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An essay about the catcher in the rye
Alienation In American Literature
An essay about the catcher in the rye
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In J.D. Salinger’s coming of age novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist, feels very isolated in a world full of phonies. He views the adult world as corrupt, which makes him not want to mature. He finds very few people who aren’t phony, and they all happen to be children because he idolizes their innocence. Furthermore, his isolation leads to very little development of other characters in the story, even though they can be very important characters. Throughout the novel, Holden only occasionally addresses some characters, such as his father and Allie, who actually have large roles in his development, actions and overall themes of the novel. The absence of Holden’s father in the novel leads to Holden’s search for …show more content…
For this reason, it is apparent that they do not have a close bond. This leads Holden on the search for a father figure so he can find guidance dealing with his struggle of innocence and growing up. First, he goes to Mr. Spencer, one of his previous English teachers. Holden approaches Mr. Spencer as a father figure because he can find himself in Mr. Spencer. For example, when Holden visits Mr. Spencer, he notices that “they each had their own room and all. They were both around seventy years old, or even more than that” (Salinger 6). Holden’s observation of the Spencers’ living situation highlights the similarities Holden sees in Mr. Spencer. A key theme in the novel is alienation which is seen many times such as when Holden considers running away to the middle of the woods to become a deaf-mute. His desire to be alienated parallels Mr. Spencer because even though him and his wife are married, they do not sleep in the same room. This also suggests that Holden could have befriended Mr. Spencer for a similar reason, since Mr. Spencer was the only teacher Holden admitted to liking at the time. Holden finds that Mr. Spencer may not be the best father figure because of his age, so he continues to search for a father figure, and later in the book finds
Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist of Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggles with having to enter the adult world. Holden leaves school early and stays in New York by himself until he is ready to return home. Holden wants to be individual, yet he also wants to fit in and not grow up. The author uses symbolism to represent Holden’s internal struggle.
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.
“Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to man.” (Thomas Carlyle). In the story Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, this coming of age book tells of the teen troubles experienced by the main character Holden Caulfield. After Holden gets expelled from his school Pencey Prep, Holden leaves school a couple days early to explore New York City. In his travels he experiences isolation from friends at school, feeling disconnected from his family, as he tries understand these periods angst he finds some peace.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
At first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye simply tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is often characterized as annoying and whiny by the people around him. The anti-hero frequently speaks on impulse, making quick and often inaccurate observations of others. Holden’s immature and overly critical attitude turns off those he encounters, who are displeased with how callow he is. However, what these characters fail to understand is that there is actually a sort of sophistication behind Holden’s reasoning. In fact, throughout the novel, Holden disguises his maturity through outward displays of childishness.
The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, written by JD Salinger, touches on the themes of innocence, death, and the artifice and the authenticity in the world, while following the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, through his weekend trip to New York City. As the story unfolds, Holden, as narrator, becomes more vulnerable to the reader, and starts to express his feelings surrounding the death of his brother, Allie, as well as his feelings about himself. Holden is faced with a truth that has haunted him for many years: adulthood. Many of the qualities Holden exhibits, which he sees as negative, are those of the average person: struggle, loneliness, deep sadness. He is one of many classic protagonists that encourages the reader to relate to them on
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.
In his novel Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger portrays childhood and adolescence as times graced by innocence when his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is faced with the reality of becoming an adult. Holden’s desperation to maintain his innocence and the manner in which he critiques those he deems to have lost theirs, emphasizes his immaturity and ignorance while highlighting the importance the author places on childhood.
Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in the book “Catcher in the Rye”, is usually described as an uncouth, impolite, inappropriate character, who has little to no respect for anyone but himself. However, after I completed the book, I realized that while Holden did a poor job of establishing his positive characteristics to the readers, his behavior often proved he was a respectable, honest human being that was often misjudged. My opinion is that Holden possessed contrasting characteristics that were both undesirable and admirable qualities. I believe that because the book was written in the first person point of view, Holden is often judged based on his thoughts and not on his actions. Throughout the entire book the reader was given a perspective
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.
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
“The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” This is an excerpt from “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz”, a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeat’s. Eva and Con were two sisters whose beauty had entranced a young Yeats. They are remembered in the poem as “Two girls in silk kimonos, both/beautiful.” As both girls become active in politics and the women’s suffrage movement they become exposed to the corrupted reality of life. The problems the two sisters endure eventually strip away their physical and spiritual beauty. Yeat’s poem indicates that time brings new and bad experiences. Experiences that strip beauty and innocence away from people. This is a recurring theme in the classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by
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.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger develops Holden Caulfield as a morally ambiguous character. Throughout the book, Salinger speaks as Holden and introduces him as a callous and subjective individual. However, the author permits the reader to be within Holden’s mind, giving the audience an alternative perspective of Holden’s true character. Without the obscurity of Holden’s personality, the work would lack a crucial element. As the protagonist, Holden serves as an equivocal adolescent that is relatable for the reader.
The perception of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye has two extremes; many find him likable, others find him irritable. Given Holden’s age and experiences, readers often relate to his thoughts and views of the world around him. On the opposite side of the spectrum, readers also find him to be repetitive and hypocritical of the world around him. This interpretation of Holden is derived from the lack of a climax in the book, but in reality, life is often anti-climatic. The majority of the story is not told by Holden’s actions, rather by Holden’s thoughts. Human minds are complex in nature; in order to understand the human mind, it is important to not only consider one’s actions, but their possible thoughts as well. Holden’s mindset of a teenager born into a privileged life that, due to his traumatic experiences, lead him to act and think a certain way that may not seem realistic; when most teenagers minds are constantly conflicted. Holden Caulfield exemplifies qualities of an ideal teenage rebel given his extreme cynicism and unrealistic perception of the world.