The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger is not just a story about a teenage boy, going through hardships and complaining a lot. It is truly a tale about growing up, where you as a reader learn more about yourself and how you view others. J.D. Salinger uses Holden Caulfield, as a sort of bridge that teaches us about human nature, feelings and difficult times. J.D. Salinger achieved this very well because Holden is such a unique character but nevertheless we can all relate to him in some way. In this essay/analysis I will go through some of the underlying themes of the novel, that create it more than just a story about some kid in New York.
Painful Experience vs. Numbness
Perhaps the strongest theme of the novel involves the relationship between the physical pain of an actual experience and and the painful feeling of one's feelings. After the death of Allie, Holden essentially shuts down. This forces himself to lose all connections to people because he doesn't want to cause any pain to anyone ever again. He repeatedly mentions how important it is not to get attached to anyone, since this will lead to missing them once they are gone. By the end of the novel, he has spiraled so far down with this theory that he has become afraid to even speak to anyone. Phoebe is perhaps the only reminder that Holden still has the ability to love. When he looks at her, he cannot help but feel the same love that he felt for Allie. Nevertheless, the impulses of these feelings leave him even more bereft. He knows he should leave Phoebe to protect himself and his beliefs, but when she shows up to join him on his journey, ultimately he puts his love for her first and sacrifices his own instinct to flee in order to return home.
. To a great degree he is ...
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...that perhaps he might still have some emotions left. At the same time, Holden takes few steps to mitigate his loneliness. Whenever he feels the urge to meet someone, to call up a girl, to have a social experience, he ends up sabotaging it before anyone can get hurt. With this he protects himself so that he can effectively shut off any possibilities of alleviating his own loneliness. He might want to call Jane, for example, but he hangs up before she gets on the phone. He might want to sleep with a prostitute to feel human comfort, but he just tries to have a conversation with her. He might want to interact with friends at a bar, but he ends up saying something hurtful and they end up abandoning them. Pushing them away provides a deeper and deeper loneliness, but he is able to cope with this slight loneliness in order to avoid the ultimate loneliness of another death.
... struggles. Holden just wanted someone to talk to and wants to break his depression by succeeding. In my opinion, I believe Holden does find what he’s looking for due to Phoebe riding on the carousel ride as it makes Holden happy, “I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way Phoebe kept going around and around” (213). Holden’s struggles have came across his fate from being depressed and as long as Phoebe is by his side, Holden has someone to communicate with, and to now live a peaceful and comfortable life. The life-lessons that Holden has had to face throughout the book have changed his life completely by knowing his true character towards the end of the novel. His life revolves around his problems, and he seemed helpless in evading them. With that being said, Holden found himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-intentions.
Jerome David Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is based on the life events shaping main character, Holden Caulfield, into the troubled teen that is telling the story in 1950. The theme of the story is one of emotional disconnection felt by the alienated teenagers of this time period. The quote, “ I didn’t know anyone there that was splendid and clear thinking and all” (Salinger 4) sets the tone that Holden cannot find a connection with anyone around him and that he is on a lonely endeavor in pursuit of identity, acceptance and legitimacy. The trials and failures that Holden faces on his journey to find himself in total shed light on Holden’s archenemy, himself.
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.
...g intimacy instead. Holden’s issues with relationships, whether they are platonic or romantic, emotional or physical, show that although he would like to believe that he can carry on perfectly fine without human interaction, nobody, not even himself, can do so.
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” revolves around the protagonist Holden Caulfield as the story is told from his perspective. J.D. Salinger constructed Holden Caulfield as a cynical person who cannot accept to grow up. Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye,” J.D. Salinger uses symbolism to reveal and reinforce critical aspects of the protagonist Holden Caulfield. Three important aspects Holden acquired through Salinger’s use of symbolism are: his stubborn, uncompromising mentality; his softer, more caring respectful side; Holden’s cowardly way of acting and thinking.
Holden Caulfield conveys his melancholy, sarcasm, and seclusion greatly through his dialogue; his vocabulary constantly consists of depression and loneliness. He expresses such agony all throughout the dialogue of the book. An example of this would be when Holden quotes, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (153). In this quote, Holden is expressing his confusion and unhappiness but mostly is just confused to why he is unhappy. He feels a severe amount of misery that devours him, all of which is shown greatly in all of his dialogue. He, at one point in the novel, feels like committing suicide because he cannot handle the pressure. He says that “I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep- I...
Holden was walking in Fifth Avenue and overtime he came to the end of the block he began to feel extremely nervous. He sad he felt as if he was going to “disappear”(Salinger 198). Holden says, “Boy did it scare me… Every time I’d get to the end of the block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him ‘Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie don’t let me disappear… Please, Allie,’ ” (Salinger 198). When Holden is nervous he is nervous because he doesn’t want to “disappear” (Salinger 198). Holden is nervous because he doesn’t want to “disappear” at “the end of the block ” (Salinger 198). By this he really means he does’t want to die at the end of his life, like Allie died at the end of his life. He steers clear from using the words die and at the end of life, because he is in denial that Allies life is over and that he is dead. Although his conscious mind logically knows that Allie is not alive anymore, subconsciously his mind refuses to accept that, and this is where there is conflict. To cope with that conflict he begins to fantasize that Allie is with him giving him advice and watching over him. To Holden Allie is like a child's imaginary friend, when he doesn’t need Allie it is not like Allie doesn’t exist in his subconscious mind, his conscious mind simply takes over. Although when he is scared, or something is triggered to cope he begins to fantasize Allie and take comfort in Allie even though consciously he knows it is impossible for him to be talking to Allie. I relate to Allie in the manner that I went through a denial phase why coping with my grandfathers loss, also denial was not nearly as sever as Allie’s. When my grandpa first died it was hard to truly accept that he wasn’t with us any more. Again, I was little when he died so I kept trying to convince that he wasn’t dead, although eventually I really
The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, written by JD Salinger, touches on the themes of innocence, death, and the artifice and the authenticity in the world, while following the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, through his weekend trip to New York City. As the story unfolds, Holden, as narrator, becomes more vulnerable to the reader, and starts to express his feelings surrounding the death of his brother, Allie, as well as his feelings about himself. Holden is faced with a truth that has haunted him for many years: adulthood. Many of the qualities Holden exhibits, which he sees as negative, are those of the average person: struggle, loneliness, deep sadness. He is one of many classic protagonists that encourages the reader to relate to them on
The experience of being in a state of grief is not limited by age but by experience. The symptoms of a person experiencing bereavement and grief are found throughout the book. These symptoms not only apply to Holden and his situation, but also are accepted as classic symptoms recognized by the Grief Counseling Community. The story is replete with the phrases "I felt so lonesome; I almost wish I was dead; it was so depressing; it was so quiet and lonesome out; feeling sort to lousy; made me sad; I felt miserable; felt like committing suicide; jumping out the window; sitting on an atomic bomb; blue as hell; felt like getting stinking drunk; can't sleep."
Holden Caulfield offers the reader an interesting view on dealing with teen problems and adult life through the eyes of a teenager suffering from depression. Depression and the death of his brother Allie play a significant role in Holden's personality, especially his sensitivity to people around him and the emotional response he has in certain situations. He is self-conscious of himself, but at the same time struggles for independence and individuality. He longs to keep his childhood, staying away from the adult world. However, Holden's story ends with saying "I sort of miss everybody I told about," implying that he has, at last, grown up and matured, and these experiences he has narrated are just boyhood memories.
“Catcher in the Rye”, written by J.D Salinger, is a coming-of-age novel. Narrated by the main character, Holden Caulfield, he recounts the days following his expulsion from his school. This novel feels like the unedited thoughts and feelings of a teenage boy, as Holden narrates as if he is talking directly to readers like me.
Allie’s death before the events of the story had a negative impact on Holden’s life both mentally and physically. For example, he recollects the events after Allie’s death by saying “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam
Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist of Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggles with having to enter the adult world. Holden leaves school early and stays in New York by himself until he is ready to return home. Holden wants to be individual, yet he also wants to fit in and not grow up. The author uses symbolism to represent Holden’s internal struggle.
Innocence and kindheartedness is displayed in the novel through Holden's young sister, Phoebe. Whenever Holden is depressed about being alone he thinks of memories with his younger sister Phoebe and feels completely better. Phoebe is always there for her brother to listen to his stories and complaints.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.