Comparison essay

J.D. Salinger and Sent by Ravens

            Holden Caulfield is a boy who struggles with the harsh changes of the world. Causing him to constantly point out the flaws in everybody, but himself. He will often refer to his past, when he was happy and compare them to current events that he is going through. In other words Holden isn't able to let go of the changes in his life. The song, "The Best in Me," by Sent by Ravens shares the same central theme, the painful changes of growing up.

            Holden Caulfield is desperate to be in a world with out change as he simply states  "Certain things
they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway." The feelings derived from this quote and Holden is shared in the line from "The Best in Me" "I wait with hope that the coming change wont blow us away".

            When Holden leaves the school he comes to an epiphany. Holden comes upon it while he is getting a ride from a taxi driver to a hotel. During the ride Holden ask the taxi driver where the ducks go when the pond freezes over. The taxi driver is unable to answer the question, but regardless Holden comes to a sudden realization, that change isn't permanent. This passage in the novel is similar to the line "Just settle down this storm wont last forever" from "The Best in Me". Through the symbolization of the ducks returning every spring the reader is able to understand that change is just reoccurring.

             The painful changes of growing up is a theme as well as a struggle through out Catcher in the Rye and the song "The Best in Me". Sent by Ravens states that they hope change won't hurt them, but no matter what it will not be permanent. Where as J.D. Salinger wrote about how Holden Caulfield hopes there was no change, and realizes it will not be permanent.