The Perception of the World in The Catcher in the Rye
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. This perception of the world does not change throughout the novel. However as the novel progresses, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change all of this.
During the short period of Holden's life revealed in this book, Holden does succeed in making us perceive that the world is crazy. Shortly after, Holden leaves Pencey Prep and checks in to the Edmont Hotel. A sleazy hotel of sort, Holden spends several nights there. Holden describes the Edmont Hotel as a place filled with "morons and perverts." His current situation tends to deteriorate from this point on. As more as he looks around this world, the more depressing life seems to him.
Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world that appears completely immoral and unethical. The couple of days that the reader spends with Holden they can see that he is placed in the in the vicinity of Manhattan. The city is decked with decorations and holiday splendor of the upcoming season, however, much to Holden's despair seldom yields any occasions of peace, charity or even genuine cheerfulness. Holden is surrounded by what he views as drunks, perverts, morons and screwballs. These convictions which Holden holds fluctuate very momentarily during only one particular and very memorable scene in the book. The scene is with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone as a pervert. After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally realizes that maybe he wasn't making an unwelcomed pass at him. Maybe he just liked patting guys heads as they slept. This is
really the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side. This event does not create a significant change. As Holden himself says, "It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out." The sun is a reference to righteousness through the common association of light and goodness. Although this insight seems positive, Holden's perception of the world still remains the same.
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.
Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world which appears completely immoral and unscrupulous. The three days that the novel covers place a distressed Holden in the vicinity of Manhattan. The city is decked with decorations and holiday splendor, yet, much to Holden's despair "seldom yields any occasions of peace, charity or even genuine merriment."3. Holden is surrounded by what he views as drunks, perverts, morons and screwballs. These convictions that Holden hold waver very momentarily during one particular scene in the book. The scene is with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone a pervert. After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally concludes that maybe he was not making a "flitty" pass at him. He wonders if he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side to something. However, this event does not constitute a significant change. As Holden himself says, "It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out."4. The sun, of course, is a reference to decency through the common association of light and goodness. His perception of the world remains the same.
... 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.
Holden struggles with himself mightily and cannot fulfill his responsibilities. One of Holden’s struggles is that he has a bad attitude towards everyone. For example, at the school he goes to, he hates his roommates and his teachers. In addition to not liking anyone, Holden
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 is by far sensitive and can be overly emotional sometimes. When his younger brother Allie died, Holden dealt with the dreadful event by breaking all the windows in the garage, "just for the hell of it." When he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead, Holden leaves his apartment quickly, even though Holden identifies Mr. Antolini as a trusted mentor. Holden feels guilty about the death of his younger brother because he died so young. This feeling of guilt and the depression may help explain how overly sensitive Holden can be at times. Holden views himself as the "catcher in the rye", saving children and their innocence from going into the adult world that is crowded with "phonies." When he sees all the graffiti that says "fuck you", he becomes very distraught as the graffiti shows that the innocent world of children is already being affected by the vulgarness of the adult world. Holden exploits the "phony" world of adults often, such as when he li...
The negative light that Holden views the world under is a key contribution to his unhappiness. He is unable to see even a glint of sincerity in people’s actions which allows him to experience feelings of severe despondency and dejection. “People never give your message to anybody,” (pg. 166) shows how Holden no longer feels let down by people but instead expects the worst from them instead. He struggles to find genuinity in people’s actions, and in turn feels “lousy and depressed,” by nearly everything. Holden is constantly seen bringing down the adult world. It is shown he has an inner conflict between his adult and child self, leading him to feeling lost and without a place. He is disgusted by the adult world describing it as a place filled with “phonies” but, views adolescence as a source of happiness. He shows a direct fear of change by stating, “The best thing...was that everything always stayed right where it was.” (pg. 135). As Holden is being pushed out of his childhood and into an area where he feels out of place, it is only inevitable that this would be a source of his depression. Both of these internal conflicts add to Holden Caulfield’s
He begins to own up to his mistakes and starts to build stable relationships with his peers. In a conversation with Phoebe Holden mentions that he wants to be a catcher in the rye, and save children from falling off the cliff. Being a catcher in the rye is a metaphor that represents Holden's dream of saving people and leaving a lasting mark on the world. “ I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy”(186). When we enter this point in the book we can really get a feel for how much Holden has matured as he has begun thinking about others and not just focusing on himself. Although Holden has progressed in his track towards maturity he still tends to sway away from maturity. Holden continues to impolitely disagree with others and argue his way to the top in order to achieve what he desires, “Daddy's going to kill you.” Phoebe suggests, then Holden comes right back and states “I don't give a damn if he does” (186). This example shows that Holden still has a fixed mindset on his ideas and doesn't allow for new thoughts to persuade him to change his opinions. This forces us to view him as immature as we do not see a man who is incapable of interchanging ideas with others and therefore unable to interact with his
...one of us faces the struggles of growing up. We can either complain and rant and blame everyone else, or we can stay positive and try our best to rise above the challenges. Holden showed me how we can keep grumbling and keep whining, but that is not going to make the situation better. We should not let our hardships and challenges defeat us, but rather we should conquer our challenges. It is so much better if we stay positive in facing our challenges than if we just complain and whine about our hardships. Holden, despite his bitterness, is a character that has surprisingly inspired me to be more positive in facing my life’s challenges. After reading this novel, I really hope that the ‘Holdens’ of today will realize that being pessimistic and isolated is not cool; I hope they will be able to grow up someday and face their challenges in a more hopeful, positive way;
When someone turns their back on the world the consequences are bad. Holden shows this by slacking off leading to his expulsion from school. “ They gave me frequent warning to start applying myself…but I didn’t do it. So I got the ax.” Holden proves this theme once more by vandalizing in a fit of rage over the death of his little brother Allie. “I was only thirteen…I broke all the windows in the garage.” Even when Holden does not express his negativity physically he expresses them mentally. “I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met.” “I felt more depressed much more depressed than sexy.” When a young man turns his back on sex there is definitely something wrong. Even chances for great friendships are ruined when Holden turns his back on a former roommate. “But I roomed with him for about two whole months, even though he bored me till I was half crazy, just because he was such a terrific whistler….” A chance for romance is ruined also when Holden is annoyed by the supposed inane conversation of his date Sally. “You give me a royal pain in the ass…” The characters in the book are not oblivious to the fact of Holden’s back turning and negativity.
The origins of Holden’s disillusionment and the reason that it all started is the death of his younger brother which he was very fond of and admired, Allie, three years ago. The death of Allie is very significant in Holden’s mind since it is an event which he remembers quite clearly at multiple occasions during the book. For example, when Holden is writing a descriptive composition for his roommate Stradlater, he decides to write about Allie’s baseball mitt since it is the only thing on his mind. “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was
Throughout the novel Holden seems to be excluded from any group. He feels alienated from the rest of society, but I believe that Holden stays bitter on purpose. He keeps a cynical, sarcastic outlook on life so as to escape his true feelings. This is not uncommon for people who have trouble accepting their problems. Many of the times that Holden criticizes people it is something he does himself. (Pg 13) “… one of the reasons I left Elkton was that I was surrounded by phonies…” Holden himself is many times what he refers to as a “phony”. He knows that he lies and pretends to like people that he would rather not be with. (Pg 125) “… I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie of course…” His bitterness is a shield against his reality, a reality he doesn’t like at all. Yet at the same time Holden really wants to communicate with people. (Pg 66) “ I damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz…” He is torn between the two ways to act and cannot reach conclusio...
In a conversation Holden has with his sister Phoebe, she asks him what he would want to be. In response, Holden says, “... I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. ... I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t know where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them ... I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (Salinger 224-225). Holden reveals his desire to be the protector of innocence and the reader sees that he would rather live in his own fantasy of innocence, than face the reality of the world around him. In his dream world, Holden wishes to be someone who protects children’s innocence. Similar to a child, Holden oversimplifies real life and has his own fantasy of what he wants to do. Lott and Latham stated in regards to Holden and his journey while finding his identity and say, “... the heroes also experience disillusionment with themselves and with the world around them as they move from innocent idealism of the very young to a more realistic acceptance of personal limits and social imperfections” (24). During the novel, it is obvious that Holden is stuck between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood. Holden 's obsession with innocence causes difficulty in accepting the responsibilities of adulthood. Everything is considered “phony” by Holden, except for what is still innocent. Holden is completely fixated on all forms of innocence and wishes to stay in
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.
One morning when he was walking up Fifth Avenue he starts to feel as he will not make it to the other side of the street. “I thought I’d just go down, down, down…….”. He then starts talking to Allie and ask him to protect him from going down and disappear. He thanks Allie when he reaches the other side of the street safely. By this time it is quite clear that Holden does not think clearly anymore and is emotionally in a very deep and dark place. He decides to just say goodbye to Phoebe and hitchhike to a sunny and pretty place where nobody knows him. He will also pretend that he cannot hear or speak and he will marry a deaf-mute woman as well. “If we had any children, we’d hide them somewhere”, thus protect them and their innocence from the evil world and the cruelty of adulthood. The Asian Social Science Journal did an analysis on the adolescent problems in The Catcher in the Rye and their conclusion is as follows: “Holden 's enemy is the adult world and the cruelty and artificiality. I see this to be Holden physically at war with the adult world. He is the protector and even the leader of the army of the youth, fighting to preserve their