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Catcher in the rye analysis introduction to english literary studies
Catcher in the rye analysis introduction to english literary studies
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Holden soon finds himself searching for a record to buy his sister Phoebe. He sees this family walking out of church—a mother, father, and a little kid about six years old. Holden hears the child singing the song, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye” and it lifted his spirits. “It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed anymore” (Salinger 150). Holden and his friend Sally go ice skating and then have lunch together. During lunch, Holden complains that he is fed up with everything around him and suggests that they run away together, where they can live in a cabin in the woods. When she declines the idea, it brings down Holden’s mood resulting in him to say “You give me a royal pain in the ass” (Salinger 173). This causes Sally to cry and Holden repeatedly tries to apologize to her but she won’t accept it. Defeated, he leaves and ends up getting drunk. He then decides to sneak home to see his sister but make sure his parents wouldn’t know. …show more content…
Holden tells her a vision he has been pondering about based on a line in the song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye” by Robert Burns about how he sees himself as the protector of a grand number of children playing some sort of game in a large rye field on the edge of a cliff. It’s his job and responsibility to catch the kids if they come close to falling off the edge, ergo the “catcher in the rye.” Holden misinterpreted the lines of it and because of that, believes that the "catcher in the rye" is to rescue children from being deprived of their innocence—saving them from
Again, this is one of the few people that Holden likes and doesn’t consider a phony like everyone else. He talks highly of her and he sees himself in her in the way that she alternates between behaving like an adult and behaving like a child, the way he says he also does. It bothered him greatly when she asks him if he “got the ax again,” referring to his expulsion. She starts asking him questions about his future and what he likes (if he likes anything at all) and it forces him to wake up. Everyone has been telling Holden to realize his situation and put more effort into schoolwork and relationships and to start caring. Holden’s reality is very simple: he wants to be the catcher in the rye to protect children’s innocence and stop them from growing up because all adults are phonies. Again and again, being told that that isn’t plausible annoys him. He feels betrayed, when his own sister, someone who he thought would understand him, joins everyone else in telling him to put forth more
I would like to discuss how Holden’s misinterpretation of the Robert Burns poem, “Coming Through the Rye”, sums up his deepest desires by taking a journey through his troubled adolescence and his journey to self–discovery that results in his breakdown. According to Phoebe, the original line in the poem is “if a body meet a body”. However, Holden’s misinterpretation of “if a body catch a body” removes all sexual connotations from the original poem. Holden is a deeply disturbed adolescent in search of a way to preserve his childhood innocence. His “red hunting cap” is a symbol of his uniqueness and his rejection to conform to society.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. This perception of the world does not change significantly through the novel. However, as the novel progresses, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change this.
The Catcher in the Rye Holden Gets Influenced Everyone gets influenced by someone, even heroes do. The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J. D. Salinger, talks about Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old boy that is trying to live through his problems. Holden tries to learn from his experiences as well as from the ones of others. He goes through many hard times, but he always takes them as a chance to imagine how it could have ended if he had done something about them or what cold had happened if he was not so “yellow”.
Holden believed that children were innocent because they viewed the world and society without any bias. When Phoebe asked him to name something that he would like to be when he grew up, the only thing he would have liked to be was a "catcher in the rye." He invented an illusion for himself of a strange fantasy. He stated that he would like to follow a poem by Robert Burns: "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye." He kept "picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
Holden wants to shelter children from the adult world (Chen). In Chapter 16, the catcher in the rye finally appears. This is also a symbol for what Holden would like to be when he grows older. He pictures a group of many kids playing in a field of rye, where it is his job to catch them from falling off the cliff. This shows Holden’s love for childhood and his need to preserve it in any way he can. According to Alsen, “The way Holden explains why he wants to be the catcher in the rye shows the kindness and unselfishness of his character. However, the surreal nature of the metaphor also reveals his unwillingness to face the real life choices he needs to make now that he is approaching adulthood.” By the end of the book, Holden realizes in order for kids to grow, there can’t be protection from all of potential harm. “He therefore gives up his dream of being the catcher in the rye and is ready to make a realistic choice of what he wants to do with his life” (Alsen). Holden’s dream world, that doesn’t involve change, is unrealistic. He is terrified by the unpredictable changes of the adult world, but there is no way for Holden to avoid the experiences and changes that the
While analyzing the city around him, Holden sees a kid walking in the street "singing and humming." As Holden nears he realizes the child is signing that song, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye" in a very pretty voice, making traffic come to a screeching halt, and making Holden feel "not so depressed."(116)
The person he loves most in life is not his father or mother, it is his sister Phoebe. When Holden says," The kid was swell. he had a pretty little voice too.his parents paid no attention to him" ( Salinger 150 ). It shows how Holden immediately enjoys the child, while the parents seem careless about their kid's singing. Also when he goes to deliver the note inside Phoebe's school and sees the curses written on the wall, he immediately tries to get rid of it.
in all but one of his subjects. He does not like to talk about his
Throughout the book, Holden is depressed and has very few things he enjoys, but what he really wants to do is become the catcher in the rye. When he talks to his little sister Phoebe, he reiterates the fact that he’d “just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing that I’d really like to be,” and he’s telling the truth (225). Holden complains all the time, about how phony people are, or how he feels like he is the only normal one. He never gives a compliment, or even smiles for the majority of the book. But when he finally talks to someone he enjoys, he realizes what he wants to do: prohibit phoniness from
The Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel, and his disillusionment. Holden’s disillusionment illustrates that he has a problem accepting such. Aforesaid is based upon multiple factors, most which have brought Holden lasting traumas. A remedy is required for Holden to accept his disillusionment and enable an improvement of his situation. For Holden’s remedy, the consultation of psychologists, and additional specialized health professionals would be the core of an apt remedy for Holden’s psychological and physiological state based upon the numerous causes of such and the everlasting trauma of some of the determinants of aforesaid situation. The origins of Holden’s disillusionment revolved mainly around the death of his younger brother Allie three years ago, of which he still experiences the trauma to this day. His disillusionment is caused by both
J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden's encounters with other people. He divides all people into two different categories, the "phonies" and the authentics. Holden refers to a "phony" as someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite, or has manifestations of conformity. A person's age, gender, and occupation, play a key role in how Holden interacts with them.
In today's world many people do not show their true self to people that they do not feel comfortable around. Readers can see this in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Holden only shows his true authentic self to women and girls. Although Holden seems that he does not like to talk to anyone, when he is around women he pays attention to them, is comfortable, and expresses his true feelings.
Holden wants to be with Sally only when he is not thinking straight. After his long rant about school, he asks her to move to “these cabin camps… in Vermont” with him (132). Holden is not being level headed, which can be observed by Sally telling him to “stop screaming at (her)” multiple times (132). Later, after Holden calmed down, he realized he only “meant it when he asked her,” and “wouldn’t have taken her even if she’d wanted to” (134). When Holden is in a bad state of mind and is “too drunk… to give Jane a buzz,” he decides to give, “old Sally Hayes a buzz” (150). Holden feels attached to her and always seems to need her in these bad moments, but afterwards, he “wished to God (he) hadn’t even phoned her” (151). In moments of foolishness for Holden, he always falls back on Sally, and only later when he reflects on it, does he regret the decisions he made. Sally in Catcher in the Rye, is involved with many of Holden’s regrets, making her one of the necessary characters throughout Holden’s
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