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Structural And Symbolic Parallels Within The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn And The Catcher In The Rye, David G. Polster
Structural And Symbolic Parallels Within The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn And The Catcher In The Rye, David G. Polster
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye are both quest narratives in which the youthful protagonist begins his story trapped within a paradigm that oppresses him and -in order to escape- dies a symbolic death, descending to the underworld to learn a sacred truth that will be revealed at novel's end. The structure and symbolism are quite similar and follow the archetypal hero's journey, which I closely examine. In my thesis, I seek to prove that by descending to the "hell" of the Antebellum South and the conformist/materialistic world of post-war America, both Huck and Holden …