Accepting the Rules

If you do not accept the rules of the dominant culture and do not play by them, then you will find yourself becoming increasingly more miserable until you eventually can not bear to live anymore. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield does not have sex with the prostitute because he is determined not to live by the rules of the dominant culture, or the adult world. He feels that one of the key steps to crossing from childhood to adulthood is having sex and he does not want to do that because he feels that becoming an adult is the most important rule set by the dominant society. However, try as he might he can not stop himself from being miserable from living in a world where he doesn't live by the code. You must accept the rules of the dominant culture if you want to survive happily amongst your fellow humans.