“May peace and comfort find you during this difficult time” (qtd from treesforachange.com), a set of sympathetic words that can be uttered to a loved one during their time of need. Some may believe that these are words that should be said to the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's coming of age novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield is a troubled adolescent who longs for sympathy because he is often regretful, sad, lonely and cannot let go of the past. Instead though, because he puts himself in melancholy moods due to his personality, improper feelings or by running away from his problems, it is also believed that Holden is undeserving of this sympathy. It is difficult to feel sympathy for the distraught protagonist because the reasons for his dreariness are all self-induced.
To elaborate, one of the reasons Holden is unfit for sympathy is his personality. Throughout his coming of age, he often gives up and is lazy, tells lies or makes excuses. To begin with the former, Holden gives up on his schooling. Pencey Prep is “the fourth school [he's] gone to” (9). “[He] was flunking four subjects and not applying himself and all” (4) so “they kicked [him] out” (4). Holden though, does not feel bad about failing school, but for the pain he causes his teacher in doing so. His teacher, Mr. Spencer, “[feels] pretty lousy about flunking him” (12) and when he asks Holden if he opened his textbook once the whole term, Holden lies and replies with “Well, I sort of glanced through it a couple of times” (11). He tells this lie because “[he] didn't want to hurt [Mr. Spencer’s] feelings” (11). Since Holden respects Mr. Spencer, he regrets making his teacher feel bad about failing him. Although he is regretful, he did not even attempt to pass...
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In summary, Holden Caulfield is a troubled adolescent whose personality, improper feelings and habit of running from his problems prevent him from receiving sympathy. Since his personality includes being lazy and insincere, it is difficult to feel sympathy for him when he fails to try or tells lies. His improper feelings depress him over nothing or leave him lonely and isolated. His habit of running away from his problems make it difficult for him to receive sympathy because he chooses not to face his problems. Holden is a character that causes his own sadness. His actions prevent sympathy from being felt for him because most circumstances are all avoidable. Sympathy will be felt for the distraught protagonist when he fixes his personality or makes better decisions. Until then, Holden Caulfield is a character that it will be difficult to feel sympathy for.
As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.
After failing all but one class at Pencey Prep, Holden was kicked out of school. Holden wasn’t worried that he got expelled, he was just worried to tell his parents. Being nervous to tell his parents about being expelled shows that Holden cared enough to make his parents proud. By definition, both Holden’s parents and his siblings were successful. Holden’s poor performance at school was most likely caused by the death of his brother Allie, who died of leukemia. Holden hadn’t learned how to deal with this traumatic event which, in turn, caused him to fail classes.
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.
Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives. However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness. This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.
... is apparent that he is a troubled young man through not only what is said and done, but what is also left as unspoken thoughts inside his mind. Holden Caulfield is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, mentally unstable. He is not classified as a "crazy person" or a "loon" but he is a young man who, as a child, had innocence and purity ripped away with no warning or mercy. Instead of reacting more positively and growing older at a young age, the tragedies caused him to year for the innocence of childhood that he knew in some dark corner of his mind had been long gone and was never returning regardless of how much faith and stubbornness he had.
J. D. Salinger's notable and esteemed novel, Catcher in the Rye, reflects the hypercritical views of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a distinguished vision of a world where morality, principles, intelligence, purity, and naivety should override money, sex, and power, but clearly in the world he inhabits these qualities have been exiled. Holder desperately clings to and regards innocence as one of the most important virtues a person can have. However, he son becomes a misfit since society is corrupted and he yearns for companionship, any kind of connection with another to feel whole and understood again. Ironically, despite his persistent belittling and denouncing of others, he does not apply the same critical and harsh views on himself.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is in a rest home, where he speaks about his past and discusses his thoughts and feelings of his memories. Holden tells about his life including his past experiences at many different private schools, most recently Pensey Prep, his friends, and his late brother Allie which led to Holden’s own mental destruction.
The Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel, and his disillusionment. Holden’s disillusionment illustrates that he has a problem accepting such. Aforesaid is based upon multiple factors, most which have brought Holden lasting traumas. A remedy is required for Holden to accept his disillusionment and enable an improvement of his situation. For Holden’s remedy, the consultation of psychologists, and additional specialized health professionals would be the core of an apt remedy for Holden’s psychological and physiological state based upon the numerous causes of such and the everlasting trauma of some of the determinants of aforesaid situation. The origins of Holden’s disillusionment revolved mainly around the death of his younger brother Allie three years ago, of which he still experiences the trauma to this day. His disillusionment is caused by both
From the protagonists’ point of view, the adult world Holden and Franny are entering and living in is a very superficial place. Holden who is sixteen years of age is going through a time of crisis where he is almost forced to become an adult. This concept is the very thing that makes Holden afraid, causing him to misbehave at school. His latest school, Pencey Prep, expels Holden due to his failing grades. When asked for the reason of his lack of academic enthusiasm, Holden simply states that he is not interested in anything. In every school he has attended, Holden has managed to find different reasons not to care and possibly even hate the institutions.
Ultimately, Holden Caulfield’s decisions were incredibly based on his yearning for innocence in life when it is slowly fading away from the world. The audience feels sympathy towards Holden because they know Holden’s past years have been traumatizing with his brother’s death and his moving of schools. The audience knows now that Holden’s alienation is because he does not want to lose his or anyone’s innocence. Thus, the overall lesson is that one cannot prevent another person to do what they want to do, and if they fall, let them.
Early on in the story Holden shows the readers that he is able to analyze people and make an educated judgement of them. Holden blames his departure from Elkton Hills on the people he was surrounded by. He says,“One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies” (Salinger 17). This quote connects to the story because it seems Holden has trouble staying in one particular place if just a few things are not perfect. By understanding others, Holden is quick to decide that where he was at that particular time is not the place for him. This thinking does force him to go to another school, but at the same time, he decided that Elkton Hills is not the place for him. Being able to make a decision and stick to it without having second thoughts is something all high school students should be able to do. In the novel, Holden has come across people he knows like to manipulate others. With this mindset he does not completely avoid them, rather, he learns to deal with them. In chapter 19, there is an interaction where Holden knows his audience and adjusts his actions accordingly. Holden describes his friend, Luce, as an intellectual guy that voices his opinion. He says, “That’s the trouble with these intellectual guys. They never want to discuss anything serious unless they feel like it” (160). With this, it shows Holden knows his friend and knows how to talk without
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.
In many novels written by J.D. Salinger, there is a recurring theme of love that
It is evident that Holden Caufield has specific moments where he can recall and apply them wherever he is in life. His unleashing of children and their ability to explore the world without assistance has helped him transition to the real adult world. His fascination with ducks has made him realize that nothing is ever permanent and no one can always be there for when ever one falls. Lastly, the passing of a loved one can be times of despair but learning to grow and fight the internal struggle can help bring ease. Holden has really transformed from an egoistic individual to a genuine gentleman, he has grown from his experiences and is able to tolerate more pain. The reality has struck Holden no matter how distorted the outside world is to him, maturing is inevitable and using these moments will always be something for him to live for.
...ality in the narrative is having to deal with alienation and how he deals with it, with the world. One of his other psychological features is having depression, which elucidate to Sigmund Freud. Holden’s last trait has to do with having immature relationships with women and focuses on both the author and Holden. Holden Caulfield could also be known as a wallflower. He is shy, always excluded to the world, and is always focusing in his own mind, which somewhat makes him have a normal trait. But that doesn’t cover his mental disorders.