The Predicament of Youth in J. D. Salinger's Franny ‎and Zooey

Abstract

The present study of Franny and Zooey (1961) deals with Salinger's concerns about predicaments of youths that agonized the latter's life. Franny's main focus is on an undergraduate college student who finds herself amid college milieu stigmatized by materialism. She resorts to her brother Zooey in Zooey tale, who is troubled by the same predicaments of his sister, to assist her sort out their predicaments that are related to identity, family, religion, beliefs, life and death, education, source of power, and society. Zooey enables her, by the end of the novel, to mature and cope with society's shortcomings through wisdom. The paper illustrates unique adults struggle to adapt themselves to live a normal social American life. Yet, this struggle and suffering prove necessary to reach a moderate coexistence in which dwells mental and spiritual peace, tranquility and stability.