actually enjoy it like Tim Shephard. I felt the tension growing inside of me and
I knew something had to happen or I would explode (42).
An example of this back-and-forth waffling is seen in the beginning of the novel where
Ponyboy claims a degree of independence from the norms of Greaser delinquent behaviors, like
robbing gas stations: I dont mean I do things like that he tells us (4). Yet, he contradicts this
statement by accompanying his Greaser friends on disreputable activities such as watching Dally
steal packs of cigarettes from the drugstore, participating in chasing junior-high kids across fields,
and cheating by sneaking into the drive-in movie without paying (18). Later, as mentioned earlier,
inspired by Cherrys own meta-awareness at the movie show, Ponyboy begins to see beyond the
Greasers traditional assumption that the Socs are all cold, insensitive selfish enemies when he
informs the reader that he is beginning to understand that there is a basic human commonality
between the two estranged groupsthat the Socs were just like us and are capable of appreciating
the beauty of the same sunset, if both sides would only realize this commonality (33).
Moreover, when Randy drops his animosity and respectfully seeks a peaceful moment of
open dialogue with Ponyboy, praising him for his heroics in saving the children from the fire,
Ponyboy achieves a second moment of meta-awareness of the potential for a shared identity
between the groups, reminding Randy that gang divisiveness is not an inevitable doomed fate: You
would have saved those kids if you had been there Ponyboy tells Randy, hinting at the hidden
goodness inside both class groups (99). Ponyboy goes on to insist that it all comes down to an

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individuals choice regarding which action to follow; some guys might choose to follow traditional
selfish actions, but some others might choose differently. And later, when Two-Bit asks what
Super-Soc Randy wanted, Ponyboy, perhaps for the first time in his life, resists the standard
social code of labeling the other as different and replies He aint a Soc. Hes just a guy. He
wanted to talk simply on a common human level, man-to-man (99-100).
However, Ponyboys complete resistance to the status quo code of behavior, at this point in
the novel, is still not achieved; he contradicts this moment of blissful commonality by still insisting
that he must walk the identity pathway of the typical Greaser by taking part in the rumble with the
Socs because Right then the most important thing in my life was helping us whip the Socs (114).
Furthermore, after Johnny dies, Ponyboy is so traumatized by his friends death that he begins to
retreat from the world and sinks into a path of self-destructive malaise. He feels such loyalty to his
peer group that he tries to become a martyr for the cause, accepting blame for Johnny stabbing the
Soc boy, Bob Sheldon, and relapses into following the role of an enraged Greaser psycho-killer bent
on destroying any Soc who crosses his path. In the days after the rumble, when a group of Socs
approach him outside the grocery store, questioning whether he is the killer of Sheldon, Ponyboy
reacts violently and smashes off the neck of a soda bottle, thrusts the weapon out towards the Socs,
and shouts You get back into your car or youll get split (145).
Yet, at the end of the novel, through the intervention of both his brothers and the discovered
death-bed note from Johnny, Ponyboy finally achieves a reflexive meta-awareness that he must
carve out his own existential identity apart from the usual behaviors of his fellow Greasers. After
his brother Darry admonishes him Youre living in a vacuum, Pony . . . . you just dont stop living
because you lose someone (148), Pony realizes that I was sick and cold with shame at not seeing
that Sodapop was hurting inside whenever Pony and Darry fought with each other (149). Pony next
reads Johnnys note and reaches his final epiphany. He interrogates the rigid traditional
expectations for how a member of the Greaser social class ought to think and decides it is vitally

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important to him to embark on an identity pathway of his own choosing: he turns to using language
the narrative power of the reflective memoir genre to become a writer who will tell the story of
the potential for common goodness that exists inside both social groups, the rich and poor alike, so
that people wouldnt be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore (152). In this
manner, both young authorsthe fictional Ponyboy and the real-life teenage writer S. E. Hinton
(who wrote the novel while still in high school)learn to think of themselves as writers who can
use language to expose the harm that rigid out-dated stereotypical biases will have on young adults.
They use their language to unite people and help overcome class prejudice.
Using Language to Question what is Normal Sexual Desire
While the novel The Outsiders depicts how rigid adult social class prejudices have a harmful
impact on the development of teenagers psychosocial selves, in J. D. Salingers The Catcher in the
Rye, the chief identity crisis of the protagonist has little to do with attitudes toward status, wealth, or
social class. Here, our protagonist is seventeen year old prep school student Holden Caulfield, a
member of an East coast family of wealth and privilege, who from the start of the novel
unapologetically rejects the values of the social class he is born into, and suffers no misgivings in
doing so. He is convinced that if he follows an upper class lifestyle, it will only lead to the creation
of divisive cliques, judgmental prejudices, and intra-group ostracism.
At his prep school, the only adults Holden comes in contact with are negative role models
drawn from the upper class such as the ass-kissing teacher Mr. Spencer who only wants to please
the headmaster (218) or the egotistical old alumnus who visits the school only to see if his name is
still carved into a toilet stall door (219). Echoing The Outsiders Cherry Valances moment of metaawareness in which she sees the futility of participating in the rat-race chase of materialistic
possessions, Holden engages in his own interrogation of his groups values and confesses to his date
Sally Hayes that he no longer wants to play in the ivy-league prep school corporate arena that
society expects him to play in because Its full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can
learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day (170). So clearly,

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following phony and rigid social class codes of behavior is not Holdens dramatic error in the novel
which might lead him into harms way.
Instead, this time the harmful psychological impact on the teenage character is due to his
confusion in living up to the rigid codes of what heteronormative adult society defines as normal
or proper sexual attitudes and behaviors fitting his masculine gender. These adult
heteronormative codes wreck havoc in Holdens process of constructing his existential identity,
leading to his role confusion and considerable teenage angst. In his book, Identity: Youth in Crisis,
psychologist Erikson points out that teens who are confused about their gender identity or sexual
orientation may experience a crisis of intimacy: The youth who is not sure of his identity shies
away from interpersonal intimacy or throws himself into acts of intimacy which are promiscuous
(135). This certainly applies to Holden in his failed attempts to become intimate with the women in
his life in the novel: Sex is something I just dont understand he tells us (82). He confesses hes
still a virgin, although Ive had quite a few opportunities to lose my virginity and all, but Ive
never got around to it yet. Something always happens (120). Whether this is his admitted bungled
attempt at unhooking a girls bra on a date (122) or his inability to perform when he has the
opportunity to have casual sex in his hotel room with the young prostitute Sunny (123),
something always gets in the way of Holdens capacity to be physically intimate with a girl,
making him uncomfortable with sexual exploration.
But what is this something that makes him so unsettled and anxious in his quest for
intimacy? A lack of arousal is not the problem; Holden, like most teenagers, clearly has a sex drive.
In fact, the entire novel could be seen as driven by sexual desire as our protagonist explores the
sexual nightlife of post-World War II New York City, since nearly every major plot event is driven
by a desire for or response to some physical encounter with sexualized dimensions. For example, at
the end of the very first paragraph of the novel Holden makes reference to a sexual image
referring to his brother as a literary prostitute living in Hollywoodand only three paragraphs

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later Holden suggests that the only reason to attend the prep schools football games is to meet girls
such as Selma Thurmer with her damn falsies that point all over the place (5). Finally, by the
time Holden describes the weather as being cold as a witchs teat, we begin to sense that sexual
desires will have a significant dramatic impact on our protagonists character development.
Shockingly, this teen even tries to get intimate with the 45 year old mother of one of his classmates,
Mrs. Morrow, on the train to NYC, by asking if shed like to have a cocktail with him since, as he
tells us, she had quite a lot of sex appeal, too, if you really want to know (73).
So although he does have erotic desires, as most teenagers do, the cause of Holdens
confused sexual identity lies in his inability to break free from the harmful consequences of trying
to conform to the standardized model of heteronormative attitudes and codes of gender behavior.
This social model teaches Holden several damaging attitudes regarding normal sexual desire.
First of all, he assumes that the ideal image of masculine sexuality ought to fit the tough-guy model
of a handsome womanizer who is always the dominant controller of the sexual relationship. In the
novel, he is presented with three model examples of this controller: his gorgeous jock roommate
Stradlater, and two characters at Ernies nightclubthe Navy officer who hooks up with the busty
girl Lillian Simmons, and the sexually aggressive Yale college boy who continues copping a feel
with his date while ironically telling her about a dorm-mates attempted suicide. These are the men
who succeed in scoring sexual home runs in Holdens eyes; theyre the ones who wont stop
when a girl says no (120). Theyre the ones, Holden tells us, like the Navy officer who always
crushes your fingers when they shake hands with you, so you wont think theyre pansies because
behaving in a stereotypically effeminate manner does not fit the macho norm for men (113).
Holden also suffers from self-loathing guilt and a loss of sexual confidence when he
compares his failings to live up to this normative image of take-charge masculinity: he says hes
weak (39), he says hes yellow with no backbone for fighting for what he believes in, he cant even
stand to look an assailant in the eyes during a fight (117), and when the pimp Maurice beats up

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Holden, our young protagonist feels so depressed he wants to jump out the window (136).
Moreover, Holden laments the fact that he cant get laid because whenever a girl says no to him
during necking, he stops and loses desire (120). He cant get turned on if a girl is sexually
dominating and taking charge of their encounteras the young prostitute Sunny does in his failed
session with her in the hotel, and the vivacious Sally Hayes does on her date with Holden at Radio
City. Oddly, he seems to be comfortable with physical intimacy only when a girl shows a childlike
vulnerability, as he recalls Jane Gallagher doing when she started crying because of her boozing
fathers actions that compelled Holden to spontaneously smother her with kisses since he thought
she needed protection (102). This woosification of our protagonist is devastating for his sense of
self-esteem. Societys behavioral codes are teaching him one ideal, but he cant seem to live up to
this macho-sexual dominant ideal, and he wont take pride in interrogating these rigid norms in
order to possibly discover his own sexual identity apart from these norms.
Likewise, this standard macho image of the take-charge sexual commander leads Holden
to acquire several harmful sexist attitudes towards the female gender, leading to a belief in their
supposed inferiority and emotional immaturity. The reason he always stops when they say no is not
because he respects them, but because I get to feeling sorry for them. I mean most girls are so
dumb and all (121). He claims they are weak and unable to control their erotic passions, once they
get going: After you neck them for awhile, you can really watch them losing their brains.
(Apparently, he thinks only men can keep their cool having sex.) And he tends to believe that a
girls best qualities lie only in their physical attractiveness. For example, he claims he is falling in
love with the thirty year old tourist Bernice in the Lavender lounge because she did something
pretty like twitching her butt around during jitterbug dancing, in spite of her potential stupidity in
being a woman: Thats the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty . . . even if
theyre sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them (95). It appears this is the only reason to love
them, in his mind. Later, when Sally Hayes is a bit late to their theatre date, Holden tells us he will

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excuse this breach of social etiquette because of Sallys physical appeal: If a girl looks swell when
she meets you, who gives a damn if shes late? (162). Hence, we see glimpses of Holdens many
sexist views, based on what he thinks teenage boys ought to feel.
But the most devastating impact on Holdens psyche caused by his failed struggle to
conform to the heteronormative model of masculine desire that his society has taught him comes in
the form of his rigid narrow-minded intolerance of any person whose sexual desires might fall
outside the code of what he takes to be normal desires. In other words, he suffers from a
transphobic or queer phobic anxietyconsidering his assumption that transvestites (like the crossdressing old man at the hotel) and those who experiment with a type of water-sports sexual activity
(the couple who spit on each other) are all a bunch of degenerate perverts as he calls them (7980). Societys model of masculine sexual behaviors and Holdens puritanical assumptions about the
weak vulnerability of women cause him to develop a narrow vision of how to properly have sex
with a woman: if you like a girl, he tells us, then youre supposed to like [only] her face, and if you
like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it, like squirting water all over it.
In other words, he believes the traditional model of heteronormativity teaches a man not to explore
the sensuality of the body. He also tells the reader what his gay student advisor Carl Luce taught
him about the perverted beastial desires that some men have for sheep and about those men who
fetishize little girls pants, sewing them into the linings of their hats (186). Its ironic that Salinger
allows the little heroine in Holdens lifehis precocious younger sister Phoebe, who symbolizes
for Holden a person with a well-adjusted sense of selffeel perfectly comfortable trying on the
cross-gendered identity of the masculine Benedict Arnold in her school play. Why doesnt Holden
have her same courage in gender experimentation? One could argue Salinger, here, is suggesting
Phoebe has a more enlightened form of tolerance for others alternative lifestyle choices.
Furthermore, same-sex desire is consistently ridiculed and equated with perversion in
Holdens mind throughout the novel in his disparaging reference to lesbians and his constant

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referral to homosexuals as devalued flits. In fact, he agrees with Carl that half the married guys
in the world were flits and didnt even know it (186). Hence, I will argue that the underlying
catalyst that propels Holden on his quest to move out of the dorm early and search for meaning in
the nightlife of New York City is his homophobic fear that he himself might have latent same-sex
desires. Having same-sex desires do not fit the standard model of masculinity that society has laid
out for him, he believes. Hence, Holdens psychosocial self suffers from a confused sexual identity
as he tries in vain to mold himself into the image of assumed normalcy.
To support this argument that the novel is about repressed same-sex desire, the author gives
the reader subtle clues. Holden becomes uptight whenever a reference is made to potential desires
for a male body; when Holden narrates his displeasure at his suitemate Ackleys admiration for the
sculpted physique of the star basketball player Howie Coyle, he tells us Ackley kept saying the
whole goddamn game, that Coyle had the perfect build for basketball. God, how I hate that stuff
giving evidence that what Holden really feels uncomfortable with is his own repressed fixations on
the sensual male body (38). Although its to be expected that boys attending an all-male prep
school will sometimes have playful bonding with each other in the bathroom, the amount of space
in the early part of the novel devoted to dramatizing Holdens physical relationship with Stradlater
suggests the author wants us to see Holdens inordinate fixation and desire for this Adonis type of
roommate. In these scenes, there are several references to Stradlaters gorgeous hair (42-43) and
his sensuous stroking of his bare chest and stomach (53). Despite the fact that Holden obviously
knows he wont be returning after his Christmas expulsion and that these might be the last few days
he will have to bond with his admired Adonis, it seems a bit over-the-top that Holden spends so
much time flitting around in front of Stradlater in the bathroom like a performing little schoolgirl
trying to capture her boyfriends attentions: All I need is an audience. Im an exhibitionist
Holden confides to us here (38). And he cant resist a chance to physically touch his Adonis, giving
him a wrestling half nelson choke hold. Later, I will argue that the reason why Holden becomes so

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overly distraught and anxious when Stradlater returns from his date with Jane Gallagher is not
because he is trying to be protective of Janes vulnerable maidenhood, but quite the opposite. Its
because Jane now becomes a sexual rival in his subconscious mind, someone who will compete
with him for Stradlaters desiressomeone who stands in the way of his own repressed same-sex
desires for his roommate. This jealous anxiety builds so much in Holden that it explodes into the
serious fight with Stradlater in their bedroom, which in turn drives Holdens decision to get out of
the dorm early and propels the rest of the novels main action pursuing the dangers of New York
City nightlife. Holden is even so upset by Janes successful rivalry for Stradlaters attentions that
he desperately turns to his last chance for male bonding by limping into Ackleys room, trying to
wake him up to play cards, in spite of the fact that Holden usually avoids having anything to do
with this annoying pimply-faced suitemate.
Clearly, Holdens confusion over his sexual identity and his instinctual fears that he might
have same-sex desires are pushing him to do bizarre things. And what are we to make of Holdens
excessive anxiety that is dramatized in the scene where he wakes up on the sofa to find the teacher
Mr. Antolini gently stroking his hair? If Holden was completely comfortable in accepting his
heteronormative sexual identity I dont believe he would be as flustered as he was, running about
the room after the encounter. What is he so afraid of? Hes afraid that he might be a flit also. He
reminds us here that boys are always being perverty when Im around (249) and that hes been hit
on by perverted men at least twenty times in his life (251). This might be an exaggeration, but
thats how Holdens mind works at this pointhe only remembers when men show attention to
him, because he fears he might also be leaning towards gay desires.
This inner confusion is what screws up Holdens ability to have an intimate relationship
with girls: he admits in my mind, Im probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. But his
repressed desires get in the way. The thing is, though, I dont like the idea (81). He suffers from
what hetero society would term a sense of gender dysphoria or role reversal; he cant get turned on

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when a girl assumes the traditional masculine role of being the dominant person in a relationship
and instead, reverts to what the traditional model tells him is an effeminate attitude, needing first an
emotional connection before physical arousal. And this self-reflexive meta-awareness bothers
Holden to no end: he confesses I can never get really sexy . . . with a girl I dont like a lot . . . .
Boy it really screws up my sex life something awful (191). Clearly then, trying to follow the rigid
standardized heteronormative model of masculine desire leads Holden to his identity confusion.
Concluding Thoughts on Rejecting Social Norms
In the end, what we see then in these two young adult novels is the harmful consequences
that befall teenagers when they are too much concerned with developing their psychosocial selves
based on inadequate adult models and consequently neglect to develop their truly independent and
self-fulfilling existential selves. Our heroes succumb to peer pressures by following narrow
ideological models of what their groups tell them is normal social class behavior (in the case of
The Outsiders), and normal masculine gendered sexual desire (in the case of The Catcher in the
Rye). As the psychologist Erikson reminds us in his book Identity: Youth and Crisis, too often,
adult social ideologies are to blame for these crises since these ideologies can be a bad role model
for teens to emulate. These ideologies can create an aristocratic, self-perpetuating defined world
image that narrowly limits authentic agency in the individual (133-134). Our American teenagers
are taught by society to be free and self-reliant on the one hand; yet on the other hand, the external
adult groups in these novels offer them restrictive cookie-cutter models of what is deemed normal.
Erikson argues further that adult societies are at fault for becoming more and more centralized in
their assumptions about behavior and dont allow enough freedom of choice for teens, preventing
them from discovering new identity roles. Doubt in ones class and sexual identity results in role
confusion when these teens subsequently become bewildered by the incapacity to assume a role
forced on [them] by the inexorable standardization of American adolescence (132).
The solution to this identity crisis lies in the realization, Erikson argues, that young adults
can resolve this identity crisis through constructing creative new models or original deeds

Kubler 16
(134). Teens seem to function best when they are inspired by invention, expanding the possibilities
for self-identity (130). Erikson gives us the example of a young girl, Jill, who deviated from the
usual normative assumptions about tom-boy femininity, and discovered her maternal identity as a
cowgirl caring for new-born colts out West (131).
Likewise, as can be seen in the two novels explored in this paper, when the worlds codes of
adult behavior are too much with them these teenage characters forget to think for themselves.
What they need, as only Ponyboy seems to realize, is a positive stage of development that Erikson
calls a psychosocial moratorium which provides a period of relative leeway for role
experimentation, including that with sex roles, all significant for the adaptive self-renewal of
society (75). Instead of focusing so much on developing their psychosocial identities, young
adults need to place a moratorium on this process and concentrate more on developing their
existential independent selves, becoming comfortable with carving out their own unique pathways,
whatever these might beeven if in Holdens case, his existential sexual identity might mean
recognizing and accepting his bisexual desires (as modeled by the gay character Carl Luces
comfortable acceptance of living with his female Chinese sculptress partner). Clearly, Holden
needs to realize there are more self-fulfilling sexual practices in heaven and earth than are dreamt of
in his heteronormative philosophy; unfortunately, he fails to recognize this broad spectrum of
potential sexual subjectivity because he believes in only one narrow conception of masculine desire
and fails to realize his repressed desires.
However, to their credit, both protagonistsPonyboy and Holdenturn to the genre of the
reflective memoir to use their language to hopefully find some constructive meaning in the events
of their lives that might help other readers. Holden feels the need to retell his story in a stream-ofconsciousness linguistic style so that the reader might make sense of this madman stuff that
happened to me around last Christmas that landed him in the psychiatric hospital, and Ponyboy

Kubler 17
needs to retell his story so other Greasers wont make the same mistakes he made. Both heroes use
language as a means for self-healing in a world that has offered only rigid stereotypical norms.
Works Cited
Erikson, Erik H. Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: W.W. Norton, 1968. Pdf file.
---. The Life Cycle Completed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Pdf file.
Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking Press, 1967. Files.meetup.com, n.d. Pdf
download edition. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Random House, 1945, 1946, 1951.
The Modern Library download edition. Web 1 Feb. 2015.