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The catcher in the rye about
Catcher in the rye character analysis
Catcher in the rye interpretation
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In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a character by the name of Mr. Spencer described as the protagonist's, Holden Caulfield's, English teacher says to Holden Caulfield, "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules," which signifies and describes Holden's characteristics and isolation as a character. Through the use of irony, Holden's character shines through this conversation as he is ignorant and disregarding of the conversation he has with Spencer, and as Spencer is described as very old and wise, Holden's ignorance of the conversation showcases his lack of interest in growing older and what comes with age. The author uses irony as the statement provided is exactly the opposite of how Holden …show more content…
This quotation also displays Holden's isolation as a character because it is clear that Holden is on the other side of the game that Spencer is describing. Holden does not feel comfort in words that are meant for comfort from Spencer, but instead feels loneliness and discomfort as he does not relate. Holden is on the other side of the game, refusing to play according to the rules and disregarding any other input other than his own. The author uses diction to convey this message, as the word "boy" shows a condescending tone, pushing Holden to seclude himself, as well as the use of a "game," in which Holden does not want to play, and if he is, he is on the other side of Spencer. This is significant to the work as a whole as this idea Holden holds stands true throughout the rest of the novel, with him unwilling to succumb to societal expectations and constantly fighting to pursue a path for himself, explaining him failing classes, drinking, and …show more content…
Salinger, the character Phoebe Caulfield, described as the protagonist Holden Caulfield's younger sister, has a conversation with Holden Caulfield and says to him, "I suppose you failed in every single subject again. Oh, why did you do it?" In this conversation, Holden describes Phoebe as snotty, and as Holden as previously mentioned that Phoebe and him are notably similar, this quote is significant in that it is the closest to an act of reflection that Holden has with himself. This quote is reflective of Holden's character through the use of Phoebe. As Holden describes Phoebe as snotty, it also applies to himself as he reflects, considering himself snotty. However, in the specific statement that Phoebe brings up of Holden failing his classes, this scenario signifies an act of self-doubt and lack of self-esteem in Holden as it directly reflects to him. Holden, a character that seems quite content with his decisions, showcases a sense of misguidance and lack of clarity as his act of failing classes comes into question. With his younger sister Phoebe doubting him and questioning him, Holden also does the same to himself. This doubt within Holden is significant throughout the novel as it allows the reader to understand the mask or barrier that Holden puts up in front of himself, not allowing for anyone else to truly see who he really is or even attempt to understand him. Because Holden has doubt in himself and has trouble
Salinger went through many of the experiences Holden went though. Salinger much like Holden had a sister that he loved very much, in the novel Phoebe is the only person that Holden speaks highly of; both men also spent time in a mental institution; Holden is telling the story from inside a institution; they were both kicked out of prep school and most importantly they were both a recluse from society. This is why Salinger uses Holden as his persona all though out the book. The ‘catcher in they Rye’ is almost like an autobiography for Salinger. He is using Holden as his persona to let us, the reader, dive into his thought pattern and find out some of the thoughts that he kept locked up in there.
Part of the irony in Holden’s story is that physically, he looks mature, but mentally, he is still very much a child: “I act quite young for my age, sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I’m seventeen now … I’m six foot two and a half and I have gray hair ” (9). There is no middle ground, adolescence, for Holden. He can only be an adult, physically, or a child, mentally. Holden’s history teacher, Mr. Spencer, tries to appeal to him by using a metaphor: “Life is a game, boy.
Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that”(Salinger 8). Holden is expressing his beliefs that life is a game he can cheat through. He knows that with becoming more mature means taking responsibility and applying the brain in school; though after failing out of 3 other schools before it is obvious Holden does not believe in changing his ways and applying himself. In current time many kids still fail out of school (Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone, found from dosomething.org), having no desire to go back and change their ways because they believe they are still kids and should not be held accountable for their mistakes. Modern time teenagers can relate to Holden and believe it is not his fault he can not learn from all the
I would like to discuss how Holden’s misinterpretation of the Robert Burns poem, “Coming Through the Rye”, sums up his deepest desires by taking a journey through his troubled adolescence and his journey to self–discovery that results in his breakdown. According to Phoebe, the original line in the poem is “if a body meet a body”. However, Holden’s misinterpretation of “if a body catch a body” removes all sexual connotations from the original poem. Holden is a deeply disturbed adolescent in search of a way to preserve his childhood innocence. His “red hunting cap” is a symbol of his uniqueness and his rejection to conform to society.
He has resolved that he cannot be in control, but that is all he wants. In a world before alternatives to his painful lifestyle, what can Holden do but blindly play the game in the rye field, right beside his cliff of sanity? But life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one must play by the rules. " Bibliography 3rd edition Psychology (Bernstein-Stewart, Roy, Srull, & Wickens) Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, Massachusetts 1994 NOTES ***YOU MUST CITE ALL THE QUOTES FROM THE NOVEL***
Holden is a pessimistic, remote, and miserable character and he expresses this attitude through dialogue, tone, and diction. Throughout the book he has remained to be a liar, a failure, a loner, and lastly, a suicidal guy who feels like he has no purpose in life. Perhaps Salinger expressed his perceptions and emotions of his teen years in this book and it was a form of conveying his deep inner feelings of his childhood. Readers can see this clearly shown in The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger.
...others, Holden does not want to grow up and Holden does not want to advance into the world of adulthood. Holden wants to preserve the innocence of him and the innocence of others but he can't simply because that is how life is. An example is “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it and not say anything” (Salinger 211). This is a quote were Holden finally noticed that he can’t help the kids to keep their innocence because he can't. Holden just needs to let them reach for the gold rings and if they fall you should let them get back up. This is an important thing Holden learned throughout his adventure, that he can’t become The Catcher in the Rye.
This story takes place in the late 1940’s in New York and in Pencey Prep School. When Holden leaves Pencey to go to New York it helps to characterize Holden as trying to be more mature than he might actually be. Holden likes to be young until he realizes that he is not taken seriously by others, “that annoy[s] [him]” and it causes him to exaggerate and say that “[he is] twelve” when he is really sixteen or seventeen (Salinger 94). The readers will see Holden as being quick to lash out at others because he feels like he is disrespected. The time period that this is told in also helps the reader to understand why Holden makes the judgements that he does. Holden tends to “th[ink] about war and all” often so he thinks of the people in his life with the thoughts of coming out of World War II, which makes him much more cynical and it causes him to stand resolute in his belief that people do not change and that all people act alike (Salinger
Holden shows a particular liking towards children over adults. He values the innocence and authenticity of children and he tries to protect them from the phoniness and evil of the world. When he goes back to his old school at the end of the novel to give a note to Phoebe, he sees an obscenity on the wall that infuriates him. He says, "Somebody'd written `F*** you' on the wall. It drove me near damn crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it" (201). When Holden's sister Phoebe demands that he tell her one thing that he really likes, Holden's responds saying, "I like Allie...And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking and thinking about stuff..." (171), showing that he's most content in the simple and innocent world of his childhood.
In the Story Catcher in the Rye Holden has a “ideal” view of the world that contradicts his perception in reality. Holdens “ideal” view of the world is that everyone contains childhood innocence and no one should try to break that innocence so people can just be who they want to be and not get made fun of or attacked. In Holden's mind he thinks that everyone thinks like he does and his view of reality is that all the phonies try to break childhood innocence so his reality trys to break his ideal world he has in his head. This unique way of thinking causes Holden to run into internal and external conflicts because not everyone thinks like he does.
In his fight with Stradlater, Holden’s character is shown as a defender of innocence. He defends the memory of his brother through the report he writes for Stradlater. Because of Stradlater’s criticism on his brother’s death, Holden destroys the essay and says “All right, give it back to me, then,’ I said. I went over and pulled it right out of his goddamn hand. Then I tore it up.” Holden is tormented by the memory of his brother throughout the novel, and in this fight he defends his brothers memory by protecting the baseball glove. Later in this scene Holden is upset with Stradlater’s relationship with Jane. Holden explains, “If you knew Stradlater, you 'd have been worried, too. I 'd double-dated with the bastard a couple of times, and I know what I 'm talking about. He was unscrupulous.” Holden tries to defend Jane’s innocence and the reader is able to see Holden’s ethical code to protect the innocence and memory of others. In Holden’s confrontation with Maurice, Holden displays his detestation of the evil phony. “All of a sudden I started to cry. I 'd give anything if I hadn 't, but I did. 'No, you 're no crooks, ' I said. 'You 're just steeling five ' 'Shut up, ' old Maurice said and gave me a shove.” The scene between Maurice and Holden over the prostitute Sunny shows his emotions when it comes to fake people. In this scene he
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger foretells a story about a young boy’s metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. The story begins with Holden Caulfield, 16, who has failed numerous classes at Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania and where he is soon to be expelled. Holden later decides to go to New York, where he hopes to escape his many troubles. Throughout the story, J,D. Salinger gives insight on Holden Caulfield’s thoughts, experiences, and frustrations in his world. Holden does not like experiencing things that trouble him, but he seemingly always speaks about them in his mind. In doing so, he essentially isolates himself from reality and creating his own world inside his mind. One of Holden’s main problem
Holden holds a very cynical appeal to life “. . . I’m standing 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.” (Salinger 22.83 pdf). This quote is tells you that Holden feels that child innocence is his responsibility to maintain, which isn’t a healthy topic to dwell and base your life around, it makes him sound delusional to be frank. It is impossible to maintain innocence, and for a teenager it should not be his responsibility to protect anyone but himself. “I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of terrible, terrible fall.”(Salinger 24. 90 pdf). This proves that even others other’s around Holden were very cynical, which may have been the reason Holden is very cynical throughout the novel. This also can be another reason it’s tragic because no one ever acknowledges the few good things which Holden ever did throughout the making it more tragic. “Game my ass. Some game. If you get on the same side with all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, then it’s a game alright.” (Salinger 2.6 pdf). In this quote Holden believes that the game of life applies to people whom are considered “hot-shots” which isn’t true it’s just his cynical opinion, mainly because “hot-shots” probably worked hard to become “hot-shots.” Holden’s negative
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
J.D. Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as a confused and distressed adolescent. Holden is a normal teenager who needs to find a sense of belonging. All though Holden’s obsession with “phonies” overpowers him. Dan Wakefield comments, “The things that Holden finds so deeply repulsive are things he calls “phony”- and the “phoniness” in every instance is the absence of love, and , often the substitution of pretense for love.” Holden was expelled from Pencey Prep School not because he is stupid, but because he just is not interested. His attitude toward Pencey is everyone there is a phony. Pencey makes Holden feel lonely and isolated because he had very few friends. Holden’s feeling of alienation is seen when he doesn’t attend the biggest football game of the year. His comments on the game: “It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win” (2, Ch. 1). This also hints to Holden’s obsession with death. Holden can’t find a since of belonging in the school because of all the so-called phonies. Holden speaks of Pencey’s headmaster as being a phony. Holden says that on visitation day the headmaster will pay no attention to the corny-looking parents. Holden portrays his not being interested by saying, “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses”(131, Ch. 17). Holden does not care for school or money. He just wants everyone to be sincere and honest.