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Essay on holden caulfield
J. D. Salinger essay
Character analysis of holden caulfield
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Throughout the entirety of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the reader meets many strange and confusing characters. The strangest, and most important, character the reader will meet is a young boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden, being the protagonist of the novel, is followed through his adventure into New York City. These adventures ultimately take a toll on Holden’s sanity. As the plot advances Holden learns more about life and adulthood, transforming him from a cocky teen into a more caring and respectable individual. From the start of the text, Holden is very cocky and self absorbed. He acts as if all of the people around him living normal lives are fake, or in his words, phony. Holden is also obsessed with sex, drinking, and the …show more content…
His depression has worsened, causing him to want to return home and see his sister, Phoebe. He now shows how much he cares for others on the surface, rather than hiding it. “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” (Salinger 108). Here Holden shows how much he wants to protect the wellbeing of children, especially his sister. He wants to keep them innocence and make suren they don’t have to see the truth about the world they live in. This shows how Holden’s mindset has changed to one that shows more care than his olds self. “About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 115). After Holden’s journey in New York has ended, he speaks to the reader from the asylum or sanitarium in which he is staying. Holden has realized that he does really care about all the people who he once called phony. He has learned to respect other people than himself, showing how much he has truly changed. It would seem that Salinger intended on using this idea to enforce the moral of this work, that all people
Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye follows the journey of a young boy, Holden Caulfield, from adolescence to adulthood. There are a number of symbols that Salinger uses to help to portray the various stages that Holden goes through as he matures into adulthood. The snowball incident, his sense of fulfillment when at the museum, and his run in with a pimp, are all representations of how Holden is deeply obsessed with innocence thoughts and how reluctant he is to give them up.
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye Salinger writes about the main character Holden Caulfield and his life. Holden is a teenager who comes from a wealthy family, he loves his family and lives very happy until the death of his brother Allie. After his brother died Holden becomes troubled, being kicked out of school again and again developing a negative view of the world. Holden throughout the book shows anger,denial, and acceptance over the loss of his brother.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Which they can infer him as having characteristics such as being annoying and having crude language. These attributes are not very common in a good and healthy relationship. While Holden was at his school his roommate, stradlater, left on a date with his old friend Jane. Holden started to get worried by how late they were staying out. Holden's willingness to care about Jane shows how deep of a connection they had. Late that night Stradlater got back from his date and Holden in his frustration decided to not care about his friend’s wants and “[He] went right on smoking like a madman.” (Salinger 47) At this moment he did not care how Stradlater would feel and continued to do what he pleased. With him acting like this to his friends we can see how he seems to not care deeply about his relationships. But when Holden goes to visit his sister Phoebe we see how much he puts into their relationship. Holden is not a good person to be around when he is upset. Like the emotional person he is Holden doesn’t make the best decisions. With this we can see that he isn’t the best person to make respectful and caring relationships with. We see this with phoebe a bunch, but, in the opposite way. He seems to have a better relationship with her than with anybody else in the book. When Holden was thinking of leaving town he stopped and waited for Phoebe to say a last goodbye when she found him she was carrying a
One thing that Holden believes is that the world is unscrupulous and is full of phonies. An example of this would be, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life. Ten times worse than old Thurmer” (Salinger 13). In three sentences, Holden talked about multiple people being phonies. This could contribute to depression, the feeling of hopelessness for society and himself. Holden values very little, but one thing he did value was his relationship with Phoebe, an example of this was when they were talking, "’Wait a second—take the rest of your dough, too.’ I started giving her the rest of the dough she'd lent me.’You keep it. Keep it for me,’ she said. Then she said right afterward—’Please.’ That's depressing, when somebody says ‘please’ to you. I mean if it's Phoebe or somebody. That depressed the hell out of me. But I put the dough back in my pocket” (Salinger 211). Holden values that Phoebe is always there and wants to give the money back to
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.
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
Holden is not just abnormal, he has problems that other teenagers, including the students at Pencey, experience going through adolescence. An example of this is Holden's jealousy towards Stradlater when he finds out he is going on a date with Jane Gallagher, “Boy,was I getting nervous” (42). Every teenager has bouts of jealously especially about the opposite sex, and Holden is no different. Holden's rebellious nature, to an extent, is typical for a teenage boy. His rebellious nature of smoking when it is not allowed, “You weren't allowed to smoke in the dorm...I went right on smoking like a madman.” (41-42). Holden is also anxious about change, which again to an extent is normal, “Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks...”(60), and he has the right to be; change,especially during adolescence, is a terrifying but exciting ride into the unknown, and similar to other adolescents Holden is afraid but intrigued about the unknown.
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.
Holden is driven crazy by phoniness, an idea under which he lumps insincerity, snobbery, injustice, callousness, and a lot more. He is a prodigious worrier, and someone who is moved to pity quite often. Behrman wrote: "Grown men sometimes find the emblazoned obscenities of life too much for them, and leave this world indecorously, so the fact that a 16-year old boy is overwhelmed should not be surprising" (71). Holden is also labeled as curious and compassionate, a true moral idealist whose attitude comes from an intense hatred of hypocrisy. The novel opens in a doctor's office, where Holden is recuperating from physical illness and a mental breakdown.
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.