Over time, characters in novels change due to society or events occurring in the world. In Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," Salinger uses Holden to show how being a teen alone in society can affect the mindset of the individual. Throughout the novel Holden is either afraid of attaching to society or attempting to prevent himself and others from advancing into society.

Society has replaced Holden's family in the past few years of his life. Due to this replacement, it could attribute to one of Holden's excuses to refuse to conform to the society that surrounds him. One of Holden's school peers Sally Hayes said, ."..that [Holden] was wild and that [Holden] had no direction in life" (Salinger 59). In Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Huck is on a manually operated raft to find himself and to help Jim. Unlike Huck, Holden uses taxi cabs to direct...