In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is constantly having internal conflicts dealing with intimacy. Holden constantly battles with himself over wanting intimacy and not wanting intimacy. Holden longs for intimacy with other people while simultaneously rejecting such intimacy, a self-destructive paradox that leads to his great suffering.
Holden reaches out to Mr. Spencer for empathy, but when they start talking Holden regrets his decision and refuses to open up about how he feels. Holden initially goes to his teacher's house to say a final goodbye. Holden points out that "He'd written me this note asking me to stop by and say good-bye before vacation started, on account of I wasn't coming back. I'd have come over to say good-bye
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anyway"(7). When Holden and Mr. Spencer start to talk Holden regrets coming over because his conversation with Mr. Spencer "started getting serious as hell"(8). Holden observes that "All of the sudden then, I wanted to get the hell out of the room. I could feel a terrific lecture coming on"(10). Holden starts to feel uncomfortable because he came over to Mr. Spencer's looking for empathy but instead is getting lectured by Mr. Spencer. When Holden realizes that Mr. Spencer will not be empathetic Holden then won't open up and share how he feels. Holden feels like Mr. Spencer won't understand how he feels. Holden "didn't feel like going into the whole thing with him. He wouldn't have understood it anyway"(13). Holden reaches out to Mr. Spencer for intimacy but then rejects it in fear of not being understood. Instead of staring how he feels Holden carries this burden of sadness around and ultimately this destroys him. Holden feels as though no one understands how he feels, so he thinks it’s better to hide how he really feels. Carrying around all of his feeling and not being able to tell anyone eventually takes a toll on Holden. Holden’s self destructive mind eventually leaded to Holden suffering immensely. Holden rejects the friendship of Ackley, but when Holden is left with no one to talk to he turns to Ackley for an intimate conversation. Ackley first appears in chapter three when he stops by Holden and Stradlater’s room. Holden does not particularly like Ackley so he pretends to take no notice of the boy. “Hi, I said,but I didn’t look up from my book”(20). Ackley is trying to be friendly, but Holden finds him annoying so he rejects Ackley’s friendship. Ackley doesn’t seem to get the hint that Holden doesn’t want to hang out or be friends. “Anybody else except Ackley would’ve taken the goddam hint”(20-21). After Ackley finally leaves, Holden admits that “He never exactly broke your heart when he went back to his own room”(26). Later that evening Holden and Stradlater get into a fight that leaves holden beaten up and bleeding. Holden doesn’t have any friends to go stay with so he goes to Ackley’s room. Holden reaches out to Ackley for a friend and for comforting. Unfortunately for Holden, Ackley is not interested in hanging out with him because it is “around eleven, eleven thirty”(47). Holden keeps asking Ackley questions like “Do you feel like playing a little Canasta?”(47) and “Tell me the story of your fascinating life, Ackley kid”(49) or “What’s the routine on joining a monastery?”(50). Ackley becomes annoyed with Holden’s childish questions and does his best to ignore Holden. Holden eventually realizes that he is not going to find comfort or a friend with Ackley so he decides to leave. When Ackley first arrives Holden rejects his intimate friendship, but later goes to Ackley seeking the exact thing he rejected earlier. Holden longs to have an intimate relationship with Sunny the prostitute, but at the last minute Holden becomes uncomfortable and rejects Sunny’s offer of sex.
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 …show more content…
going through with a sexual act. Instead of figuring out what it is that always stops him Holden retreats back to his comfort zone. Holden is always left trying to answer the question “why?” This corrosive question eats away at his mind and ends up leaves him suffering. Holden pines for intimate relationships with other people while concurrently dismissing intimacy.
This is a self-destructive paradox that leaves Holden suffering under the weight of his thoughts and feelings. Holden’s paradoxical longing for and rejection of intimacy is something that indicates just how ill Holden is. Holden feels so alone that he seeks out intimate relationships in order to feel like someone is listening or caring for him. When Holden finds himself in situations that involves intimacy he recoils back into himself. Instead of talking about how he feels during these situations Holden decides that it is no use telling people how he feels because they will not understand. What Holden doesn’t understand is that there are people all around him who are willing to listen to him if he would open up to them. Because Holden thinks that no one cares about him he carries his emotions with him and this eventually takes a toll on his mental health. People do go through stages in their life when they long for intimacy more than they would at a different age. Holden’s case, however, is very exaggerated to the point where it borders abnormality. Holden’s constant shift of feelings towards intimacy leads him to become confused which eventually leads to his own
self-destruction.
I guess you can say he is trying to transition from adult hood but he can’t. He believes childhood is a beautiful and innocent thing where as adulthood is evil and corrupted. In the text Holden says “That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose” Pg. 204 Another reason why Holden is stuck between adult hood and childhood is because he doesn’t understand the concept of sex. He doesn’t get how two adults can have sex without loving each other. Holden tells Luce "You know what the trouble with me is? I can never get really sexy—I mean really sexy with a girl I don’t like a lot. I mean I have to like her a lot. If I don’t, I sort of lose my goddam desire for her and all.”Pg148 Luce then later says “When are you going to grow up?"Pg. 144. This is another example how Holden can’t really grow up. Mr. Antolini brings up an examples that goes “this fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling."Pg. 187. This quote is illustrating that Holden doesn’t know where to go, he’s lost and confused from the transition from childhood to
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.
In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an example of a prosaic rich adolescent boy,with a pedestrian set of problems, but a psychoanalysis reveals that Holden has a plethora of atypical internal conflicts. Internal conflicts that other students at Pencey, such as Stradlater and Ackley, would not normally experience.
The reason Holden has a hard time talking to people about his feelings is because in the time period he lives in people have a stereotypical image of not sharing emotional feelings with others. Losing his brother, Holden has to adjust to keep his composure without having the direct outlet of Allie to comfort
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a popular novel that was originally published in the 1950’s. In the book, Salinger explores various themes through the main character Holden and his interactions with others. Some of these themes include, alienation, loss and betrayal. Holden constantly feels betrayed throughout the novel by several people, including his roommate, teacher, and sister.
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
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... ...
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 novel The Catcher in the Rye is a compelling narrative on the themes of isolation and individualism. Holden Caulfield’s loneliness, a distinct manifestation of his isolation problem, is a driving force throughout the book. A majority of the novel portrays his almost frantic quest for companionship as he darts from one meaningless encounter to another. However, while his behavior is a stark indicator of his loneliness, Holden consistently shies away from self-reflection and therefore doesn’t really know why he keeps behaving as he does.
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...
Holden's brother died when he was growing up and throughout his life he has always been getting kicked out of school. Later, he then goes to New York for a couple of days so that he doesn't have to go home early and explain to his parents that he got kicked out. He then goes to his sister Phoebe's school to give her a letter and finds something inappropriate written on the wall and scrubs it out. At the end of the book, Holden and his sister Phoebe go to the carousel.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a coming-of-age novel set in New York during the 1940’s. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story, is a detached seventeen-year old boy harboring feelings of isolation and disillusionment. He emphasizes a general dislike for society, referring to people as “phonies.” His lack of will to socialize prompts him to find nearly everything depressing. He’s alone most of the time and it’s apparent that he is very reclusive. This often leads him to pondering about his own death and other personal issues that plague him without immediate resolution. Holden possesses a strong deficit of affection – platonic and sexual – that hinders and cripples his views toward people, his attitude, and his ability to progressively solve his problems without inflicting pain on himself. The absence of significant figures in his life revert him to a childlike dependency and initiate his morbid fascination with sexuality. In this novel, Salinger uses Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce to incorporate the hardships of discovering sexual identity and how these events affect adolescents as they try to understand their own sexuality.
Holden's nervous impulse to protect women seems to have sprung up in his psyche from a very young age. After his brother, Allie, started to experience more severe symptoms of leukemia, Holden notes that his mother seemed "nervous as hell." His own mother's emotional problems (Lombardi) transfer to Holden on a very deep, psychological level because he feels partially responsible for his brother's fate in the first place. Seeing his mother in such a distraught state makes him feel even guiltier. The unintended consequence of this is that Holden grows up with a constant fear that he is going to hurt any woman that he grows close to. This manifests itself many times during his time in New York, with one of the earliest examples being his meeting with Sunny in the hotel room. Holden protects her innocence, but not for any particularly noble reason. He hangs her dress back up and insists that he just wants to talk, but Holden did not do this in an attempt to be some paragon of righteousness. Holden, on a deep, psychological lev...
Many young people often find themselves struggling to find their own identity and place in society. This search for self worth often leaves these young people feeling lonely and isolated because they are unsure of themselves. Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger's main character in the book The Catcher In the Rye, is young man on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. One contributor to this breakdown, is the loneliness that Holden experiences. His loneliness is apparent through many ways including: his lack of friends, his longing for his dead brother, and the way he attempts to gain acceptance from others.
He complains about his school, saying that it is just like any other school and uses language that makes him sound very obnoxious. Holden seems to focus on girls quite a bit, just like any other teenage boy. He seems to focus on one girl in particular, a girl named Jane. We soon learn that Holden’s personality is not your average personality. Holden does seem to have some friends but he does not fall into many peer groups with the type of personality he has. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. For this reason, he seems to play around a lot in the wrong situations. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. Holden’s resistance to emerging adulthood is the cause of many of the problems he is faced with during the