More handpicked essays just for you.
The catcher in the rye overview essay
Conclusion of the catcher in the rye
Conclusion of the catcher in the rye
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The catcher in the rye overview essay
Coming of age novels generally portray a child’s growth in maturity and awareness as a successful leap into adulthood. However, in his classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger contemplates the process of coming of age and regards it as a loss of innocence rather than an advance in maturity. Salinger illustrates his overall theme of loss of innocence through controversial scenes of prostitution, dishonesty, and vulgarity. Salinger discusses the loss of innocence through Holden’s experience with a prostitute, Sunny. Purchasing prostitutes, being a sinful and illegal act, strikes readers as highly controversial. However, Salinger uses prostitution to reveal Holden’s desire to protect his innocence. When Sunny sits on his lap and becomes crude in her speech and actions, Holden regrets hiring her and wishes to limit their interactions to simple conversation. Reflecting on Sunny’s innocence, Holden thought about “her going to a store and buying [her dress], and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute” (Salinger 107). Holden’s interactions with Sunny reveal his desire to remain innocent and to keep others, even a prostitute, innocent. …show more content…
Morrow’s innocence through deceit. As Holden strikes up a conversation with the woman beside him on the train, he discovers that she is the mother of “the biggest b****** that ever went to Pencey”(Salinger 61). Yet, instead of revealing his true feelings about her son, Holden tells Mrs. Morrow that everyone adores her son. Though Holden blatantly deceives Mrs. Morrow, he does so to shield her innocence and ignorance. By telling her lies about her son, Holden believes that she can live on happily, though she may be living lies. His deceiving Mrs. Morrow shows yet another attempt by Holden to delay the loss of
In his fight with Stradlater, Holden’s character is shown as a defender of innocence. He defends the memory of his brother through the report he writes for Stradlater. Because of Stradlater’s criticism on his brother’s death, Holden destroys the essay and says “All right, give it back to me, then,’ I said. I went over and pulled it right out of his goddamn hand. Then I tore it up.” Holden is tormented by the memory of his brother throughout the novel, and in this fight he defends his brothers memory by protecting the baseball glove. Later in this scene Holden is upset with Stradlater’s relationship with Jane. Holden explains, “If you knew Stradlater, you 'd have been worried, too. I 'd double-dated with the bastard a couple of times, and I know what I 'm talking about. He was unscrupulous.” Holden tries to defend Jane’s innocence and the reader is able to see Holden’s ethical code to protect the innocence and memory of others. In Holden’s confrontation with Maurice, Holden displays his detestation of the evil phony. “All of a sudden I started to cry. I 'd give anything if I hadn 't, but I did. 'No, you 're no crooks, ' I said. 'You 're just steeling five ' 'Shut up, ' old Maurice said and gave me a shove.” The scene between Maurice and Holden over the prostitute Sunny shows his emotions when it comes to fake people. In this scene he
Holden checked into the Edmont Hotel in Manhattan, where he hired a young prostitute named Sunny. This scene depicts Holden’s struggle with confused adolescence. Holden thought that sleeping with a prostitute would make him a man. However, when he was confronted with the burgeoning sexual situation, he yielded. After all, he is still just a child. “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than
Holden’s first betrayal was that of his memory and innocence by an egotistical peer. At Pencey Prep, he roomed with a student named Stradlater; the epitome of a teenage jock. Stradlater was openly very vain; as Holden stated as he watched Stradlater gaze at himself in the mirror, “he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere” (27). Because of his inflated ego and good looks, Stradlater figured that he would steal the breath from any girl he wanted. To Holden, he admitted that the girl of the hour was a “Jean Gallagher” (31). Here was the betrayal: this “Jean” and the Jane that Holden had spent childhood summers with playing a cool game of checkers on the porch were one and the same. Holden had ...
Salinger characterizes Holden as constantly making impulsive decisions when presented with challenges. One example of a situation where Holden makes the wrong decision in an attempt to take the easy way out is when he encounters Sunny, the prostitute. When Holden enters his hotel, and is approached by a pimp named Maurice who asks him if he would like to buy a prostitute for the night, he responds with the brief statement, “Okay” (119). Holden’s one word response explicitly demonstrates his attempt to escape the challenging situation quickly. His lack of words also demonstrates hesitation, because if he were to be fully committed into to purchasing the prostitute, he would ask for more information. After Holden tells Maurice he will buy
Holden struggles to make connections with other people, and usually resorts to calling them phonies whenever they upset him. He finds natural human flaws in people and runs away from connection immediately. His date with Sally shows this. Near the end of the date, Holden tells Sally about his plans to run away from life. When Sally gives him practical advice, Holden is quick to escape connection by calling her “a pain”. Sally’s advice would definitely guide Holden in a more realistic direction, but that is not what he wants to hear. Conflict always arises in his mind even if there is little in reality. His struggles with finding connection also make him too apprehensive to call his old friend Jane. Holden likes to think of Jane as a pure and perfect girl that he can
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye provides a provocative inquiry into the crude life of a depressed adolescent, Holden Caulfield. Without intensive analysis and study, Holden appears to be a clearly heterosexual, vulgar yet virtuous, typical youth who chastises phoniness and decries adult evils. However, this is a fallacy. The finest manner to judge and analyze Holden is by his statements and actions, which can be irrefutably presented. Holden Caulfield condemns adult corruption and phoniness but consistently misrepresents himself and is a phony as well as a hypocrite.
Through the majority of the book, Holden repeatedly speaks about having “the time”; yet, however, he states that when he gets close to doing it, he stops because the girl hinders him. Holden has not proceeded with his desire to have “the time,” even when he hires a prostitute. When Holden first sees the prostitute, Sunny, he loses the urgency and desire to finally have sex. “I took her dress over to the closet and hung it up for her. It was funny. It made me feel sort of sad when I hung it up. I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute just thought she was a regular girl when she bought it. It made me feel sad as hell—I don’t know why exactly” (95-96). Holden imagines others thinking that Sunny is your average woman shopping, not knowing what kind of woman she truly is. From the contents of Holden’s mind, this section is an example of Holden him searching for a tiny trace of innocence left within Sunny. “ ‘Me? Twenty-two.’ ‘Like fun you are.’ I...
Sunny, the prostitute. Sunny came to Holden’s place because he wanted to have sex with
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
Sunny embodies what Holden desperately wants and fears – physical affection. Prior to meeting Maurice, Holden is feeling “depressed and all” (Salinger 116) and “sort of lousy” (116). His negative feelings beforehand initiate him to make a decision he otherwise would not have made –agreeing to hire a prostitute - but acknowledges that “it was too late now” (119) to invalidate what, arguably, he commits to purely on impulse. He feels “a little nervous” (120) because sex is a novelty for him – he’s had “quite a few opportunities” (120) to engage in intercourse, yet hasn’t gotten around t...
Throughout the book Holden has these recurring thoughts about sex which is a typical trait for a sixteen year old boy. Holden had just walked back from Ernie's when Maurice, the elevator man, asks Holden if he is “Interested in a little tail t’night”(91). Holden unwittingly says yes to Maurie’s proposition: “It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think”(91). Holden then returns to his room to prepare himself for the girl the Maurice was sending. Holden admits that “I was starting to feel pretty sexy and all, but I was a little nervous anyway”(92). When Sunny arrives she seems very keen to get the intercourse done and over with fast. Holden is affronted by the fact that Sunny is so eager to get things done quickly. Holden observes that he “felt peculiar when she did that”(94). Holden was referring to when Sunny “stood up and pulled her dress over her head”(94). Holden the acknowledges that “you’re supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody gets up and pulls their dress over their head, but I didn’t”(95). Holden quickly rejects the intimacy of sex and instead asks Sunny if she feels “like talking for a while”(95). Sunny isn’t very jubilant with the fact that Holden does not want to have sex, but instead talk. There is something inside of Holden that always prohibits him from
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
Not only is the general image of the adult world ominous to Holden but the actual adults in his own life seemed to live hopeless lives as well. According to Holden they are greedy, phony, corrupt, boring, and in many cases all or more than one of the characteristics. Holden encounters a prostitute, named Sunny, the first night out of Pency Prep at a trashy hotel. Sunny’s loss of innocence and her corruption sadden Holden greatly. They are nearly the same age yet she already fell into the dark adult world (Lundquist 15). Holden can still see her youthful innocence in her expression, “like fun you are” (Salinger 94). He thinks, “It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a real kid” (Salinger 94). Holden becomes extremely depressed and in effort to preserve some innocence, he does not have sex with her. “Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy” (Salinger 95). The prostitute’s pimp, Maurice, exemplifies greed when he uses violence to extort another five dollars from Holden (Salinger 101). It is not only the low class society that bothers Holden; he can not even stand ministers. Their phony voices they use when they give sermons (Salinger 100). Lawyers also leave a bad taste in Holden’s mouth. He thinks they are all right if they save lives of honest people, unfortunately he doesn’t see that happening. In his eyes they just make a lot of mo...
...’s habitual lying relates back to times where he is hypocritical about his environment being full of phonies. Salinger provides these small details of deceitfulness in order to further advance Holden’s character and the work as a whole.
Labelling persons according to the levels in the society is strictly manifested everywhere. This designation within people is shown in the novel’s text, “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth.” (Salinger 96). Holden is talking about a young prostitute named Sunny who comes to him because of his agreement to have sex, although he declines after he meets her. His rejection to this represents his depression mostly, but also his thought of categorizing someone as a prostitute and having sex with her as stereotype and corrupt. Sex hugely impacts one’s loss of innocence according to what society mostly thinks. Although people just create this idea in their minds, which shows being