The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger has many different possibilities when discussing possibilities for theme. Salinger focuses heavily on innocence in this novel this leading us to the theme loss of innocence. The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman and Holden Caulfield is a teenager looking for his identity therefore we can conclude that searching for identity could be a theme in this story. Holden has suffered a death already and it has affected him greatly coping with death is another possible theme for this story. Salinger left many possible themes for this story.
Innocence is the most important thing to Holden he learns the majority of his lessons by either seeing someone lose their innocence or losing it himself permitting it
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Because coping with the death of his brother is the motivation behind Holden 's behavior throughout the entire novel it is considered a possible theme for the story. Holden reacts violently to the news of allie’s death initially but as Allies death becomes more distant Holden is more thoughtful about remembering Allie. The night Holden hears the news he broke all of the windows in the garage “ I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it”(PAGE 44). After time has past from Allie’s death Holden is not quite as violent he is more curious about Allie hence his obsession with the ducks and where they go in the winter. Holden also prays to Allie “Allie don’t let me disappear”(PAGE 218) Holden is changing his ways of coping throughout the entire story. Holden is not alone in his outbursts about Allie, Holden 's family dynamic crumbles after Allie dies. Holden describes his family in chapter seventeen saying his mother “Hasn’t felt too healthy since my brother Allie died. She’s very nervous.” (PAGE 120) implying his mother had a nervous breakdown. His father and D.B. both immerse themselves in work to prevent thinking too hard about Allie 's death. Holden’s family was not the same after Allie’s death and this turns the Caulfield family upside down. Holden sees that his brother has died and is mad at him but also thinks about suicide and pretends to be dying after he fights because if he is dead he is also closer to Allie. In chapter twenty and chapter six alike Holden had a physical confrontation and pretended to be shot when he was alone in his room. Holden fantasies about death trying to be closer to Ally. The way all of the characters cope with Holden’s death bring up all of the major ideas in the story thus being a possible theme for The Catcher in
There is one universal truth that will exist through out all of time and space that affects all that live to experience it. That truth is known as grief. We all experience grief, and for Holden Caulfield, grief is a major aspect of his life, the force that drives him to do everything he does in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. There are seven stages to this emotion known as grief: denial, depression, anger, bargaining, guilt, reconstruction, and finally, acceptance. There are many parts in the novel that could have influenced Holden’s grief, but the main one that most people who read the novel have figured it out was the death of his little brother Allie. The root to Holden’s grief lies with his brother which cause Holden’s to act and change the way he does in the novel.
One of the most impactful events in Holden’s past is the death of his brother. Jos death definitely took a big piece of Holden’s innocence. One of the main causes of his depression is the death of Allie’s and it had a tremendous impact on his life. Allie inset rarely mentioned, his passing had a great impact on Holden. Leukemia took is younger brothers innocents and this deeply saddened him and he promise himself to that he would do whatever he could not to let that happen to other innocent kids. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie”
Holden’s apparent desire to be separated from the majority of his family and friends appears to have been triggered by the death of his younger brother Allie. From Allie’s there has been a downward spiral in Holden’s relationships, as he begins to avoid contact with others and isolate himself more. The reason I believe this is because we can see how immense his anger is after Allie’s death, ‘I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist’. The death of Allie has become like an awakening to Holden, and has alerted him how precious childhood innocence is, when Holden comes to this realisation he convinces himself to do everything within his power to protect the innocence of himself and those around him, to protect them from what he sees as a false adult world. Although Holden clearly fails to protect himself, as he falls into all sorts of situations which hardly boasts of innocence and virt... ...
He is not innocent, but he is also not mature. Holden identifies with children, but they do not identify with him. “I passed by this playground and stopped and watched a couple of very tiny kids on a seesaw. One of them was sort of fat, and I put my hand on the skinny kid's end, to sort of even up the weight, but you could tell they didn't want me around, so I let them alone.”(81) In this example and others, Holden wants to be with the children, because he still sees himself as an innocent child. Although he is always reaching for a cigarette or drink, Holden has a difficult time accepting that he is no longer an innocent child. This is the foundation of Holden’s depression, which J.D salinger revales upfront. has a difficult time accepting he is no longer
The theme of The Catcher in the Rye is simple. J. D. Salinger uses this novel to draw a clear distinction between the purity of childhood and the wickedness attained when one reaches adulthood. Salinger uses multiple literary devices including diction, symbolism, tone, and even the title of the novel to drive home his ideas about the innocence of children and the corruption of the world.
Immediately after Allie’s death, Holden changes immensely. His very first act after Allie died was smashing all his garage windows with his fist. Following this aggressive act, he becomes a recluse and judges every person he crosses to- I assume- Allie, because of how much he still reminded Holden of innocence, and will for the rest of his life. Cynthia Barron states, “Holden is sixteen… in a unique position, caught in the limbo between childhood and adulthood. Thus faced with their inability to adapt to an adult world that is hypocritical and corrupt, both boys seek a return to the realm of childhood” (Barron). In my personal opinion, i believe that he ...
Holden is intelligent and sensitive, but his thoughts and feelings are full of cynicism and negativity. He sounds bored and tired with almost everybody and everything. Holden constantly focuses on the hypocrisy and social rules of the world around him, and judges them to be oppressive and phony. Holden uses his cynicism and negativity to distance himself from almost everyone. However, Holden has good memories and thoughts about his younger sister, Phoebe, and of his younger brother Allie, who died a couple of years ago.
Holden feels as if he is stuck in his 13 year old self. Although he is aging he isn’t necessarily maturing the way his classmates and other people are around him. This is due to the fact that he never received closure when Allie died. When he starts picturing his own funeral because he might get pneumonia and die, he remembers D.B. telling him about his brother's funeral. He stated, “I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). Since he never attended the funeral he never got to say his final goodbyes to the one person he truly loved. Holden feels as if he can’t connect with anyone else in the world like he did with Allie. If he did then he would most likely push them away, so he wouldn’t have to experience the trauma of loss again, because it greatly impacted his life the first time. The trauma Holden experienced when he was younger resulted in him not being able to form stronger relationships with people which made him more depressed and
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s outlook in life is either the innocence of childhood or the cruelty of adulthood. He believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and it should be protected from the cruelty and phoniness of the adult world. Therefore Holden has a desire and is compelled to protect a child’s innocence at all costs. This is revealed when Holden tells Phoebe that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says to Phoebe, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re ru...
Symbolism is the use of objects or people for a different idea or meaning. These can be inanimate objects, people, animals, or even ideas, and they can be used for many purposes. Symbolism is often subtle; it can be difficult to see without careful attention, and J. D. Salinger sneaks it in The Catcher in the Rye without making it obvious. He often portrays Holden’s thoughts in symbolism, without writing them word for word on the page. J. D. Salinger makes use of symbols in The Catcher in the Rye in order to convey Holden's desire to protect and prolong innocence in himself and others.
Holden has a near obsession with the death of his younger brother Allie, who died at age thirteen due to leukemia. Holden had punched and broke all the windows in the garage out of anger; he says that his hands still hurt from the incident. Throughout the novel, Holden dwells on Allies’ death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, from the baseball mitt. Towards the end of the book, Holden proves again that he can’t cope with death. Phoebe, his younger sister, is putting him on the spot by asking him what he likes, but Holden can only think of two nuns and a boy, James W. Castle. James W. Castle was a boy who Holden had lent his sweater to, Castle died unfortunately by being thrown out of a window wearing Holden’s sweater. Another thing that haunts Holden is the fact that during roll call in class, his last name always is called after Castles’ last name. After the brief moment of reminiscing, Holden irritates Phoebe by saying, “I like Allie…”. He has trouble acknowledging the death of his brother.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.
...p between Gene and Finny. On the other hand, J.D. Salinger’s theme in The Catcher in the Rye was developing through adolescence with depression and confusion in your life. Through the point of view of Holden’s place, his attitude and experience he went through discerned that stress was a big issue to him and struggling through depression as a teen and achieving maturity from it is something the most of us could relate to. Overall, both of the themes in the novels have something to do with social events in our lives and both of the themes became interesting appeals.
good and got all the girls but in fact he was a slob. His razor that made him
Holden Caulfield suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder throughout the course of the novel. In fact, the root of all his problems come from Allie’s passing; he died from leukemia. Holden used to be extremely close with him and his imminent death changed his entire life and psyche. Holden seems to relive the event of his beloved little brother Allie’s death over and over. “What is clear, however, is that many of the symptoms Holden displays in the course of the novel mirror the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The death of his younger brother, Allie was a traumatic event in Holden Caulfield’s life and is perhaps at the root of the depression he battles in the novel. The death of a sibling can trigger post-traumati...