The mentioned novels are to some degree similar in the message and settings of the protagonist. In both novels the protagonist is a younger man or a boy with some kind of difference which makes him an outsider. Furthermore, the two novels, The Catcher in the Rye and The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time, to some extent, portray almost similar themes about alienation and isolation. However, this imposes an interesting question about protagonists in both novels and in case there are any similarities or differences between them.
The protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Claufield who is a 17 years old depressed boy who also is the narrator of the story. Holden Claufield suffers from several mental illnesses which makes him go through several obstacles in his life from failing at school to being treated differently by peers. However, his personality never changes throughout the story but rather he gets more depressed by events and people around him.
“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (Holden Claufield, p.13).
The protagonist in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is Christopher Boone who is the narrator of the story as well. He is a 15 years old boy who suffers from behavioural issues. He has a complex personality from turning against Ed, his father, when knowing that Ed killed Wellington to discovering that his dead mom wasn’t actually dead. All this made him go through a harsh time which turns in the end and he becomes happier.
Both protagonists are rebellious persons who make their own minds. Christopher went to his mom against his father’s will and when Holden left Mr.Antonelli’s house because he thought that he was sexually harassing him. However, both protagonists go through harsh times and are treated differently from others. The main difference between the two protagonists is that Holden went deeper in his problems while Christopher got the support that he needed.