1. Plan first
Character interactions
Meursault- rejected by judge, appears 'slumped' 'no longer interested'... he has been rejected because he wouldn't renounce his own beliefs. SYMPATHY
Context- Camus viewed the government as ultimately self serving and corrupt.
Holden- rejects Mr Spencer, 'shoots the bull' 'terrific liar' 'I want to help you if I can'. LOSES SYMPATHY. Is offered help, resorts to digressions and lies. COWARD
Context- Salinger born into a middle-class family, Ivy League bourgeois. Disillusioned.
Language and imagery
Meursault- Rejects society and patent signs of grief. Simile for coffin. ALIENATES READER
Context- Camus challenges society. Deep seated expectations for human behaviour.
Holden- Minimisation of language, the use of 'sort of'. SYMPATHY. Acts as a shield.
Context- Depression misunderstood in the 1950s. Stoicism, a by-product of the war.
Structure
Meursault- Ambiguous, does he reject society at end? Use of the active voice. The indifferent world his 'brother'. HEROIC/SYMPATHY FOR HIS FATE
Context- Camus' absurdist philosophy. The world is chaotic. No pattern in life/higher order.
Holden- Bildungsroman structure? Epiphany experienced? Able to 'miss' people. Rejected by society? Thrown into mental hospital. SYMPATHY
Context- Salinger unable to experience this. Recluse for most of his life.
An outsider figure which rejects a society which is characterised to be corrupt or exploitative is likely to engender our sympathy. We feel the rejection is reasoned and we emphasise with the figure. However, it would be erroneous to think an outsider figure which is rejected by this society can only alienate a reader. We should learn from the scores of genocides which have tarnished human history that the 'threat' posed by outsider figures is often contrived. When considering the figures, 'Holden Caulfield' and 'Meursault' we must analyse in detail both the society and the figure themselves.
The character interactions between Meursault and the judge engender our sympathy as it exhibits the corruption of judicial system. The cross which is "brandished" at Meursault is symbolic of how religion and the notion of a higher order is always invoked on the side of authority. The judge is depicted as "thrusting" his religious beliefs aggressively on Meursault. The verb choice here presents Meursault as a victim. The judge appears defeated, "weary" and "no longer interested" when Meursault repeatedly says "no". We sympathise for Meursault here as he heroically stays loyal to his ideals despite being rejected by society as result, even purged from it. Camus exposes the tyranny of the law and the church, a tyranny that was paramount in the 1930s, this exposure intensifies our sympathy for Meursault. Conversely in The Catcher in the Rye we find Holden's rejection of Mr Spencer alienates us. Unlike Meursault, Holden isn't facing adversity, he is simply being asked to "apply himself" and is even offered help, "I want to help you, if I can". We find Holden overindulged and spoilt when he rejects Mr Spencer, as he confronts him with the grim reality of his situation. Then again, Salinger was acutely aware of the superficiality of the bourgeois Ivy League system. Salinger is rebelling against the conformity to education. It was forced upon the youth of the 1950s, not for their development but as a 'weapon' the Cold War.
Camus' use of laconic and dispassionate language presents Meursault as amoral as he seems indifferent to his own mothers death. He uses the memorable simile "like a pencil box" to describe his mother's coffin. Meursault is later condemned to death for having "buried his mother with the heartlessness of a criminal". Thus, Camus challenges us not to condemn Meursault for reacting in this way. He challenges our deep-seated expectations for human behaviour. The extremity of his punishment for not displaying patent signs of grief at his mother's funeral ultimitaly elicits our sympathy. While find the language of 'The Outsider' leaves Meursault's emotion or lack of emotion unconcealed, in 'The Catcher of the Rye' Salinger's minimisation of language masks the intensity of Holden's emotions. Holden rejects revealing his emotion complexity, perhaps not trusting us and society. He uses the vernacular phrase "sort of" continually, saying even that he felt he was "sort of disappearing". This is method of protection as Holden is denies confronting his mental instability. While this deliberate distancing of himself should alienate us, we find we are instead sympathetic to Holden. The 1950s was a time when mental health issues were dealt with only with drugs. Sufferers were either misunderstood or stoic. We empathise with Holden as he is clearly trying to reach out to us with his use of direct speech, "you can't imagine", but he ultimitaly conceals his problems.
We find the structure of 'The Outsider' is constructed to crescendo with Meursault's final and only character development. In this final scene we are unsure whether he rejects society or is rejected. He has spoken in the passive voice for the majority of the text, so it is shocking to see a final flourish of the active voice, "I opened myself... to the tender indifference of the world". This indicates he resigns himself to the cold indifference of society, he goes as far to call it a "brother". Does this mean he accepts (not rejects) society and courageously relinquishes himself to the irrationality of life? This is evidently an expression of Camus absurdist belief; that life is chaotic and without meaning. He didn't view this concept pessimistically, and reject society as a result, he instead often encouraged his students to maintain an integrity and honesty in the face of this "indifference". We are sympathetic to Meursault that he is being purged from society as his courageous attitude to death is so enlightening. Similarly in 'The Catcher in the Rye' we find the novel is structured to show Holden experiencing a major character development in the final chapter. He no longer rejects society, finding himself capable of "missing" people. We finally realise that he has rejected society consistently throughout the novel because he is afraid of suffering a loss like that of his brother. In a retrospective novel, the present tense sentence "he's dead now", stands out. He is clearly traumatised by this loss and thus fears intimacy. His rejection evokes our sympathy. Salinger was unable to undergo a similar 'development' he lived a recluse for the remainder of his adult, he clearly feared human interaction in a similar way.
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