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Symbolism thesis statement the catcher in the rye
Understanding the catcher in the rye
Symbolism thesis statement the catcher in the rye
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Holden Caulfield in the catcher in the rye was a unique teenager who didn't make many healthy decisions. He had a troubling childhood when losing his brother from cancer at a very young age. Also while he was in school, he was taking a shower. These group of kids was bullying this other student. This student got bullied up to the point where he committed suicide and jumped out the window. Holden went down to the ground and saw the student laying on the ground with his teeth knocked out and blood everywhere. Holden has seen some traumatic things which may be why he has these behaviors. I believe that Holden suffers from depression through behavior, verbal, and symbolic notes. Holden Caulfield has many behavioral actions that may conclude that he suffers from depression. After Holden heard …show more content…
¨I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't I slept in the garage that night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it”(44). The way Holden reacted that way and did that to himself concludes that he doesn't handle that type of information very well. He should've talked to someone but instead, he hid his emotions. Another example of Holden not being responsible and letting his emotion get the best of him is when he was fighting Stradlater. ¨All I know is I got up from the bed like I was going to the can or something, and then I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would slit his goddamn throat open. Only I missed. I didn't connect. All I did was sort of get him on the side of the head or something¨(50). Holden was got mad because Stradlater didn't appreciate the paper Holden wrote about Allie's baseball glove. Mood swings are a
Holden’s signs of depression a very strong and frequent thought out the book. The first major sign of Holden’s depression is the lack of sleep sleeping. Holden finds it hard to sleep even in the early morning hours let alone all night. “It took me a while to get to sleep I wasn’t even tired but finally I did.” (Pg. 104). During the story there were many times when Holden could not sleep. One of those times was when Holden left Pencey. Holden left Pencey so late he could not even take a cab. Other times are when Holden went to the bars and drank ...
Holden experiences agitation and irritability towards dealing with people he perceives at phonies. HIs agitation comes with the experiences he has had with people such as Ackley, Stradlater, his parents, and others he can interpret as fake or that have done things in the past to irritate him. His irritation among people is very common and repetitive throughout the book where it could be identified as a symptom of PTSD. For example, a scene Holden demonstrates agitation is when he talks to Phoebe about what his parents might do to him since he had gotten kicked out of yet another school; Pencey. “No, he won’t. The worst he’ll do, he’ll give me hell again, and then he’ll send me to military school.” (Salinger 166). Holden’s agitation comes from
Holden begins his story of his grieving process when he tells of his memory of his night in the garage the same night Allie had died. This is when Holden expresses the step anger and denial. Holden tells of how he broke the windows in the garage. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it… it was very stupid I have to admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie (Salinger, 39).” Holden expresses his anger through the physical force he applied to the windows, and he expresses his denial when he does not clearly state why he does it and does not fully own up to his actions that he committed that
Allie was Holden’s best friend, and when he passed away it leaves Holden in an unfamiliar state because they were so clo...
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
Events in Holden's life lead him to become depressed. Holden's depression centers on Allie. The manner that Holden sees himself and how he sees others leads him to be expelled from school. The speaker expresses, "One thing about packing depressed me a little," (51). Holden expresses these feelings when he packs his bags after being notified that he is expelled. Holden leaves school and heads for New York City, where he finds himself to be more lonely and depressed than ever. He is all alone and he laments, " What I really felt like doing was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out of the window," (104). Holden says this while he is all alone in his motel room. He is too ashamed of himself to return home, he knows that his mother will be upset and his father will be angry with him. He also adds that " I wasn’t feeling sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all, I almost wished I was dead," (90). Holden states this during one of the first nights that he is staying in New York. Holden expresses many thoughts of depression.
Holden Caulfield, the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye, is a troubled man who does not have everything going right for him. He shows obvious signs of depression and a few symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Throughout the book he keeps thinking about his brother Allie, who passed away. The only reasonable explanation for his mental illnesses is that he misses Allie, and he does not know how to function normally again. Everything he does reminds him of Allie in some sort of way. Mental illness is very common in someone who is suffering from the loss of a love one, but it is in no way a normal act of a teenager.
Over the years, members of the literary community have critiqued just about every author they could get their pen on. One of the most popular novels to be critiqued has been J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. In favorable critiques, Holden Caulfield is a good guy stuck in a bad world. He is trying to make the best of his life, though ultimately losing that battle. Whereas he aims at stability and truth, the adult world cannot survive without suspense and lies. It is a testament to his innocence and decent spirit that Holden would place the safety of children as a goal in his lifetime. This serves to only re-iterate the fact that Holden is a sympathetic character, a person of high moral values who is too weak to pick himself up from a difficult situation.
However, his feelings suggest that the true reason for his depression is his loss of Innocence. When he was 13 years old, he lost his little brother Allie to leukemia. Allie meant a lot to Holden. He even becomes a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling of the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet. “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a bastard—my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him.” (Sallinger) In this part, Allie plays the role as the Catcher in the Rye and keeps Holden from falling of the cliff. This is why i believe that Holden wants to become a “ Catcher in the Rye”. He wants to help people like Allie has helped him. He feels that it's what he’d meant to do with his
that he is trying to hide his true identity. He does not want people to know who he really is or that he was kicked out of his fourth school. Holden is always using fake names and tries speaking in a tone to persuade someone to think a cretin way. He does this when he talks to women. While he is talking to the psychiatrist he explains peoples reactions to his lies like they really believe him, when it is very possible that he is a horrible liar and they are looking at him with a “what are you talking a bout?” expression. Holden often lies to the point where he is lying to him self.
The tears shed in this scene are crucial as Holden becomes aware of the situation caused by his actions, which is a turning point in the novel as previously Holden has ignored his own well being and has not thought of the consequences of his actions. As Holden’s personal empathy grows, he also becomes au courant of what is occurring around him and how relationships have had an impact on his life; “don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start to miss everybody” (234). By the end of the novel, Holden is developing skills to understand his emotions and how to deal with them in an ordinary manner. In doing so, he learns that having great memories comes at a price. Holden ends up missing the memories and the people more than he thought he would. The emotional depth of Holden’s character has grown extravagant amounts throughout
Holden Caulfield conveys his melancholy, sarcasm, and seclusion greatly through his dialogue; his vocabulary constantly consists of depression and loneliness. He expresses such agony all throughout the dialogue of the book. An example of this would be when Holden quotes, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (153). In this quote, Holden is expressing his confusion and unhappiness but mostly is just confused to why he is unhappy. He feels a severe amount of misery that devours him, all of which is shown greatly in all of his dialogue. He, at one point in the novel, feels like committing suicide because he cannot handle the pressure. He says that “I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep- I...
Mr. Antolini?s theory as to what is wrong with Holden is right on, it?s just too bad he was unable to get through to Holden. Due to the fact that Holden has already given up on himself and is unwilling to apply the valuable advice he has been given. He has lost the substantial ability to find happiness in life and therefore can?t find the energy to motivate himself in anything he does. It?s a tragedy that someone as bright as Holden Caulfield is unable to find the strength within himself to persevere in a world of insanity.
Holden is a very independent person, but when he gets mad or frustrated he doesn’t make the best decisions and I believe most people can relate to that. There is a part of the book where he got mad at Stradlater and tried to hurt him. Holden and Stradlater were in an argument about Jane “...and then [Holden] I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddamn throat open” (Salinger 43). Holden does not have the best control over his emotions, which most people haven’t learned yet. Most people have at least thought about doing something like this when they were mad at someone.
Holden is often characterized as being hot headed throughout the book including one important quote where Holden is describing a flashback from when his brother died. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it. ”(Salinger 39) The moment shown depicts the rage that flowed through Holden about his brother’s death, and the death of his brother would impact his life for years to come.