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An essay on 3 themes in the catcher in the rye
An essay on 3 themes in the catcher in the rye
Theme of the book Catcher in the Rye
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Why do people lie? There is not one specific answer to this puzzling question. Millions of people lie every day for many reasons. Whether it is to cover up insecurities or to protect yourself, lying is a habit that people often retreat to, to mask their feelings. In The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old teenager who constantly lies in situations where he does not have to, in order to cover up his insecurities and to create a false identity for himself due to his low self-esteem.
Holden’s constant tendency to lie makes him lie in situations where he doesn’t have to. When Holden takes the train, he meets his classmate, Ernest Morrow’s mother. Holden does not like Ernest, much like most of the other boys at Pency, but Holden still tells Ms. Morrow how “He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself” (55). Holden tells Ms. Morrow how great her son Ernest is even though he could have easily told her about how awful her son actually is. Holden continues to tell her about how great her son is and makes up that Ernest tried to run for president of Pencey. Holden continues lying to Ms. Morrow after her son’s fake election by saying “That’s the one fault with him-he’s too shy and modest. You really oughta get him to try to relax occasionally” (57). Holden may be lying to Ernest’s mother in order to make her feel proud of her son, even though Holden believes that Ernest was one of the biggest bastards that have ever gone to Pency. While Holden is talking to Ms. Morrow, he tells her that his name is “‘Rudolf Schmidt’, I told her. I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm” (55). Hol...
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...ctual strength is in English, he is not as intellectual as his siblings. Holden wants to be intellectual like his brother, Allie was and his sister, Phoebe is. Creating this false identity for himself and is masking who he really is gives him the ability to be self-confident and have a higher self- esteem.
Throughout the novel, Holden Caulfield lies in order to protect his emotions and to create a false impression for the people around him. Lying to create a false impression makes Holden be able to hide all of the pain that he has suffered from the loss of his younger brother, Allie. He has become so used to lying that he constantly lies, even in situations when there is no reason to lie. Lying to Holden is a habit and he knows that lying is not a good thing but believes that he is terrific at it. Lying is a constant theme that is present throughout the novel.
In the novel Holden is what you would call an unreliable narrator. The definition of unreliable is - a person or thing that cannot be counted on or trusted. You cannot trust Holden if you know that he lies all the time. Since the reader knows that he is a habitual liar you may never know the difference from when he is telling the truth or when he is telling another one of his stories. Holden goes in and out of mental lapses throughout the novel that affected his mind and psychological state greatly.
He also exhibits honesty; as a child, he chopped a cherry tree by accident but confessed and told the truth when asked by his father. Now, let’s view at Holden and see how he fits in when compared to one of the most known hero of the United States. Holden lacks honesty as he confesses to the reader how, he’s the “most terrific liar” (16). Another clear example is when Holden talks to Ernie’s mother at the train station. From when they first met, Holden already lied by telling her that his name was Rudolf Schmidt, an obvious phony lie.
I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible. (pg.16) Holden's ability to lie is one of the first traits that he reveals about himself. He takes pride in saying that he is a good liar. His inability to have normal conversations and relationships is possibly one of the factors that has him shunned by his peers. Holden's insecurity is one of the reasons for his compulsive lying. This, in turn, is why he can't find his place in the world.
...’s habitual lying relates back to times where he is hypocritical about his environment being full of phonies. Salinger provides these small details of deceitfulness in order to further advance Holden’s character and the work as a whole.
After spending some time at Mr. Spencer, his history teacher's house and getting lectured regarding his poor efforts in school, Holden fabricates a story to leave his teacher’s house without seeming rude. On his way to his dormitory at Pencey, Holden claims that he is an exceptional liar, and would lie even about the most insignificant facts, such as where he is going. He then goes into detail about whom his dormitory is named after, and how much of a phony the man is.
Holden Caulfield is a peculiar teenager. He's hypocritical, cynical, dishonest, and most of all...confused. All of these traits add up to an unreliable narrator, to say the least. You can never take what Holden says at face value: you have to read between the lines. In between the lines lies the fact that he is extremely lonely, and that his fear of abandonment causes him to isolate himself in opposition to that. He often tries to cover this up from both himself and outsiders, hence the lying and contradictory nature of his thoughts. The problem is, he doesn't know why he's lonely. He feels cut off from the rest of society; feels as though he is all alone in this world of supposed phonies. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden's loneliness shines through in the way he frequently reaches out to complete strangers for companionship (strangers he generally dislikes, too, which shows just how desperate he is for company). True to his contradictory nature, he also tries to isolate himself at the same time, for he fears abandonment. Abandonment, as a matter of fact, is at the very root of his issuance with creating connections: he reaches out to people and then immediately proceeds to push them away, for he is terrified of getting hurt by them.
that he is trying to hide his true identity. He does not want people to know who he really is or that he was kicked out of his fourth school. Holden is always using fake names and tries speaking in a tone to persuade someone to think a cretin way. He does this when he talks to women. While he is talking to the psychiatrist he explains peoples reactions to his lies like they really believe him, when it is very possible that he is a horrible liar and they are looking at him with a “what are you talking a bout?” expression. Holden often lies to the point where he is lying to him self.
Lies are all too common, in the world of Holden Caulfield. J.D. Salinger’s timeless classic, the Catcher in the Rye, is a coming-of-age story, in which the protagonist, Holden, flees from his school, Pencey Prep, after he is expelled, wanting to leave on his own terms. Following this, he spends several days in New York City, waiting to go home until the day he was supposed to return from school. When examined more closely, the events of the plot make it evident that Holden is more in flight from lies than in search of truth, because he is simply running away from everything, and has no idea where he is going, or what he is doing.
Holden's problems in the real world were too much for him, he had to make up things to make himself seem better than what he was.
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...
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
Teenage years are, without argument, the most confusing and difficult years of a person’s life as they prepare to go into adulthood. A wave of anxiety filled teenage year’s leads to an anxiety filled adulthood, following with a variety of prescription drugs and therapy sessions along with way. Throughout the “Catcher in the Rye” novel, Holden shows several signs of depression in various areas of his life such as lying, thoughts of suicide and the constant repetition of the word “depressing” in its self. Lying usually becomes second nature to those who suffer from depression as they feel the need to shield themselves away from the world. Holden assumes to lie to just about any adult he encounters so he can obscure insecurities and shelter his lack of inspiration in life. Holden is “the most terrific liar you ever saw,” (16) when it came to people wanting to assist him in finding his way in life. His frequent used technique was to shove people away by telling them “don’t worry about me…I’ll be all right, I’m just going through a phase” (18) when in reality Holden is screaming, hoping someone will s...
On his way to New York City, he meets and has a conversation with Ms. Morrow, whose son Ernest also goes to Pencey Prep who he hates.Holden lies by saying Ernest is an extremely popular kid and would be class president if he would just let himself be nominated. Holden despises phoniness in others, but can't avoid it in himself. By lying to people, he makes himself feel above everyone else. But in reality, this provides him an excuse for his
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)