Catcher In The Rye And The Outsiders: Film Analysis

“Although the butterfly and the caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same” (Lamar). The butterfly and the caterpillar in the famous rapper Kendrick Lamar’s quote are similar to teenagers in the real world. All the teenagers around the world suffer from several different problems in their lives. However, there are frequently some similarities between their actions and feelings while they are trying to solve their problems. In spite of the fact that the novel The Catcher in the Rye and the film The Outsiders took place in very different times and even though there is a huge difference between the problems that characters Holden and Dallas deal with, they have lots of similar reactions towards these problems, such as the

Holden’s brother Allie dies because of leukemia when Holden is 13 years old. Allie is very valuable for Holden. That’s why, Holden is feeling really terrible after Allie’s death. On page 44, Holden says, “I slept in the garage the night he (Allie) died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger). This shows that he is really affected by his brother’s death. Beside that, Dallas is in jail for a couple of months because of killing a person. His life is ruined due to his days in jail. For instance, he says, “Johnny, you don't know what a few months in jail can do to you, man. You get mean in jail.” This quote shows that he is really affected by the time he is in jail. In addition to that, Johnny dies in the hospital because his skin is burned really bad in the fire. Losing Johnny is Dallas’s other big trauma, which affects him even worse. Dallas is really sorrowful after Johnny’s death. He starts crying and hits the wall of the hospital. Then he shouts, “Why do you bother helping people? It doesn’t do any good!” (Coppola) at the doctor like a crazy person. This shows that Dallas is damaged psychologically and he isn’t in control of his actions. These events show that both Dallas and Holden come up against really harsh situations in their lives, which affects them a