Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye

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Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden puts himself in situations that are very stressful. His personality type puts him in these situations. Holden has trouble-making friends because he thinks almost everyone is a phony. The pressure created from not having friends and being able to be comfortable at a school forced him out of an education, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all...For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 13) not only did this force him out of the school but also onto the streets. The song “Under Pressure” by Queen perfectly fits the theme that the pressure Holden created on himself forced him to the edge of sanity. In the song, one of the reoccurring lines is “puts people on the streets” (Queen) referring to pressure. This song perfectly relates to this theme. The best way to describe Holden is a basket case he over exaggerates almost everything and is somewhat paranoid when it comes to what happened to Stradlater and Jane. Those and the fact that he is telling his story from a psychiatric hospital leads me to believe he is nuts. “Basket Case” by Green Day fits Holden’s personality type including lyrics about being “melodramatic” meaning overdramatic. The song also provides that the songwriter tried to fix his problems by “I went to a shrink… I went to a whore” (Green Day) both of which Holden tried to utilize to fix his problems. Holden tried not to accept that he was insane and did not like going to a shrink or a prostitute but when he was really down he collapsed, “It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn't even think. That's the whole ... ... middle of paper ... ...out their “loved” ones. After Holden got kick out of school he had two option, go home or go live on his own in the city. He choose the city where he would face being alone and being constantly reminded of home which started as early as the packing stages of him leaving. While packing he got pretty sad, “I could see my mother going in Spaulding's and asking the salesman a million dopy [sic] questions—and here I was getting the ax again. It made me feel pretty sad” (Salinger ), this is one of the problems of choosing living on his own rather than going home. “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" by Green Day represents the long and the lonely nights he is to face on his own. In the song the lyrics, “I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known… I walk along,”(Green Day), depicting what Holden does, persevere, through the rough road of depression and loneliness.

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