Before this book was written in it's time frame, Holden deals with some struggles that change and impact his life quite a bit. The author portrays Holden's personality through his actions for the audience to understand him. Some of the actions are going back to visit the museum, calling and visiting Phoebe at home, visiting the park, keeping Allie's baseball mitt, wearing the red hunting hat, and asking about the ducks. These examples all play a part in showing that Holden is afraid of change. Holden is starting to grow up and make the transition into an adult, but the audience can tell Holden is struggling. Holden's decisions such as smoking, drinking constantly, buying a prostitute, and staying out late at night show his attempts to face …show more content…
Holden goes back to the museum because since he was in school, the setup is still the same. It's the only thing that does not change when everything else around him does. Every time Holden becomes depressed, he puts the red hunting hat on, which reminds him of Allie. This is an example of pathos because when Holden puts the hat on the audience knows he is depressed and thinking about Allie, so the reader starts to sympathize with Holden. Holden talks about Jane to Stadlinger about how she used to keep her kings in the back row when they played checkers. Holden visits the park and remembered how he used to always skate there. Most of his memories are when he was a child because those were the best times when life was easier. Holden now older, wants to help his sister so that she doesn't have to deal with such struggles in her life at such an early age. That is why when Holden sees the curse words written on the wall at the school, he becomes mad because he doesn't believe any kid should know those words. Also when he was walking the streets, he saw a couple walking with a little boy, not paying attention to him at …show more content…
Holden wants to save all the children, not just some, from changing into adults and becoming phonies. Evidence to support this is Holden saying, "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye" (Salinger 224). This is how Holden views the poem because he imagines making himself into some worth, rather than being a nobody by saving all the kids before they fall of the "cliff" being adult life. Phoebe corrects him by saying, "If a body meet a body comin' through the rye" (Salinger 224). This is the way the real poem is and when Holden finds out Phoebe knows the poem already word for word, that he can't save her becasue she is already too grow up. Holden becomes upset because he knows he couldn't save Allie, himself, and now Phoebe. Holden is a noone so he plans to move where he can try to make a happy life for himself, but Phoebe is able to get Holden to stay because he can not say no to her. I believe Holden really believed he would be able to save people from turning into adults, which shows exactly why he ended up in a mental
Throughout the novel Holden resembles characteristics of an adult. An example of Holden being an adult is staying in a hotel by himself, underage and often goes out to drink. He goes to clubs to drink his problems away. In the
Holden struggles with himself mightily and cannot fulfill his responsibilities. One of Holden’s struggles is that he has a bad attitude towards everyone. For example, at the school he goes to, he hates his roommates and his teachers. In addition to not liking anyone, Holden
Holden is not just abnormal, he has problems that other teenagers, including the students at Pencey, experience going through adolescence. An example of this is Holden's jealousy towards Stradlater when he finds out he is going on a date with Jane Gallagher, “Boy,was I getting nervous” (42). Every teenager has bouts of jealously especially about the opposite sex, and Holden is no different. Holden's rebellious nature, to an extent, is typical for a teenage boy. His rebellious nature of smoking when it is not allowed, “You weren't allowed to smoke in the dorm...I went right on smoking like a madman.” (41-42). Holden is also anxious about change, which again to an extent is normal, “Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks...”(60), and he has the right to be; change,especially during adolescence, is a terrifying but exciting ride into the unknown, and similar to other adolescents Holden is afraid but intrigued about the unknown.
Holden feels as if he is stuck in his 13 year old self. Although he is aging he isn’t necessarily maturing the way his classmates and other people are around him. This is due to the fact that he never received closure when Allie died. When he starts picturing his own funeral because he might get pneumonia and die, he remembers D.B. telling him about his brother's funeral. He stated, “I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). Since he never attended the funeral he never got to say his final goodbyes to the one person he truly loved. Holden feels as if he can’t connect with anyone else in the world like he did with Allie. If he did then he would most likely push them away, so he wouldn’t have to experience the trauma of loss again, because it greatly impacted his life the first time. The trauma Holden experienced when he was younger resulted in him not being able to form stronger relationships with people which made him more depressed and
The origins of Holden’s disillusionment and the reason that it all started is the death of his younger brother which he was very fond of and admired, Allie, three years ago. The death of Allie is very significant in Holden’s mind since it is an event which he remembers quite clearly at multiple occasions during the book. For example, when Holden is writing a descriptive composition for his roommate Stradlater, he decides to write about Allie’s baseball mitt since it is the only thing on his mind. “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Throughout the book Holden admits he doesn't like change. Holden fear of growing up , becoming an adult and thinking of of it disgust him. For example the museum, Holden like it because the exterior of it did not change and says the only thing that would change would be you.In the text Luce says “Same old Caulfield.When are you going to grow up already?”(144). Holden wants things to stay how they are and how his life is. Holden considers adults phonies and he doesn’t want to be consider phony as well. When he describes the museum he says the best part about it is that it never changes, only you do.Holden bonds with his sister taking her to the zoo, museum and the carousel.He wants to Phoebe to experience what he did and to get the memories alive. “What I have to do, I would have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- what I have to do, I mean if they are running and they don't look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That is all I have to do. I would just be the catcher in the rye”(173). This quote show how by holden is catching them from falling down the cliff which symbolizes stopping them from adulthood. “Thousand of little kids and nobody’s around- nobody big , I mean except me”(173). This quotes implies how young innocent kids won't be exerted by adults
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
A scene where she shows her influence over Holden is where Holden states, “I kept thinking about old Phoebe going to that museum on Saturdays the way I used to see, I thought how she’d see the same stuff I used to see, and how she’d be different every time she saw it… Certain thing is they should stay the way they are… I know that’s impossible, but it’s too bad anyway.” Holden shows his fear of change. He also demonstrates that he does not want to change, and does not want to grow up, but to stay as a kid.
Holden shows a particular liking towards children over adults. He values the innocence and authenticity of children and he tries to protect them from the phoniness and evil of the world. When he goes back to his old school at the end of the novel to give a note to Phoebe, he sees an obscenity on the wall that infuriates him. He says, "Somebody'd written `F*** you' on the wall. It drove me near damn crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it" (201). When Holden's sister Phoebe demands that he tell her one thing that he really likes, Holden's responds saying, "I like Allie...And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking and thinking about stuff..." (171), showing that he's most content in the simple and innocent world of his childhood.
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
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
Holden is terrified to grow up and leave his childhood behind, and this becomes a dominating theme in the novel. There are many symbols that contribute to his desire to protect his childhood innocence and avoid change, such as the ducks in the lagoon in Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, and the carousel. One of the major portrayals of this theme comes from the name of the novel. When Holden heard a little boy walking in the street in New York singing, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye,” and he continues to ruminate with this line for the rest of the novel. Holden later tells Phoebe that his only real aspiration in life is to be the catcher in the rye, preventing kids from “falling over the edge of a cliff” into adulthood.
The poem written by Robert Burns is primarily about the concept of sex however Holden misinterprets the poem and claims that he is the guardian of childhood. Holden hears the little boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." (Salinger, 128) and it brings him comfort and pleasure. Holden notices that the boy is walking in the street where on the sidewalk, “his parents paid no attention to him” (Salinger, 128) and on the street, “The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place” (Salinger 128). Through Holden’s description of the boy, the reader understands how Holden is portraying the boy standing on the threshold of adolescence with the protection of his parents of one side and the dangers of reality on the other. However, Holden’s description is incorrect considering he misinterprets the poem as the correct lyrics are, “If a body meet a body coming through the rye”. The mistaken lyrics of the song is directly related to Holden’s belief in saving children from growth and change. As a result of Allie’s death, Holden does not accept the concept of change thus, he manipulates the lyrics in order for the significance of the song to conform with his ideology. Holden tells Phoebe how it is his responsibility, “to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” (Salinger, Ch. 23) and how he would be, “the catcher in the rye and
The title of the book Thr Catcher in the Rye is reflected in the mistaken words of a poem by Robert Burns. Holden thought the words were “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” That is what he wanted to be. He feels that he has the responsibility of saving the children from falling off the cliff and losing their innocence. Holden wants to protect the vulnerable from being corrupted by the adult world, an immoral and unscrupulous society tainted by phonies. Unless stopped the children will fall off the cliff and plunge into the evils of adulthood.