Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And Breaking Bad

Jesse Pinkman in the television series Breaking Bad distinctly resembles Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Both Breaking Bad and The Catcher in the Rye refer to the themes of loneliness, escaping reality, and lack of maturity amongst others. These themes are reflected in both Jesse and Holden because of their common mission to protect children’s innocence from the corruption of adulthood.

Aside from the fact that Jesse and Holden both want to protect children’s innocence, they resemble each other in minor details. First, Jesse and Holden have both lost a loved one to a terminal illness. Holden lost his younger brother, Allie, to leukemia. Holden kept Allie’s baseball glove as a keepsake. Similarly, Jesse lost his aunt to an unspecified form of cancer. Based on Jesse’s awareness of the illness, it is apparent that he was involved with her treatment enough to recognize signs of chemo in Walt, Breaking Bad’s protagonist. Similar to the baseball glove, Jesse’s aunt’s home has sentimental value to him. When Jesse learned that his aunt’s house was on sale, he immediately purchased it from his parents – partly as revenge on his parents for kicking him out of his aunt’s home.

Second, Holden and Jesse both have a love interest named Jane. In Catcher in the Rye, it is implied that Jane was sexually

Jesse asks Walt to make ricin poison to kill them and explains to Walt that the “entire world would be better off” if they were gone. However, Jesse efforts come to a halt because Walt tells the kingpin, Gus, about Jesse’s plan. Jesse stood up to Gus and insisted that children not be used in the business to which Gus ultimately agreed. Later, Jesse learns that the two dealers have killed Tomas, the 11-year boy who worked with them. Without hesitation, Jesse prepares to kill them himself, but Walt arrives and runs over them with his car