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Daniel J. Boorstin, a famous historian, once said, “We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality.” These words by Boorstin essentially mean, to overcome the suffering of illusions, one must not look at life pessimistically, or they will be forever haunted by fear and anxiety. Rational thinking based on reason is a key to overcoming the misery of false impressions. The works of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Shakespeare’s Othello are very similar in many ways, in that they both use akin aspects of characters to reveal how they are alike. Through situations, characters suffered because of the false images their mind created from harmless scenarios. Through the words and actions of various characters, illusions had been created, because of their naivety. Finally, through the characters misinterpretations of symbols, torment became a consequence. Holden Caulfield and Othello both experience similar situations where they suffer immensely because of the fear that false illusions and images had created. Through two significant situations, Holden Caulfield and Othello experience similar scenarios whe