The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

869 Words2 Pages

Nostalgia can be considered an invertible feeling that everyone will experience at one point in their life. The definition of nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations”. The Catcher in the Rye contains characters which follow the definition of nostalgia, to the point where it will affect their outcome in life, causing nostalgia to become an egregious trait. Everyone who overly desire or reliant on nostalgia can not be successful in life.
The Catcher in the Rye begins with stating “the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born...but I don't feel like going into it...”(Salinger 6). This statement denies the inclusion of any nostalgic memories. The verbal irony lies in the fact that near the end of the book, the character Holden Caulfield, being the source of all nostalgia in the novel, is rejecting all chances that nostalgia can be found, before said nostalgia is introduced. Caulfield's nostalgic memories relate to significant characters such as Phoebe Caulfield. Phoebe is Holden's younger sister whom he spent much of his childhood with. As the time to meeting Phoebe comes close, Holden reveals more events that he has experienced with Phoebe. Holden's memories of Phoebe and his actions that led him towards going back to meet Phoebe are actions which withhold him from becoming his definition of successful.
Holden's unique definition of success can be contemplated due to the actions that he chooses to take and the negative consequences of these decisions and how they affect him. Initially, Holden was going to a prestigious school with several opportunities to live a successful life although, his choice to fail all his c...

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...s the said “American Dream” impossible, although the teen does not acknowledge that it is impracticable. This lack of acknowledgment is not intentional, it is a misconception that they are led to believe due to the expectations set by society. Unavoidably the teens definition of success, given to said teen by a phony society, is a failure. When ones “American Dream” turns in a failing direction, and there is nothing ahead excluding debt and failure, nostalgia is a “backup pillow”, in which the adolescent would use to comfort themselves. Holden uses the individuals which are not defined as “phony” as a fallback, which Phoebe is one of. Contemporary adolescents and Holden are cohesive in this matter due to the fact that not all know what their personal definition of success will be, although all know what to fall towards if their success plan is inadequately executed.

Comparing Teens in Catcher in the Rye, Tears of a Tiger, and Whirligig
1645 Words | 4 Pages
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger's novel set in the 1950s, told the story of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Deciding that he's had enough of Pencey, his fourth school that he'd failed, he goes to Manhattan three days before his scheduled return to home, not wanting to inform his parents that he'd been expelled and sent back. He explores the city, calls up some old friends, gets nicked by the elevator operator, and gradually becomes bitter about the world and people. He then visited his sister Phoebe. After fleeing from the house of Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher, because of mistaking his actions for a homosexual overture, Holden went to Phoebe's school and sent her a note telling her he was leaving home and to meet him at the museum. When Phoebe arrived, Holden angrily refused her request to take her with him and she ignored to speak to him. He then took her across the park to a carousel, bought her a ticket and watched her ride. Holden ended his narrative here, telling the reader that he was not going to tell the story of how he went home and got "sick". He planned to go to a new school in the fall and was cautiously optimistic about his future.
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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
1106 Words | 3 Pages
Do you ever wish you could return to the early time of your existence where the innocence and purity of childhood enveloped you on a day-to-day basis? These were the times when committing wrong doings were not only met with meager consequences, but also expected of you by the parental guardians or guides in your life. In "The Catcher in the Rye" , written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, expresses his yearning for this feeling continuously throughout this detailed depiction of a struggling young man who craves nothing more than to make the dream he has given his entire being to, into a reality he can physically experience. A simpler way to help readers understand his complex idea is to compare his dream to the dreams of the fabled "Fountain of Youth" that countless stories are written about. Instead of the physical attributes that staying young would give an individual, the mental ideals of innocence and purity are the cause of Holden's tireless pursuit and inability to interact and function in every facet of society. The tragedies and socially awkward life that Salinger's character endures would be extremely damaging to most any human being's, already precariously balanced, mental health. The symptoms of popular health disorders such as bipolar disorder, anti-social disorder, and anxiety disorders are expressed prominently by Holden Caulfield throughout the entire novel.
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Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
1148 Words | 3 Pages
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most famous books in American literature. Written by J. D. Salinger, it captures the epitome of adolescence through Salinger’s infamous anti-hero, Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield learns about himself and his negative tendencies, and realizes that if he does not do something to change his perspective, he may end up like his acquaintance James Castle whom he met at Elkton Hills. Holden tries to find help to mend his outlook on life through Mr. Antolini so he does not end up like James, who did not want to face the problems he created for himself. This is proven by the similarities between James Castle and Holden, Mr. Antolini’s willingness to try and help Holden, and Holden’s future being forecasted by James.
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Catcher In The Rye Relationship
896 Words | 2 Pages
“All I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told you about. [….] Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 277). Holden Caulfield comes in contact with many females throughout the novel. Some of them are for better, and some cause him to be more depressed. Holden is currently in a mental institution. He is telling a psychoanalyst everything that has happened to him a few weeks before last Christmas. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye the author demonstrates how two characters can help Holden hold his sanity or can make his whole world fall apart through the use of Sally and Phoebe to show that relationships can be difficult and confusing or the exact opposite.
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Overcoming Trauma in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
659 Words | 2 Pages
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is in a rest home, where he speaks about his past and discusses his thoughts and feelings of his memories. Holden tells about his life including his past experiences at many different private schools, most recently Pensey Prep, his friends, and his late brother Allie which led to Holden’s own mental destruction.
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The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
766 Words | 2 Pages
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield gets expelled from his school and runs away before his parents find out. He goes to his home town, New York, and encounters many people. Throughout the novel, Caulfield is still coping with the death of his brother Allie. His attitude slowly decreases and various signs of a mental disorder are exhibited through his actions and his thoughts. Some people believe that he does not have a mental disorder, he is just grieving; however, he has clear symptoms that he is suffering from depression and anti-social disorder. These disorders are shown when Caulfield takes everything in a negative way, talks about being depressed, thinks that everyone is “phony”, and talks about his deceased brother.
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The Catcher In The Rye
779 Words | 2 Pages
In 1950 J.D. Salenger captures one of society’s tragedies, the breakdown of a teenager, when he wrote The Catcher In The Rye. Holden Caulfield, a fickle “man” is not even a man at all. His unnecessary urge to lie to avoid confrontation defeats manhood. Holden has not matured and is unable to deal with the responsibility of living on his owe. He childishly uses a hunter’s hat to disguise him self from others. The truth of his life is sad and soon leads to his being institutionalized. He tries to escape the truth with his criticisms. Knowing he will never meet his parents’ expectations, his only true friend is his eight-year-old sister Phoebe, to whom Holden tells that he really wants to be ‘the catcher in the rye”. Holden admits his only truth and shows that Phoebe is his only friend. Another form of escape for Holden is his acting, which he uses to excuse the past. Holden has tried to lie, hide, and blame his way through life; when he finds that it is not the answer he collapses.
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The Catcher In The Rye
701 Words | 2 Pages
In a novel, the theme is the insight of real life. J.D. Salinger’s initiation novel, The Catcher In The Rye, describes the adventures of 16-year old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and first person narrator, who refuses to grow up and enter manhood. The most important theme developed by Salinger is Holden’s problem of dealing with change; he has trouble dealing with death, he refuses to accept children’s loss of innocence as a necessary step in the growing-up process, and has difficulties with growing up.
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Catcher In The Rye Adolescence Essay
889 Words | 2 Pages
It is evident that Holden Caufield has specific moments where he can recall and apply them wherever he is in life. His unleashing of children and their ability to explore the world without assistance has helped him transition to the real adult world. His fascination with ducks has made him realize that nothing is ever permanent and no one can always be there for when ever one falls. Lastly, the passing of a loved one can be times of despair but learning to grow and fight the internal struggle can help bring ease. Holden has really transformed from an egoistic individual to a genuine gentleman, he has grown from his experiences and is able to tolerate more pain. The reality has struck Holden no matter how distorted the outside world is to him, maturing is inevitable and using these moments will always be something for him to live for.
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Holden's Pessimistic View of the World in The Catcher in the Rye
826 Words | 2 Pages
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he expresses this attitude through his dialogue, tone, and diction.
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J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye
791 Words | 2 Pages
Books that have shaped America are slowly starting to disappear. Many of the previous social norms have fallen out of fashion, and because of this reason numerous books are beginning to become banned. Blasphemy, racism, sex, and violence are all ethical reasons for books to be censored.
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Ambiguity in J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Sylvia Plath’s The Ball Jar, and Richard Heller’s Catch 22
904 Words | 2 Pages
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
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The Theme of Change: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
811 Words | 2 Pages
...common in human beings, and the demonstrations that have been considered in this term paper are not the only examples that live in the novel that call up the difficulty of considering with change. believe about Holden lowering out of yet another school, Holden departing Pencey Prep and, for a while, dwelling life in the cold streets of New York town all by his lonesome. The book ends abruptly, and gathering condemnation of it is not rare. It's an odd cliffhanger, not because of the way it's in writing, but because of a individual desire to glimpse what Holden finishes up doing with his life. Perhaps, as he augments up, he'll learn to contend better through change. Imagine the death of Phoebe, decisively an event that would be similar to Allie's tragic demise. if an older Holden would reply the identical as did a junior one, is a inquiry still searching for an answer.
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The Catcher And The Rye
2007 Words | 5 Pages
J.D. Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as a confused and distressed adolescent. Holden is a normal teenager who needs to find a sense of belonging. All though Holden’s obsession with “phonies” overpowers him. Dan Wakefield comments, “The things that Holden finds so deeply repulsive are things he calls “phony”- and the “phoniness” in every instance is the absence of love, and , often the substitution of pretense for love.” Holden was expelled from Pencey Prep School not because he is stupid, but because he just is not interested. His attitude toward Pencey is everyone there is a phony. Pencey makes Holden feel lonely and isolated because he had very few friends. Holden’s feeling of alienation is seen when he doesn’t attend the biggest football game of the year. His comments on the game: “It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win” (2, Ch. 1). This also hints to Holden’s obsession with death. Holden can’t find a since of belonging in the school because of all the so-called phonies. Holden speaks of Pencey’s headmaster as being a phony. Holden says that on visitation day the headmaster will pay no attention to the corny-looking parents. Holden portrays his not being interested by saying, “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses”(131, Ch. 17). Holden does not care for school or money. He just wants everyone to be sincere and honest.
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Catcher In The Rye Argumentative Essay
854 Words | 2 Pages
Which is the kind of world he wants to live in. Holden expresses his desire to preserve the innocence of others when his sister Phoebe tells Holden that he doesn't like anything, and that he has no ambitions of what he wants to be when he is older. Holden then explains that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He says that he imagines little children playing on top of a hill and that his job is to protect children from falling of the hill. This symbolizes catching children from losing their innocence and falling into the adult world. Holden tells Phoebe, “I know it crazy, but that is the only thing I’d like to be” (172). This unrealistic desire is contributes to why Holden is struggling to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Critics of the novel have said Holden would like to suspend time stating, “Holden's desire to protect children shows his desire for suspending time, for inhabiting a space of young people conserved endlessly” (Yahya 3). Not letting go of childhood memories or accepting the harsh realities of adulthood are damaging when transitioning from
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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Comparing Teens in Catcher in the Rye, Tears of a Tiger, and Whirligig