Holland Caulfield Empathy

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In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, which deals with social alienation through the eyes of the main character Holland Caulfield. It was written in the 1951, made this book controversial because it was topic which was not looked upon or talked about. I choose to talk about if Holland Caulfield deserve the audience's empathy. For me, I believe Holland was stuck between the childhood and adulthood. Many things in his life caused him to be in this situation and Holland was writing about it. His childhood was lousy and parents did not have time because they were occupied with their work. The death of his little brother Allie, changed everything about Holland. He was not able to express anything to anybody, he associates Allie with everything he looks at. For Holden this scene depicts the innocence of youth. This song lyrics gave comfort “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed anymore” (Salinger 115). Holden says he wants to be the …show more content…

Holland states “I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around …. God, I wish you could’ve been there” (Salinger 213). Phoebe on a carousel is an image of childlike innocence. Phoebe and the symbolic hunting hat shield Holden from his depression and looming adulthood. This is actually the single only time that Holden actually says he’s happy in the entire novel. Watching Phoebe reach out of the ring, he seems to realize that life is about maintaining some sort of innocence. In this moment holland finally comes to some sort of resolution. Holland was slowly going to adulthood and understanding that Allie was gone but he wished he was

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