More handpicked essays just for you.
Holden Caulfield's character through his encounters and interaction in the novel
Holden caulfield analysis
Character development of holden caulfield
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Catcher in The Rye, written by J.D. Salinger describes the story of a teenaged boy named Holden Caulfield who is obsessed with purity and preserving innocence in society. Holden has mental issues and his family sends him to too many private schools, in which he gets kicked out of all of them. His younger brother Allie died at an extremely young age and Holden remembers experiences he had with him very vividly. Allie’s death is one major factor that contributes to Holden obsession with purity and his mental problems. Holden’s obsession for purity is clear in his admiration of innocence in children, goal to keep society pure, and attempts to prevent children from engaging in sexual intercourse.
Holden expresses his admiration of the innocence
…show more content…
of children in a variety of ways. Holden communicates with children, but has trouble connecting to adults because he can only think like an adolescent, as shown when he asks a girl if she knows where his sister is as he tightens her skates: “Do you know who Phoebe Caulfield is by any chance?” “Who?” “Phoebe Caulfield. She lives on Seventy-First Street. She's in the fourth grade, over at -” “You know Phoebe?” “Yeah, I'm her brother. You know where she is?” “She's in Miss Callon's class isn't she?” “I don't know.
Yes, I think she is.”
“She's prob'ly in the museum, then. We went there last Saturday,”
“Which museum?”
“I don't know,” “The museum.”
“I know, but the one where the pictures are, or the one where the Indians are?”
“The one where the Indians.”
“Thanks a lot,”
This scene could never take place between an adult and Holden because he dislikes adults and cannot communicate to them easily. His difficulty to engage conversation with adults is evident in contrast with how easily he has up conversation with children. Holden is innocent himself, whose parents have turned their backs on him. His parents want to get rid of him so they send him off to private schools such as Pencey Prep, Elkton Hills, and Whooton. Holden Caulfield repeatedly flunks out of all the schools to which his parents send him to. While in Manhattan, Holden sees a boy walking down the streets with his parents not paying attention to him, this situation represents the relationship between him and his own parents:
“He was singing that song. If a body catch a body a body coming through the Rye. He had a pretty little voice too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place; his parents paid no attention to him. It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed
anymore.” This makes Holden feel better because this boy symbolizes his life, being turned away by all the people that are supposed to be loving and caring for him. Holden admires innocence because innocent people represent Caulfield himself. Manhattan is where the theme of purity and innocence is really made clear. Holden sneaks into his house in New York to talk to his sister Phoebe about what has recently occurred. While talking to Phoebe he says this: “Anyway I keep picturing all these little kids play some game in this big field of Rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean except me. And I’m standing there on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the Rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy”. This quote explains the title of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye; Holden says he wants to catch kids before they fall off the cliff that symbolizes a transition from childhood into adulthood. He wants to stop kids from going into adulthood; Holden does not like adulthood and admires innocence in children. Another objective of Holden’s was to try to keep society pure. What he witnessed in New York really aggravated Holden and made him pursue his goal of purity even more: “Somebody’d written fuck you on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant. I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it.” “I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and god dam dead and bloody.” Holden Caulfield has become very frustrated with society and is willing to do whatever it takes to make it pure. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another Fuck You on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched in with a knife or something. It wouldn’t come off. It’s hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the fuck you signs in the world. It’s impossible.” After seeing these words written on the walls, he thinks about how all the children would see it and ask someone what it means, the person would tell them what it means and those kids would lose their innocence. He tries to rub the words off, but they are scratched in with a knife. This symbolizes how the wretched things in society are etched in and cannot be removed. Basically, innocence is not able to stay forever. Holden tries to keep society pure, but there is only so much he can do. Holden even goes to the extent of craving to kill the person who wrote those words. He imagines extremely vividly of what he would do if he caught the person that did this. “For Holden, the conformity demanded at Pencey may have set the stage and even arranged the props, but Manhattan is where Holden's drama of innocence and experience really unfolds.” Holden having an innocent sister himself feels that it is his duty to protect her from the corrupt society in which they live in. His sister is his inspiration for what he tries to do to Manhattan. Lastly, Holden attempts to prevent children from engaging in sexual intercourse. He always has sex on his mind, but he has never had sex because it is an adult activity and Caulfield acts like a kid. When other kids at Pencey talked about sex it made Holden feel uncomfortable and awkward. He learns about some kid’s sex stories at Pencey and tries to convince them to stop doing it. “Most guys at Pencey just talked about having sexual intercourse with girls all the time- like Ackley for instance- but old Stradlater really did it. I was personally acquainted to two girls he gave the time to. That’s the truth.” This thought from Holden explains his feeling towards sex and they are negative. He even grew up with a girl names Jane Gallagher who he hung out with many times. Stradlater had sex with her and he was extremely irritated. He thought of all of his past experiences with Jane and imagined what happened between Jane and the other kid from Pencey. When the kid came back from the date with Jane, he asked many questions about what they did. Stradlater never gave him a straight answer, so he started yelling to give him the truth about what happened. He did not get the answer that he desired, so he attacked Stradlter and was pinned down by him. Holden kept screaming, but Stradlater would not give. Finally Stradlater let him free and Stradlater left worrying about if he would get in trouble for injuring Caulfields’s nose. This event shows the extant in which Holden is willing to go to keep children pure. At a hotel in Manhattan Holden met a man who told Holden about a prostitute, so Holden called her and they met up at the hotel: “Hey how old are you anyways? Me, twenty-two. Like fun you are. It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a real kid. You’d think a prostitute and all would say like hell you are or cut the crap instead of like fun you are.” This is a conversation between Holden Caulfield and the prostitute Sunny. Sunny thinks that Holden is too young to have sex with a prostitute. Holden is surprised when he sees her because she looks way too young to be a prostitute and when she says “like fun you are” he sees innocence in her. Holden cannot have sex with an adolescent and would rather just talk to her. She leaves because Holden only wants to make a conversation with her. Holden is trying to protect her purity by not having sex with her. Holden always is imagining sex, but every time he gets the opportunity he declines the offer. Protecting innocence in children by abstaining from sex is one of his main goals. The experiences Holden Caulfield goes through fortify his will to preserve purity in the society in which he lives in. He is obsessed with purity and innocence and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep children pure. Events that happened at Pencey Prep and in Manhattan are examples of what Holden is trying to do to protect society from impurity. His sister Phoebe and his deceased younger brother Allie are his inspiration to keep children innocent and separate from the adult community. While in New York, Holden tells his sister of his future endeavors to be the catcher in the rye by explaining how he wants to prevent adolescents from maturing and crossing the edge into adulthood. Holden becomes very frustrated when he realizes that what he is trying to do to protect society is not working and becomes extremely depressed. The one situation that makes him less depressed is when he sees an innocent child walking down a road in Manhattan. This makes Holden less depressed because he sees a child that represents him. Also he comes to the conclusion that there are some children in the world just like him. Holden’s obsession for purity is clear in his admiration of innocence in children, devotion in keeping society pure, and willingness to keep children pure. Ultimately Holden’s obsession in his quest for purity will never make a difference in society.
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.
Parents are the most important support system in their children’s lives. There is a breakdown in this support system for Holden. His relationship with his parents is very dysfunctional; he rarely talks to them and avoids seeing them in person. Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield have their own life agenda, which doesn’t include Holden as a priority. Their obligation is mainly to pay for the various boarding schools he attends. Holden’s parenting comes mostly from these boarding schools. Holden even feared returning home or was ambivalent about seeing his parents. When he did return home to visit his sister, Phoebe, he avoided his parents as much as possible. “It was a helluva lot easier getting out of the house than in, for some reason. For one thing, I didn’t give much of a damn anymore if they caught me. I really didn’t.” (p. 180) Any person that has a good relationship with their parents would certainly try go to them for help especially if they were in a difficult time in their life. Holden was undergoing a very difficult time in his life; he was lonely and desperate for someone to talk to. Instead of seeking his parents, he chose to avoid them. This portrays the lack of the primary support system in Holden’s life, his parents.
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.
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger is about a boy named Holden Caulfield who struggles with the codes of conduct his upper class lifestyle follows. For Holden, loss of innocence is not about smoking a cigarette as much as it is about his realization that the rules placed on him by society are phony. Holden distracts himself by focusing on his feelings of alienation because he does not want to face his own deep sadness over his own loss of innocence.
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.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl.
Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas, people, and experiences. Holden's psychological battle within himself serves as the tool that uncovers the coming-of-age novel's underlying themes of teen angst, depression, and the disingenuous nature of society. The novel tackles issues of blatant profanity, teenage sex, and other erratic behavior. Such issues have supplemented the controversial nature of the book and in turn, have sparked the question of whether or not this book should be banned. The novel, The Catcher In the Rye, should not be banned from inclusion in the literature courses taught at the high school level.
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.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
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.
“Catcher in the Rye”, written by J.D Salinger, is a coming-of-age novel. Narrated by the main character, Holden Caulfield, he recounts the days following his expulsion from his school. This novel feels like the unedited thoughts and feelings of a teenage boy, as Holden narrates as if he is talking directly to readers like me.
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.
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.