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A catcher in the rye characterization of holden
The catcher and the rye novel essay
A catcher in the rye characterization of holden
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The Catcher in the Rye
The transition from a teen to an adult is one of the major steps in life. This major transition can be really scary. Some people are so scared of becoming an adult, that they try to keep their inner child alive. One person in the book The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, Holden is the main character in the novel written by J.D. Salinger. A prominent theme in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye is the painfulness of growing up. As this theme is going on through the novel, Salinger weaves in symbols that Holden happens to use and talk about throughout the novel.
One of the many symbols that Salinger uses in the novel The Catcher in the Rye, was Holden’s “Red Hunting Hat”. This red hunting hat helps Holden feel like
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Once Holden left school, he had gotten into a cab and started a conversation with the cab driver. Holden had asked the driver, about what happens to the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon when the pond freezes over, during the winter. Whether or not someone comes and picks them up and takes them somewhere or if they fly away. The cab driver was getting so annoyed with Holden’s questions that he ignored Holden, until they got to the hotel. When Holden gets to the hotel and checks in, he then heads for his room. As he enters the elevator, the operator strikes up a conversation, which leads to a deal with a prostitute. Holden agrees and accepts the generous offer of five dollars for the prostitute, instead of the regular ten dollars. The operator was to send Sunny to Holden 's hotel room. Sunny comes to the room and Holden just wants to talk with her and do nothing else. After a bit of talking with Sunny she falls asleep and when she awakes, she asks for her ten dollars, but Holden refuses and just gives her the five bucks that he thought he owed her. Sunny leaves and two guys show up later to get the other five dollars, Holden refuses to give the rest of the money and was brutally attacked. After they beat up Holden, they took the five dollars that they came for and left.
The next morning,
Holden wants to be independent but he wonders if it is really the best thing to do. He is too emotionally unstable to address his own issues so he projects them onto the ducks, do they take care of themselves and fly away? Or do they allow themselves to be saved by the truck? The cab driver answers his question by bringing up the fish in the lagoon. He says that the fish do not go anywhere and that they just open their pores so nature can provide for them.
Holden returns to school and goes to his bedroom in the dorm. In his room quietly reading, his neighbor Robert Ackley came in. Holden describes him as a pimply, insecure, annoying boy with a bad dental hygiene. When Holden’s roommate Stradlater who was “madly in love with himself” (27) arrived home after the football game, Ackley abruptly left. Stradlater tells him that he has a date with a friend of his, Jane Gallagher. Jane is someone that Holden really cares for and because he knows the way Stradlater is, Holden became worried for her. “It just drove me stark raving mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky’s car”. (48) Holden became depressed and lonely, so out of the blue Holden decides to pack his things and leave for New York a few days earlier. On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates. Not wanting to tell his whole life story, he told her his name was “Rudolf Schmidt”, the name of th...
In J.D. Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye, is based on the sullen life of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction. Holden, a growing adult, cannot accept the responsibilities of an adult. Eventually realizing that there is no way to avoid the adult life, he can only but accept this alternative lifestyle. What Holden describes the adult world as a sinful, corrupted life, he avoids it for three important reasons: His hatred towards phonies and liars, unable to accept adult responsibilities, and thirdly to enshrine his childhood youth.
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 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 Catcher In The Rye, Holden's red hunting hat symbolizes his true self by how he wears it, how it is aesthetically connected to him, and how it develops through the story with him.
One wakeup call to Holden would be when he refuses to pay the full amount of $10 to the pimp, Maurice for Holden’s time spent with Sonny. There are many ways Holden could of dealt with this situation, he could of paid him the full amount after being told to, he also could of tried to maturely persuade Maurice to letting his debt slide. After refusing to pay, the situation takes a violent turn. Instead of handling that situation like an adult would, Holden decides to say, “I don't owe you five bucks, I said. If you rough me up, I'll yell like hell. I'll wake up everybody in the hotel. The police and all” (102). Holden’s disclosed plan to everte the possible next predicament is to yell. Yell loud so that everyone in the hotel would be able to hear him. This is definitely something you would hear coming out of an 11 year old, but not so much an overconfident teenager fighting with a pimp. It was an extremely childish way of attacking the situation and got him roughed up. On the contrary it served the readers a good example of how naive and stubborn he is to the real world. A change in the way that Holden is acting is when he decides to not go on the carousel with Phoebe, but to sit on the bench and watch. This shows a very distinct line between adolescence and adulthood. On top of that a symbol that
In “The Catcher In The Rye”, J.D. Salinger uses Holden’s red hunting cap, the exhibits at the Museum of Natural History and “kings in the back row” as symbols whose meanings help tell the story. Holden’s red hunting hat stands for Holden’s disapproval of adult society and phonies. Although, Holden and his hat are out of place in New York, he loves this hat because it demonstrates his difference and independence from other kids his age. He becomes more and more attached to his hat because he feels like a catcher in the rye when he wears the hat. Holden cannot let go of his hat, like he cannot let go of his childhood.
Holden identifies with, yearns for, and despises traits of the adult and child realms. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, fears becoming an adult who exhibits the characteristics that he holds complaints against. Throughout this Bildungsroman narrative, Holden searches for his identity. He tries to figure out his place, either in the adult or child realm. Holden possesses a combination of fear and hatred for "phonies".
“The Catcher in the Rye” is a 1950’s novel written by J.D. Salinger. It tells a story about a teenage boy who travels to multiple locations throughout New York after being kicked out of his school, Pencey. Throughout the book, Salinger uses numerous amount of symbolism to show the feelings of the main character, Holden Caulfield. One of the most recognized symbol is Holden’s red hunting hat. It is present in many situations and has abundance amount of symbolic characteristics. The red hunting hat plays an important role to Holden and represents his individuality, safety, as well as his strive for childhood innocence.
Holden’s psyche throughout the novel is similar to those who are struggling to find their place in the world. J.D. Salinger finds his voice through his character, Holden Caulfield, by using Holden’s behavior as a symbol for the unstable adolescent in todays world. Holden speaks to his audiences because he reaches outside his comfort zone even though it leads to failure. Holden is not an average popular teenager, he is simply a confused individual learning the cruel ways of the world. The Catcher in the Rye itself is the narrative of an idealistic American innocent who is filled with doubt, anger and disappointment as he begins to reach the mature society he is expected to fulfill (Steinle 140).
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.
There is one event that unites all human beings. This event is the process of growing up and becoming an adult. The transition into adulthood from childhood can be very long and confusing. As a kid most of them can not wait to become an adult but once you experience adulthood you miss your childhood. The novel Catcher in the Rye shows how a teenager on the break of entering adulthood can get scared. Through the main protagonist Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society. Holden is faced with many problems as some teens
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.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is full of lessons to be learnt and symbols to be deciphered. One of the most important lessons Holden Caulfield is given, is that changes are inevitable, and the process of transition from childhood to adulthood is a painful component of life. Throughout the novel, Salinger uses various symbols to show Holden’s attempts to oppose coming-of-age.