In his novel Franny and Zooey, Salinger effectively portrays the troubled lifestyle of the Glass family, especially that of Franny and Zooey, the two younger Glass children. These two characters grew up with an upbringing that promoted religious knowledge and awareness as they were featured on a radio program called “It’s a Wise Child.” While participating in the panel of this show, the older Seymour brother advises them to always be the best version of themselves for the "Fat Lady" (Salinger 201): an unnamed, unidentified woman who existed in the minds of the Glass family. This woman represents all of humanity and its traits, actions, and beliefs to Franny and Zooey. The symbol of the fat woman, while promoting equal respect for all human beings, represents a lifestyle that is difficult to follow due to humanity's natural inclination to conform, their innate competition, and the universe's ultimate indifference to comparisons with them. It is evident when looking at the people living in our society that there is an omnipresent sense of conformity: the incessant desire to achieve the standards and goals set by the most popular people in society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Franny herself feels this strong need to conform to what society tells her to believe, how she should act, and even what she should do with her life; this behavior is especially evident when she is with her boyfriend Lane. Respecting the traditional relationship in which they live, Lane appears to be the dominant and masculine figure with a slight detachment from his significant other, while Franny wears the figurative mask of a loving, compassionate and loyal girlfriend. Ironically, these two characters they are trying to impersonate betray their true feelings for each other; Lane feels an unusually strong attraction to Franny which is evident in the “managed and unfresh” (Salinger 4) look of the letter she sent him, while Franny even admits that when she expresses how much she missed Lane, “the words weren't just go out." then he realized that he didn't mean them at all” (Salinger 10). This detached relationship serves as a prime example of how human beings – as portrayed by Franny and Lane – continually make many of their decisions dictated by the norms and traditions of society and others around them. While the Glass family may not be remotely similar to a traditional family, they, just like all other humans, show conformity in the sense that they let society's ideals influence their character and actions. Franny and Zooey in particular use religion, beliefs and traditions of ideologies from around the world as a different society that they can conform to, giving them the comforting feeling that they are not changing themselves based on what their society wants, but instead they are becoming some. idea of ​​independence or impassibility from social standards. This tendency of Franny and Zooey to be so aware of and use examples from Eastern religion comes from their brothers' idea of ​​raising them with an education of "everything we knew about men: the saints, the arhats, the bodhisattvas, the jivanmukta". – that he knew something or everything about this state of being” (Salinger 65-66). In effect, this meant giving them an education that promoted wisdom over knowledge. By trying to conform to society's standards, they are simply conforming to a different set of ideas and are no closer to true individuality than before. At the same timeway, they continue to conform by letting society influence their actions and beliefs. The little green book that Franny carries with her is a symbol of this idea that conformity away from their society is still conformity, and as Zooey reflects, that book “is at the root of this whole thing” (Salinger 96). Humanity's incessant need to conform to society stems from a part of the human nature that is afraid of being marginalized and separated from society. It is this need to conform, therefore, that makes a person go out of their way to follow the advice given trying to please the Fat Lady, which is so difficult to put into practice. Trying to be the best a person can be for everyone, including oneself, goes against the traditional actions and beliefs established by society, and creates a discouraging feeling of disunity with society. For many people, actions are determined by their thirst for approval from those around them and reward in one form or another and therefore, a feeling of competition arises from this idea of ​​needing applause. Franny reflects that she is "just tired of the ego, the ego, the ego" (Salinger 29) because she feels that the people around her are not acting on their true desires in life, but on goals determined by their ego and they try to receive approval. and some sort of reward for everything they do. Franny's awareness of these people living their lives in hopes of gaining the approval of their friends, their families, and even the strangers they are surrounded by stems from her ego and the competition she feels when trying to live her life. Raised on the "It's a Wise Child" radio show, Franny did much of what she did as a child in an attempt to please the Fat Lady who lived only in her mind. This need to do it for the Fat Lady - or for humanity - was difficult for Franny to achieve because she felt an innate need to compete and be better than those around her, until she realized that this was caused by her ego , moment in which she “I'm not afraid to compete. It is just the opposite” (Salinger 30) as he wishes to have “the courage to be absolutely nothing” (Salinger 30). Previously it was Franny's competition and ego that got her involved in theater, and her realization of this fact took her away from it. All human beings are tormented by this need to be better than their peers, which is what makes it such a difficult task to do anything in the hope of improving the society of humanity as a whole. The idea of ​​a universe completely indifferent to human affairs is controversial in Franny and Zooey due to the religious upbringing of the two main characters, which is strongly supported by the idea of ​​a higher power and religious importance. The novel is especially evident through Buddy and Seymour's idea of ​​beginning their brothers' education not with "a search for knowledge but with a search, as Zen would say, for non-knowledge" (Salinger 65), as well as the Franny's obsession with experiences the saying “in the Bible when it says you should pray without ceasing” (Salinger 33). While the idea that religion is necessary to maintain a meaningful relationship with the universe and maintain some validity is evident, it is not explicitly mentioned in any quotes. Losing faith in one's religion obviously causes a person to question what they believe to be true. For Franny, a person who grew up knowing the beliefs, traditions, and standards of many societies other than her own, is religiously lost in terms of what she truly believes. Similar to the Russian peasant in her book “A Pilgrim's Way,” Franny is seeking a life free from..