Flynn 1 Alexandra Flynn Marlaire AP Literature and Composition Period 4 1 June 2012 Taking the Limelight Success is achieving

your goals; pushing past obstacles that are placed before you to reach an end product. But the vision of success can be altered. Some people might, like Martin Roberts, think that success can only be achieved by uncompromising fingers that never give up and have to go through a great effort to triumph. Others, however, take pride in the little things in life that they consider a success, such as finishing an assignment, or cleaning the house. The issue of success is prevalent in many works of literature, such as Hamlet. But with the issue of success comes the issue of morality, where does morality play into success? Some people dont have morality when it comes to trying to attain their goals, they lie and cheat, kill even, so they may overcome their obstacles. Where does this lack of morality come from? The fact is, the world is corrupt. The corruption of those that are trying to be successful are leading the example for the rest of the world. When someone gets away with the lying and cheating then others believe that they can get away with it too. Then, this thing of the adult world, it leaks into the world of children leading to their early loss of innocence. If they know about lying and cheating then they are no longer pure and innocent. Jennifer Bouchard explains that when children are exposed to the complications of adulthood and losetheir innocence. Those that dont like what is happening with the corruption have a hard time because they need to gain power in order to make an impact on society. Both Prince Hamlet, from Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Holden,

Flynn 2 from Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggle to gain power from the adults around them and criticize their surroundings in the process. The acclimation of power is something Prince Hamlet is very critical of. He is becomes outraged when the ghost of King Hamlet informs him that the king's brother, the new king, Claudius, was to blame for his murder. It filled Hamlet with the desire to keep the royal bed of Denmark from being A couch for luxury and damned incest (Ham. 1.4.82-83). He uses his act of insanity to make criticisms of the crown and people of upper status, such as Polonius. He cant make direct criticisms to the king because he is the king and even the prince has to show respect towards him. Prince Hamlet makes the crown look weak when he easily makes King Claudius paranoid with his pretend madness. He is trying to break free from the control the king has over him so that he may successfully reveal him as the killer. However, this act begins to turn into reality when Hamlet becomes so angry with himself, for not killing King Claudius right off the bat and King Claudius for his inhumane gain of power. But what if it wasnt real? What if the ghost never came to Hamlet? Then is his quest for revenge justified? Or is there something else behind his ambition? Ambition can bethe need to be noticed and maybe that is so with Hamlet, with all the fuss about his father dying and his mothers marriage with his uncle he could have been forgotten and he is using this drive for revenge as a way to be noticed (Eugene Peterson). Hamlet also questions the morality of both King Claudius and his mother, Queen Gertrude. The most immoral act is King Claudius killing the late King Hamlet to steal his crown, but he also stole his wife, Queen Gertrude. Paddling in your neck with his damnd fingers But the queen is also to blame, she only grieved for her late husband for two months before wedding his brother. Hamlet is disgusted with his mother for moving on so quickly and forgetting about

Flynn 3 the true king. The prince displays this disgust with his rant at Ophelia when her father and King Claudius set her up for bait: Get thee to a nunnery! Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offenses at my best than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do, crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Wheres your father? -(Ham. 3.1.121-131) This rant is said to Ophelia but the things he says are directed to his mother. He accuses his mother, and most women, of being breeder[s] of sinners because they dont teach their daughters, and sons, how to live a moral life and to raise an honest family (Ham. 3.1.122). He cant make this allegation directly to his mother because she is the queen and holds more power over him that he holds over her. Therefore, he must make these indictments in a round about way through Ophelia to make his point. While he questions the morality of others, he also questions his own morality as he contemplates suicide being both seduced and repelled by the idea of suicide (Hamlet Theme of Morality). Holden Caulfield struggles greatly with the loss of innocence around him. He sees the adult world creeping in on the children of our society and he tries to keep it back as long as

Flynn 4 possible. He wants to still be the innocent child he once was, but its already too late for him to go back. Holden struggles with power because he wants to be the catcher in the rye and catch the children of the world before they run off the edge of some crazy cliff, but he cannot make an impact because he doesnt have power (Salinger 173). The adults have power over the kids and since the adults are corrupt, then nothing is going to change until it is brought to their attention and they wont listen to Holden who is still just a kid. He wishes he knew what he knows now when he was a kid so that he could cherish his childhood more. He realized this when his brother, Allie, died. Holden knew how much he could have provided to the world, but his life was cut short and the world still lay in the hands of the adults, whom he didnt trust. Edwin Haviland Miller noticed that because of the death of his brother he is emotionally at the same age as when he died. Holdens emotionally state didnt change as he grew up, but his understanding of the world did. He was sympathetic toward children and their early loss of innocence because he was forced to go through that traumatic experience and face the horrors of the world at such a young age. Thats why he is trying to keep Phoebe, his little sister, from being corrupt by the adult world. He himself is trying to hold back the adult world. Holden has been to so many schools and then kicked out in order to prolong the time between adolescence and adulthood, because it is his last string connecting him to simple times. He compares himself to the ducks and the fish that are in the pond at Central Park in New York. The fish, to him, represent childhood and how it should be preserved for as long as possible. The pond freezes over and the fish are still there, he wishes that is what happens with childhood innocence. The ducks represent the loss of innocence, because when the winter comes, the ducks leave. Ducks always come back to the lake, but they are never the same ducks, just like innocence, how, once you lose it, you can never get it back.

Flynn 5 Holdens fear of the adult world is based on his opinion of it containing corruption and false success. He repeatedly calls the people around him phonies, because he doesnt believe there motives are just. He criticizes his brother, D.B, for selling out to Hollywood. Holden believed that D.B had great potential as a writer but ruined his chances by giving into what the adult world wanted. The adult world is full of people that have gained great monetary success, but through immoral ways, such as lying and cheating. He doesnt approve of the adults that surround him because they always sugarcoat life. The only adults he trusts are Mr. Antolini and Mr. Spencer. They always tell Holden the truth about life, which furthers his opinion about the adult world being corrupt and full of phonies. Holden also calls his peers phonies, he claims that he was surrounded by jerks (85). He doesnt get along with anyone that he is around. He can tolerate people like Ackly and Stradlater, but when they are away he thinks about his true opinion of them. He doesnt particularly like Ackly because he never did anything except stay in his room and squeeze his pimples and doesnt really make the effort to befriend Holden (36). Stradlater is considered a phony because he has fallen into the adult world by being an over-sexed teenager. Holden is very critical of Stradlater because he is the embodiment of everything he doesnt like in a person, he is corrupt, rich, flashy, and a hypocrite. Stradlaters corruptness goes directly against Holdens attempt to preserve innocence. His being rich and flashy tells Holden that Stradlater is not appreciative of his fortune, which is something that he does himself, but does not approve of. Also, Stadlater is a hypocrite, presenting himself as a clean, well educated man that always looked good but was a secret slob that has other people do his homework for him (27). But Holden had no power to say anything to him because Stradlater was older than him and in society elders had to be respected and not be accused of

Flynn 6 anything that they say they were innocent of. Stradlater would deny the fact that he never cleaned [his razor] and Holden had no place to say otherwise (27). There are things in this world that need to be changed, but those who realize it dont necessarily have the power to make those changes. Power can be limited by age, gender, and class. Even a prince would have limited power if what he wanted to change was the king. But those ideas about what one wants to change give him or her something to hold onto, a goal to strive for. Success of fulfilling is triumph of the power struggle could lead to a great change, especially the morality of ones surroundings. If one achieves his or her goal through immoral ways then the people surrounding them will recognize this form as being acceptable, corrupting their morals. This is what Prince Hamlet, from Shakespeares Hamlet, and Holden, from J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye, had to go through to try to reach their individual goals and along the way criticizing the lives that surround them.

Flynn 7 Works Cited Bouchard, Jennifer. Literary Contexts in Short Stories Collections: J.D. Salingers Nine Stories; Understanding Literature: Literary Contexts in Collection. Great Neck Publishing, Apr. 2008. Web, 31 May 2012 Hamlet Theme of Morality. Shmoop. Shmoop University Inc. Web Publication. 31 May 2012. Peterson, Eugene. Interview by David Wood. The Best Life. Christian Century Foundation, 13 March 2002. Web. 31 May 2012. Roberts, Martin. The Chance for Success. Contemporary Review. Contemporary Review; Vol. 293 Issue 1703, p503. Winter 2011. Web. 31 May 2012. Salinger, J.D.. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1951. Print. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark with Connections. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999. Print. Miller, Edwin Haviland. Critical Insights: The Catcher in the Rye. Salem Press, 2011. Web. 31 May 2012