The play Death of a salesman and the novel Catcher in the Rye were written at late 40's. It was the period when the society was beginning to recover from the World War II. Life was very tough at that time. People were working hard to rebuild and develop the society. The society concentrated on development and missed the mentally health of people. The two authors both used the two main characters' cases to warn the society. Holden and Willy were representing the typical teenager and working class who were vulnerable and lacked of assistance at that time. Holden and Will had the same personality. They loved their families and had an ordeal which causes them unhinged. They know the world was full of phonies and unfair rules, but they were struggling in the cruel world in different ways.
Holden and Willy love their family. Although they did not satisfy the family's situation, Holden is seemed to be uncared by his parents. However, at the beginning of the novel, Holden wrote "they are nice" (J.D. Salinger P1) to describe his parent. In addition, his mother bought a wrong kind of skates, but he didnt complain directly to his mother. He just expressed his feeling to general, "Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad". (J.D. Salinger P52) It was clearly to be seen that Holden had good relationship with his siblings. He loved to read to his brother, D.B.'s story books. He wrote that "My favorite author is my brother D.B."(J.D. Salinger P.18) It showed that he admired his brother. Holden was responsible to his younger brother and sister. When Holden's younger brother Allie died. Holden locked himself in the garage and broke all the windows with his fist. He was extremely sad. Phoebe, Holden's younger sister. She is the one Holden loved the most which was expressed in the whole novel. Phoebe was the guardian angel of Holden. Willy worked hard at his whole life to support his family. Life was hard at that time, but Willy still paid off his twenty-five years mortgage of the house which Linda announced that "It's an accomplishment.