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Essay on the characters of the catcher in the rye
J.D. Salinger the catcher in the rye analysis
The catcher in the rye - levels of understanding j d salinger
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Sophia Schupp 12/1/15
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Can Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye accept his reality and handle the responsibilities of life? J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield; a teenage boy who has dropped out of 4 different school, feels like an outsider and is disgusted by humanity. He leaves his most recent school, Pencey, because he was not applying himself enough and he couldn’t handle the stress of school. Holden goes to New York and goes on many dates with girls he doesn't like. Holden constantly notices the phonies in his life. He sees his little kid sister Phoebe who he adores. He gets nostalgic about his dead brother Allie and his childhood. As a result
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of all of these hardships in his life Holden decides to head out West and start a new life for himself. Throughout Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye escapism is a common theme that is portrayed through Holden’s character and interactions. Holden cannot cope with the responsibility of school and relationships and he removes himself from many personal and important situations because of that. After dropping out of four schools and having no luck in many relationships he decides to leave New York city all together. This way he won’t be constantly reminded of his old schools, relationships or childhood memories. “I decided I'd never go home again and I'd never go away to another school again...and then I'd start hitchhiking my way out West.” (Salinger 198) Holden can’t seem to handle any responsibility. Holden has a responsibility of staying and succeeding in school but he does not hold that responsibility and ends up flunking his classes. He also has the responsibility of being a good boyfriend. Holden cannot have a steady relationship because he can’t be honest when he needs to be. Holden has had many relationship where he is only in it because he thinks the girl is cute. He leads the girls on to think that he is going to be serious with them but ends up leaving when the girl relies on him. Holden’s solution to problems in his life is to leave them behind. Holden is young and immature and he is scared that if he is in a relationship he might have to be honest and show his true personality and most of all, stay in the bond. Holden can’t seem to pass anything in school because if he starts to participate and get good grades his teachers would have expectations he would have to meet. Holden can't handle that surplus of pressure of someone else’s expectation. Before a teacher can create expectations of Holden, he leaves the situation altogether by not doing his homework or finishing his class work and ultimately drops out. Holden flees many big responsibilities in life so he won’t be expected of bigger things. Salinger uses the literary device, mood, in this quote. At this point a reader might feel disappointed in Holden because of the way he reacted to his life situation and just quit and gave up. But reader might also feel that there is some hope for Holden now that he's starting with a clean slate. This should feel quote expresses a mood of resignation and it feels very melancholy. At this point a reader The readers Holden doesn’t really want to leave NYC forever but he feels that his only option is to leave all of his bad memories behind. Holden might resort to something very serious and dangerous if he continues his life in NYC, constantly being reminded of his bad past. Holden escapes the responsibilities of being an adult so to not create expectations for himself. Holden’s only way to handle the sad realities of life is to not accept them. Holden is asked by his beloved kid sister, Phoebe if he likes anything in the whole world. He responds by saying that he likes Allie and Phoebe. "I like Allie," I said…. "Allie's dead..." said Phoebe "I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake-- especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all." (Salinger 171) Holden can’t the accept the reality of of his brother's death that deeply scarred him. Holden was taken to the hospital right after Allie’s death because he punched out all of the glass windows in their garage. When Holden is told or reminded of Allie’s death he chooses to ignore it and continue talking about Allie as I he was alive. Holden escapes his misery by not telling himself that Allie is actually gone. Though in this quote he says he understands Allie is dead but he continues describing Allie in present tense as if he was alive. This is Holden’s way of escaping the reality and facts that his brother is gone now. Holden will never accept Allie’s death because he can't think of anything that justifies why such a sweet, innocent boy had to leave this world so soon. This just adds to his disgust and disappointment in humanity and reality. This literary text conveys the tone of annoyance, sadness and anger. Salinger used words such as Goddamn which illustrates the tone and feeling of annoyance. Holden replies to his sister slightly sarcastically and uses many exclamation points. Holden says “"I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I?”. In this particular section of the quote he sounds angry and sad because of his beloved brother’s death. This quote illustrates Holden’s inability to accept this sad aspect of his life. Holden constantly lies because he is trying to escape his boring life and create a better life through his fabrications.
Holden was saying goodbye to his former teacher, Old Spencer, who was very sick and was droning on and on about Holden’s terrible grades. So in order to leave Holden lies and tells his teacher that he has somewhere to go. Holden then goes on to explain to the reader that he lies all of the time. “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, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible. “ (Salinger 16). Holden lies so he does not need to accept his uneventful life. Holden projects the idea that he has a good life to people. For example instead of saying he is doing something boring like going to the corner store he can say that he off to go to do something extravagant like an opera. Holden can escape his own life and tell people another life that is better in his mind. Holden not only wants other people to believe that he has a very extravagant life, but he also wants convince himself that he is not living in his own mundane life. Salinger uses the literary device of characterization in this quote because this text explains a big part of Holden’s personality and interaction with other people. This quote is said in the beginning of The Catcher in the Rye where we are still learning who Holden’s character is. This quote explains that a big aspect of his character is his constant habit of lying to people. An interaction with other people that happens all of the time is something that defines somebody. An example of this in present day is if someone was shy and when they rarely talked to people they spoke in short, quick sentences. People meeting this person for the first time would take this into consideration when getting to know them. Holden’s constant habit of lying shows that he wants to impress people and escape the truth
of his dull, sad life. Holden tries to escape his sad reality through his actions and interactions. He flees the responsibility of being a student and being boyfriend . Holden can’t accept the sad facts of life and decides to ignore them instead. He lies to people about things in his life he doesn't want to admit or believe them himself. Holden can’t accept certain facts of life and needs to start understanding the reality of things. Holden needs to realize that he can’t change his past but he can shape his future. So instead of trying escape his life he needs to start living his life to the fullest and create something that he will embrace and take pride in.
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye Salinger writes about the main character Holden Caulfield and his life. Holden is a teenager who comes from a wealthy family, he loves his family and lives very happy until the death of his brother Allie. After his brother died Holden becomes troubled, being kicked out of school again and again developing a negative view of the world. Holden throughout the book shows anger,denial, and acceptance over the loss of his brother.
Salinger went through many of the experiences Holden went though. Salinger much like Holden had a sister that he loved very much, in the novel Phoebe is the only person that Holden speaks highly of; both men also spent time in a mental institution; Holden is telling the story from inside a institution; they were both kicked out of prep school and most importantly they were both a recluse from society. This is why Salinger uses Holden as his persona all though out the book. The ‘catcher in they Rye’ is almost like an autobiography for Salinger. He is using Holden as his persona to let us, the reader, dive into his thought pattern and find out some of the thoughts that he kept locked up in there.
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.
Since Holden was isolated from his family, in order to not get hurt again he tries to find hypocrisy in people to stop himself from trusting others. Holden feels isolated after being sent to a boarding school that “was full of phonies” by his parents (Salinger 90). Salinger’s message to the audience with this quote is that when
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.
Vin Diesel once said, “It's insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams.” In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles with insecurity and accepting his personality and intellect. We get glimpses of these very traits Holden is insecure about through his observations of certain people he looks up to, namely his brother Allie and his old friend Mr. Antolini. It can’t be a coincidence that the people he admires happen to have certain ideal traits on which Holden expresses self-doubt. Salinger uses the description of characters that Holden holds in high regard to represent key traits that Holden is insecure about within himself.
There will always be a moment where we all change, but most of us would prefer to hold on to remaining an adolescent. "Catcher in the Rye" written by J.D. Salinger, is a story about a high-school student, Holden, who looks for a reason to change and move on from his depressing page of life. The novel depicts the adventures of Holden as he processes a change. Through Holden's resistance to change, Salinger expresses that people sometimes crave for the past which impacts us negatively, but we would be better off if we learn to move on and find something special.
A person who is able to live life with many struggles such as dropping out of school and dealing with a family member’s death can really continue pursuing their lifestyle in the future. In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, it becomes evident that Holden has difficulty accepting himself and others as he constantly defines people as "phony". Before we can understand why Holden leaves on his journey at all, we must understand his struggle. Holden leaves Pencey because he was surrounded by phonies and wants to find success elsewhere. He tries to find someone to communicate with by turning to his family. Holden just wants someone to talk to and wants to break his depression by succeeding.
First off, he is a teenager, which is on average, most of the people who has read and is reading The Catcher in the Rye. Young teenagers can relate to Holden quite easily, mainly due to his speech and actions. Holden Caulfield is a young lad, who swears in just about every other sentence. An example of Holden 's usage of swear words would be, “It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a real kid. You 'd think a prostitute and all would say "Like hell you are" or "Cut the crap" instead of "Like fun you are” (Salinger 51). Instead of speaking politely, Holden uses his own normal vocabulary, or instead, most of the teenagers ' vocabulary. It is so common to just walk into a high school and hear people use swear words left and right. Salinger’s purpose is to create a chain of connection between Holden and the reader, so that way, the reader can feel in place when reading the novel. Another way Holden connects with the reader is through his actions. Holden dropped out of high school, and occasionally got into fights. According to a quotation on page 5 of The Catcher in the Rye, it states, “Well. . . they 'll be pretty irritated about it," I said. "They really will. This is about the fourth school I 've gone to." I shook my head. I shake my head quite a lot. "Boy!" I said. I also say "Boy!" quite a lot” (Salinger). Now, before we all criticize Holden for
Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life What was wrong with Holden, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.Salinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood. There is something wrong or lacking in the novels of despair and frustration of many writers. The sour note of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism have become almost a convention, never thoroughly explained by the author's dependence on a psychoanalytical interpretation of a major character. The boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as familiar to us today as stalwart and dependable young heroes such as John Wayne were to an earlier generation. We have accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and bewilderment of our young men and boys because no one has anything better to offer.
Holden Caulfield, - notorious for either being kicked out of schools or as he simply describes it “quitting”- having just been kicked out of yet another school for his lack of motivation, views life through a cynical lens as he deems those different from him as “phony”. Holden justifies his annoyance towards everything as he intermittently cuts off his tale to share some random pet peeve or irrelevant story, such as when he describes his roommate Stradlater as a “secret slob” (Salinger, 35) and continues on to critique his grooming habits, in an effort to validate how “phony” things really are. However, these tactics only further show his immaturity as Holden’s judgment of being a “phony” symbolizes his fear of growing up. Moreover, Holden’s greatest defense mechanism is pushing others away, this is seen as Holden visits his history teacher, Mr. Spencer and while he tries to
In J.D. Salinger’s controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in no hurry to face his parents. Holden travels to New York for several days to cope with his disappointments. As James Lundquist explains, “Holden is so full of despair and loneliness that he is literally nauseated most of the time.” In this novel, Holden, a lonely and confused teenager, attempts to find love and direction in his life. Holden’s story is realistic because many adolescent’s face similar challenges.
Holden often resides within his own ideologies which often conflict with that of the society’s. This is prevalent within Holden’s viewpoint as many of the adults being “phonies” and is not far from the truth. Most of the characters seemingly lack depth and are consumed within their own shallowness. Sally is the epitome of society’s shallow nature by outwardly expressing her needs. “‘Look. I have to know. Are you or aren’t you coming over to help me trim the tree Christmas Eve? I have to know’” (Salinger 130). She is too busy worried about her own affairs that Holden’s deteriorating state simply is not even recognizable in her eyes. Her focus is on what he can do for her rather than sympathizing with his issues. People are often this way where they ignore problems that om their solution., Salinger’s viewpoint is a bit cynical towards this as most of the adults have this traits perhaps portraying the loss of empathy from childhood to adulthood. Another overall theme regarding society is the advocation of honesty morally but avoiding uncomfortable situations with lies in practice. Holden often regards this type of behavior has “phony” but regardless finds himself following along as well. “I’m always saying ‘Glad to’ve met you’ to somebody I’m not at all glad I met” (Salinger 87). Small talk,
Holden is a pessimistic, remote, and miserable character and he expresses this attitude through dialogue, tone, and diction. Throughout the book he has remained to be a liar, a failure, a loner, and lastly, a suicidal guy who feels like he has no purpose in life. Perhaps Salinger expressed his perceptions and emotions of his teen years in this book and it was a form of conveying his deep inner feelings of his childhood. Readers can see this clearly shown in The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger.
Throughout the novel, J.D, Salinger develops Holden’s character with numerous situations. Holden makes the reader question his rectitude through his perspective of those around him, his sexual desires, his general attitude, and his chronic lying. Because Salinger permits the audience to know how situations proceed from Holden’s perspective, the audience has an alternative side of Holden available to evaluate. Without the varying traits Holden presents, The Catcher in the Rye would not thoroughly depict Holden as a suffering individual. Thus, Holden’s character is morally ambiguous and crucial to the overall development of the novel.