Antisocial Teenagers in "The Catcher in The Rye"

Holden Caulfield is a very interesting character who describes perfectly how an antisocial wannabe is. He not only expresses his disconformity openly, or at least he expresses it to himself, but also he was not afraid of what other people think of him. It is true that he is not interested at school at all, and he would lie with no restriction. In addition, he was very impulsive and immature. Antisocial teenagers act exactly the same way. Most of them even do certain things led by some peer pressure. Researchers have named this phenomenon differently. Egemen Hanımoğlu calls it ‘Deviant behavior’, and defines it as the attitude that goes different from what we call normal or the norm (E. Hanımoğlu, August 2018). Others call it ‘Aberrant behavior’, and state that it not only reflects peer pressure and bully, but also crime and social disconformity (Rogers 2008). On the other hand, we might call them antisocial, but maybe they just think differently from the rest of us, or what the norm states. However we must remember that the norm is standardized. The norm is what the majority of people do or accept.

Something might be normal for one group of people, but very abnormal for others. Antisocial teenagers might not just understand the importance of following rules. So, they want to prove to the world how independent they can be. They reflect some kind of individuality and eccentricities (Goode 2016). Anyways, this research is aimed to parents, educators, tutors so they can be aware of how a simple neglected antisocial attitude on teenagers can develop a deviant, aberrant or even psychopath behavior and affect communities, nations or the whole world. Holden mentions in the novel that he hated how some teachers would act differently when talking to the parents of his classmates that were poor, he did not include himself as being poor. This means that Holden comes from a rich family. This can be one strong factor that had triggered Holden's behavior. Most of rich parents send their kids to boarding schools, or schedule a bunch of after-school activities for them because they have no time for their own kids. No precious time with them. It is not far from the truth that all parents want the best for their children, they want them to attend the finest schools and they want them to be fully qualified when they grow up. But that is not what the kid really needs. A parent must remember that kids demand time. Time for playing, talking, fighting, arguing, learning, observing, copying, laughing, crying, traveling, shopping, and doing any other activity with their parents, not with their nannies, or their older siblings.

Most of young criminals or sociopaths have not had surveillance from their parents since a very young age. They tend to be either very rich, where parents have no time for them, or very poor, where parents have to send them to work on the streets. Some parents abuse from alcohol or drugs, and kids see themselves forced to take the streets and get bad influences, peer pressure or bully, and that is what they learn and imitate. We think that this analysis or research will not only make tutors aware, but also it will create awareness to teenagers and kids of the awful consequences of having an antisocial attitude. So they can see all the pain they can bring to their families and themselves if they do not control their behavior. With this research we want them to think how they can prevent developing an antisocial attitude. There is no excuse for being a sociopath. They can become resilient, which is the “positive adaptation” or growing despite the adversity(Miljević-Riđički 2017). It is not an easy thing to do, but if a teenager has a strong desire of making a change, making a difference from their environment they can do it. If they are willing to ‘grow’, first, they have to change their own minds, convince themselves that a change is needed. Second, they have to change their bad influence, their circle of friends and become very independent.