Argumentative Essay On The Catcher In The Rye

No one understands you, and you’re the only one who can recognize the adulterated reality we live in. This may sound melodramatic, but it’s what Holden Caulfield seems to believe. Holden Caulfield is the main protagonist of The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger. The story is his retelling of flunking his prep school and catching a train to his native New York, where he roams around for the weekend. As implied, we are only given Holden’s voice in the novel, with everyone else being described in the third person. This is essential to the text since having only one perspective forces the reader to concentrate on Holden’s experiences and his outlook on his surroundings as he tries to navigate through the murky waters of life.

Salinger’s

Being that we only have his POV, we don’t know if everything is true, as he tends to exaggerate a lot. Holden even outright says, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.” But this may be the point. Having only his narrative to go on, we are forced to focus on what Holden thinks of the events, people, and places in the book and how he presents them to us. For instance, when describing his late younger brother, Allie, Holden glorifies even the small details: “But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member of in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair.” Since it’s only Holden’s portrayal, we don’t know if Allie was really this great or not. Holden, in his love for Alli and pain over his death, has created an idealised version of him, possibly as a way to cope. He may also admire Allie’s innocence. Allie died at the young, though tragic, age of 11, uncorrupted by the grim reality Holden lives in. Either way, what would otherwise be a factual description of a prepubescent boy is spun into a glorified depiction of virtuous child taken too soon—by Holden’s opinion on