In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a young man who seeks the acceptance of others. Utilizing the themes of isolation and the innocence in youth, J.D. Salinger illustrates how Holden yearns for an individual to speak to and how he wishes to preserve the innocence in children. Holden’s dream role is to be “the catcher in the rye” for minors and shield their eyes from the prospect of growing up as well as witnessing the true horrors of living as an adult. However, Holden also longs for a peer he can communicate to due to the fact that he lives in such a confined circle. Salinger demonstrates Holden Caulfield’s desire to be accepted in his novel The Catcher in the Rye through the examples of Holden and the first cab driver …show more content…
in New York City, Holden’s encounter with Sunny the prostitute, and his conversation with Phoebe regarding his pursuit to be the catcher in the rye. Salinger’s portrayal of Holden Caulfield arriving in New York City demonstrates Holden’s craving for individuals to accept the fact that he longs for someone to speak with.
As soon as he leaves Penn Station, Holden enters a taxicab and immediately strikes up a conversation with the driver. However, the taxicab driver wants nothing to do with his antics. Holden tells the driver, “Well, take me to the Edmont then. Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a free cocktail? On me. I’m loaded” (Salinger 68). Holden is so desperate to have his acceptance that he even offers the driver a free cocktail. Salinger illustrates to his readers the main character’s true extent to his isolation in this scene. This is the first of many scenes where Holden begins to realize the problem of his isolation to his …show more content…
peers. Similar to the taxicab driver, Holden’s encounter with Sunny emphasizes his longing for an individual to accept him. In chapter nine of the novel, Sunny, a prostitute enters the hotel room of Holden expecting a sexual encounter. Almost immediately, Holden recognizes Sunny’s innocence and youth because he realizes she is about his age and she is quite nervous for a prostitute. When she takes off her dress and asks him to hang it up, Holden is struck with sorrow. Holden imagines a scenario where Sunny buys the dress at the store and not a single soul knows about her occupation. Holden hopes that he can strike a conversation with her to protect her innocence and desires that she accepts him for not wanting sex. However, just like the taxicab driver Sunny is strictly business. When she recognizes that Holden is not showing any sexual advancements, Sunny strictly demands twice the money from Holden. Salinger demonstrates to the reader that Holden is in such dire need of communication and acceptance that he has downgraded to a prostitute in order for him to satisfy his desire. Just like Sunny, Holden’s conversation with Phoebe, his sister, regarding his pursuit to be the catcher in the rye refers to Holden protecting the innocence and youth from adult sexuality.
When Holden talks to Phoebe inside her room, She asks him what he wants to be. He states, “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around… What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” (Salinger 173). Here, Holden informs Phoebe that he wants to be accepted as someone who actively protects youth from having casual sex. Holden does not want any human treated as an object and wants the youth to maintain their innocence rather than selfishly losing it. If he witnesses a child begin to jump over the cliff from the big field of rye, Holden believes it is his duty to protect them from observing the steep sexuality in the world. Unlike the taxicab driver and Sunny the prostitute, Phoebe accepts Holden for who he is. Even though Holden can’t protect her from every single obscene gesture, she loves him for who he
is. Salinger demonstrates Holden Caulfield’s desire to be accepted in his novel The Catcher in the Rye through the examples of Holden and the first cab driver in New York City, Holden’s encounter with Sunny the prostitute, and his conversation with Phoebe regarding his pursuit to be the catcher in the rye. Throughout the novel there are many examples in which Salinger depicts Holden in an isolated situation. However, it is when Holden begins to communicate with Phoebe that he realizes there is someone in this world who he can truly unwind to. Phoebe loves Holden and appreciates every small gesture he makes to her. Holden has finally found an individual that accepts him for who he is.
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.
Due to J.D Salinger’s personal and relatable narrative treatment, Catcher in the Rye continues to engage audiences, even 64 years after it was first published. The way the book deals with alienation and disillusionment in regards to Holden’s past trauma - through the closeness of first person narration and conversational writing among other techniques - creates a personal connection to Holden’s character and helps adolescents relate his troubles to their own.
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.
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
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.
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most famous books in American literature. Written by J. D. Salinger, it captures the epitome of adolescence through Salinger’s infamous anti-hero, Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield learns about himself and his negative tendencies, and realizes that if he does not do something to change his perspective, he may end up like his acquaintance James Castle whom he met at Elkton Hills. Holden tries to find help to mend his outlook on life through Mr. Antolini so he does not end up like James, who did not want to face the problems he created for himself. This is proven by the similarities between James Castle and Holden, Mr. Antolini’s willingness to try and help Holden, and Holden’s future being forecasted by James.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is seen by some critics a a drop out student destined for failure in life, but I see him as a symbol of an adolescent who struggles to adapt to the reality of adulthood.
J. D. Salinger's notable and esteemed novel, Catcher in the Rye, reflects the hypercritical views of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a distinguished vision of a world where morality, principles, intelligence, purity, and naivety should override money, sex, and power, but clearly in the world he inhabits these qualities have been exiled. Holder desperately clings to and regards innocence as one of the most important virtues a person can have. However, he son becomes a misfit since society is corrupted and he yearns for companionship, any kind of connection with another to feel whole and understood again. Ironically, despite his persistent belittling and denouncing of others, he does not apply the same critical and harsh views on himself.
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 had anything better to offer. It is tragic to hear the anguished cry of parents: "What have we done to harm him? Why doesn't he care about anything? He is a bright boy, but why does he fail to pass his examinations? Why won't he talk to us?"
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.
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.
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.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he expresses this attitude through his dialogue, tone, and diction.
Despite desperately seeking human interaction throughout the novel, Holden feels strongly compelled to a reclusive and carefree lifestyle similar to that of J.D. Salinger to escape from the corruption present in society. In a heartfelt discussion with Sally Hayes, Holden bitterly criticizes societal conformity. Suggesting the adoption of a reclusive lifestyle free from conventionality, Holden states, “We'll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out. Then, when the dough runs out, I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook and all and, later on, we could get married or something. I could chop all our own wood in the wintertime and all” (Salinger 71). Desiring solitude and peace, Holden envisions an