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What was Holden’s problem? Use incidents and examples from the book to support your conclusion.
In the book “The Catcher in the Rye”, by J.D. Salinger. The main character of the book and narrator was Holden Caulfield, who moves from prep school to prep school. He is sixteen years old and a junior at Pencey Prep. Holden is intelligent and sensitive. Holden’s problem in this book was that he felt lonely and scared of the adult world. He was also confused about life and the people in it.
Holden feels tormented by the memory of his younger brother
Allie’s death. His life was also complicated by his sexuality. This was shown all throughout the book, especially when he was with Sunny, the prostitute, in the hotel room. He had the opportunity to do sexual things with her but he did not because he felt uncomfortable. Usually
Holden does not do anything to girls on dates if they say no, but it was different with the prostitute it was her job and he still decided not to do anything with her because he did not feel sexy enough.
He wants to see his sister, Phoebe, and his old girlfriend Jane
Gallagher, but instead he spends time with Sally Hayes. Although,
Holden says he really likes Jane but he never calls her. He is confused about his feelings. Holden got really lonely roaming around the city, so he decides to sneak back to his parents apartment to talk to Phoebe. He borrows some money from her because he was broke and she offered all her Christmas money. This is when Holden really felt like a loser. He felt that he can not accomplish to nothing taking money from his little sister, so he decides to give it back to her. This is when he started thinking much harder about life and that he needs to get into the adult world and out this little kids world and grow up.
Holden experiences a nervous breakdown as he wonders the streets of NYC. As he is crossing the street he feels as if he is going
This book is a good book. "What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1
Thesis statement: The relationship Holden and Blanche have between family and people in society leads them to an inner turmoil, which eventually results in their psychological breakdowns.
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, describes a period of time in a young
In JD Salingers' Catcher in the Rye, a troubled teenager named Holden Caufield struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. The book gets its title from Holden's constant concern with the loss of innocence. He did not want children to grow up because he felt that adults are corrupt. This is seen when Holden tries to erase naughty words from the walls of an elementary school where his younger sister Phoebe attended. "While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy.
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield gets expelled from his school and runs away before his parents find out. He goes to his home town, New York, and encounters many people. Throughout the novel, Caulfield is still coping with the death of his brother Allie. His attitude slowly decreases and various signs of a mental disorder are exhibited through his actions and his thoughts. Some people believe that he does not have a mental disorder, he is just grieving; however, he has clear symptoms that he is suffering from depression and anti-social disorder. These disorders are shown when Caulfield takes everything in a negative way, talks about being depressed, thinks that everyone is “phony”, and talks about his deceased brother.
“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.
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.
The Catcher in the Rye The world around us can be very strange at times. From space it resembles a nice round blueberry, perfectly happy and content with itself without a care in the universe. But, if you take a closer look you will see poverty, famine, war, and peace all set atop one big huge chunk of liquid hot magma floating around, spinning endlessly in space. It could be said that the world is a very uncontrollable and unstable place.
In a novel, the theme is the insight of real life. J.D. Salinger’s initiation novel, The Catcher In The Rye, describes the adventures of 16-year old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and first person narrator, who refuses to grow up and enter manhood. The most important theme developed by Salinger is Holden’s problem of dealing with change; he has trouble dealing with death, he refuses to accept children’s loss of innocence as a necessary step in the growing-up process, and has difficulties with growing up.
In J.D. Salinger’s controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in no hurry to face his parents. Holden travels to New York for several days to cope with his disappointments. As James Lundquist explains, “Holden is so full of despair and loneliness that he is literally nauseated most of the time.” In this novel, Holden, a lonely and confused teenager, attempts to find love and direction in his life. Holden’s story is realistic because many adolescent’s face similar challenges.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield has a deep-rooted desire to keep himself and the world around him from changing. In fact the novel was banned partially "based on the perception that Holden is an unregenerate, and unchanged person." However there is evidence that Holden does change near the end of the novel. It is incorrect to say that Holden stays unchanged from start to finish, because by the end of the novel he is trying to rid himself of his defensive nature and accept change as a good thing. Holden has no desire to let himself or others change, yet through his experiences and looking back on what occurred, Holden realizes that change is inevitable and in order to grow as a human being he can only accept what must transpire.
The book, Catcher in the Rye, has been steeped in controversy since it was banned in America after its first publication. John Lennon’s assassin Mark Chapman, asked the former Beatle to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning of the day he murdered Lennon. Police found the book in his possession upon apprehending the psychologically disturbed Chapman. However, the book itself contains nothing that might have lead Chapman to act as he did. It could have been just any book that he was reading the day he decided to kill John Lennon and as a result, it was the Catcher in the Rye, a book describing a nervous breakdown, that caused the media to speculate widely about the possible connection. This gave the book even more recognition. The character Holden Caulfield ponders the thoughts of death, accuses ordinary people of being phonies, and expresses his love for his sister through out the novel. So what is the book Catcher in the Rye really about?
He even condemns people he doesn’t know as phonies, such as the man that his
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl.
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most famous books in American literature. Written by J. D. Salinger, it captures the epitome of adolescence through Salinger’s infamous anti-hero, Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield learns about himself and his negative tendencies, and realizes that if he does not do something to change his perspective, he may end up like his acquaintance James Castle whom he met at Elkton Hills. Holden tries to find help to mend his outlook on life through Mr. Antolini so he does not end up like James, who did not want to face the problems he created for himself. This is proven by the similarities between James Castle and Holden, Mr. Antolini’s willingness to try and help Holden, and Holden’s future being forecasted by James.