From 1938 to 1945, when the entire world was preoccupied with World War II, the Nazi Party led by dictator Adolf Hitler planned and executed the assassination of nearly six people. millions of Jews. This calamity ripped away the innocence of those who survived in inconceivable ways. They suffer immense guilt simply because they believe they were wrong to survive when their loved ones paid the ultimate price. In recent years, Holocaust survivors have experienced an “increased risk of suicide attempt” (Barak, Y). For these people, forgetting is a crime but memory will not allow them to move. However, some survivors have found a way to look to the future with optimism. Holocaust survivor and writer Ellie Weisel summed up these feelings when she explained: “Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have a duty to reject despair. Learning from the past and growing up is accompanied by a certain end to childhood innocence without which progression towards maturity cannot take place. This enlightenment and the journey from innocence to experience are important themes in both J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Stephan Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The first describes four days in the life of a troubled teenager named Holden Caulfield who is kicked out of his prep school and spends his time wandering the streets of New York. The latter is a compilation of letters written by a young boy, known under the pseudonym Charlie, in which he discusses his deepest feelings about his grief-stricken adolescence. Both Chbosky and Salinger explore the behaviors and minds of teenagers trying to navigate a world they don't yet fully understand. However, at the bottom...... middle of paper ......n rye. At the end of his trip, Charlie shares a story his doctor told him. The story is about an alcoholic father who has two sons. Both sons suffer the same abuse but one grows up to become a carpenter who never touches alcohol while the other becomes an alcoholic just like his father. Both boys in this story learned something different from the same experiences. One son wrote his own destiny while the other decided his future was already set in stone for him. This story reflects the lives of Holden and Charlie, as well as the lives of all individuals. There isn't a single person in the world who hasn't had to face difficulties in their life, but not everyone has let those difficulties define their life or who they will become. Happiness is not a gift, it is a choice. We must learn from past events and not simply decide to live in the past..