The human condition is as far from reason and judgement as anything can be, it is what we have tried to explain for centuries and it is still a confusing maze we attempt and pretend to understand. Holden from The Catcher in the Rye and Paul from Six degrees of

Separations help to explore the workings of the human condition, both boys are conflicted with their lives and have difficulty fitting into their society. However these two texts do put the boys in different positions in life, Holden has what Paul desires but it does not give him

the love and care he unknowingly needs. Paul takes on roles that disguise his own traits and turns him into what he believes to be a person nobody can say no to. When he takes on these roles, he
It is only when he meets Ouisa Kittridge that by captivating her imagination that he is able to form a deep connection with her. But Ouisa herself had to look past the status quo of her time to be able to bond with Paul, the rich people of america were supposed to hate

black people this can be seen from Pauls admission to Ouisa in the Phone booth, “Mrs. Louisa Kitterge, I am black”, the issue of colour is repeated throughout the film and
Paul is constantly mentioned along with drugs, crime and AIDS. As Paul goes about

charming the upper class people of New York he is costing himself a great deal of happiness, by posing himself as this well-educated, polite son of a famous Africa-american man he will have lost himself in his alienation, such as when he is in the Phone

booth calling Ouisa and still he continues to connect himself with Sydney Poitier. It is only with Ouisa that he lies himself completely vulnerable, in all other instances he is the one that is in control, whenever a conversation goes beyond his power or

knowledge he swiftly changes the topic back to something he understands perfectly. Although Holden does seek for a close connection with another he does not have Paul's belief in himself and the people around him. Holden constantly like to decieve

himself from the truth and the real world, he is an example to humanity's fear of the real world and the lengths that one will go to, to continuously decieve