Coming of Age in Jane Eyre and the Catcher in the Rye

Compare and contrast the protagonists from TWO of the coming-of-age texts. How does each of these characters come of age? Is the process similar or different?

In the two texts, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger and Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, the protagonists face various challenges with regards to their ability to come of age. Both Jane Eyre and Holden Caulfield face three significant challenges being societal expectations, lack of support and alienation. Despite coming from two totally different times (The Catcher in the Rye set in the 1950s and Jane Eyre set in the 1850s), they still face these common issues in the process of coming of age.

The first challenge that both these characters face is conformity and the expectations of society. Jane Eyre, as a female, is expected to act a certain way, and especially in the era that the novel was set in, females were expected to be weak willed, passive minded people. Jane feel like she is much too limited in her desire to come of age and wants to be accepted for who she is and wants to be able to be strong willed like a man. When Jane says, “Women are supposed to be calm generally: but women feel just as men feel…It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex”, we can see that she wants independence and freedom. Society’s expectations of a woman contrast her intellect and desire for independence and while her statement may seem entirely acceptable today, this idea would almost be outrageous in her time. Jane’s strong passion want for acceptance of her independence relates to the Gothic genre of the novel, challenging the expectations of the audience and society. With regards to Holden Caulfield being hindered to come of age due to societal expectations, the audience can see how confused that he wants to come of age but not conform to societal expectations because he thinks that that will automatically make him...