| J. D. Salinger created five young protagonists whose social and spiritual alienation instigated their quests for identity in the modern world. They were timely archetypes for the 1950's conformist generation, which had witnessed the horrors of World War II and now faced the emergence of extreme materialism within a realm of bankrupt morality. Their journeys follow the pattern of the archetypal quest as defined by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, but are offered in a modern, more cynical, existential, context. Salinger's heroes battle spiritual and societal obstacles, descend into psychological "underworlds" and in some instances, transform themselves to achieve social integration: a modus vivendi with sometimes regretful, even tragic consequences. Salinger's heroes are ultimately the modern children of Odysseus, Antigone, Hamlet and Parcival---their tales providing useful paradigms and lessons with which to better navigate the psyche in a world of questionable values. |
