Theme Of Loneliness In Catcher And The Rye

In the book The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, Edmond Dantes, the protagonist, is sent to Château d'If, a secluded prison. Edmond is placed in the prison dungeons in utter seclusion. After long periods of time speaking only to himself and his mute jailer, he attempts to convince his jailer to allow him a companion in his cell. Edmond admits that although the companion moved into his cell may be a vagabond, murderer, or thief, he still desires any kind of interaction with someone besides his jailer. His isolated state causes him to seek any contact with his fellow man to sate his loneliness. In the book The Catcher and the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Dantes’s sufferings are resembled by Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Catcher and

In The Catcher and the Rye, J.D. Salinger displays the power of isolation and loneliness through his characters.
Isolation and loneliness is a common theme that is displayed throughout the book, The Catcher and the Rye, through the use of the internal conflicts in Salinger’s characters. An example of the power of isolation and loneliness is when the main character of The Catcher and the Rye, Holden, displays his loneliness by his action of displaying his anger but not actually accepting it himself. In the book, Holden is told to write a composition for his roommate Stradlater. During this time, Holden decides to write the composition on his dead brother’s baseball mitt, going on to not only describe the mitt, but also reminiscing on his reaction to his brother's death. Holden's reaction to his brother’s death is narrated: “I slept in the garage the night he died,

A scene in which Salinger uses the character of Holden to display the theme is when he nonchalantly discusses death as an inevitability. In the book, Holden hired a prostitute from a man named Maurice. After sending the prostitute away, Maurice returns to collect an extra 5 dollars. After having a fight with Maurice over the money, Holden contemplates suicide: “I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (Salinger, 117). Holden decides not to kill himself over the reason that he didn't want anyone to see his body covered in gore after his death, the power of isolation and loneliness is applied because of the non caring attitude Holden displays over his own demise, only thinking about bystanders looking at his gory corpse was enough reason to end his suicidal thoughts. Another notable time, which the theme of isolation and loneliness is displayed is one of the times he asks a random stranger out for a drink. Holden is riding a cab being driven by a man named Horowitz. He asks Horowitz out for a drink and begins conversing with him about where the ducks go after a lagoon freezes over: “‘Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?’ I said. He didn't answer me, though. I guess he was still thinking. I