Pursuit of Happiness “Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. ” ― William S. Burroughs In J.D. Salinger’s “Slight Rebellion Off Madison”, the plight of Holden expresses a theme of deviance and the individual’s incompatibility with the predestined life he’s been set up for. He is not passionate about his education and feels school is not where he’s supposed to be. His feelings bubbling up during his date in the city, shows just how strongly he feels about this. He relates to his date, Sally, “Boy, I hate school! You oughta go to a boy’s school sometime. All you do study, and make believe you give a damn if the football team wins, and talk about girls and clothes and liquor, and-” Holden does not find the bland conversations and seemingly pointlessness of going to school. On one hand, school and traditional paths to becoming an established adult aren’t for everyone. There is some merit to...