Free Essays - Troubled Holden in Catcher in the Rye

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Troubled Holden in Catcher in the Rye

In J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is

portrayed as a young, troubled individual. He tells us his story from the

mental institution where he is currently residing. Holden refuses to

acknowledge his emotions in regard to the death of his brother Allie. In

reaction to Allie's death, Holden hides from himself, his true feelings

about change, death and relationships with other people. He does not

realize that his Allie died of leukemia three years before this story takes place.

Holden speaks highly of his brother. He discusses how Allie was younger

than him but fifty times as smart. Holden also tells us that Allie was much

more mature for his age then he should have been. This is the basis of

Holden's fear of growth and change. The more you grow, the closer to death

you find yourself and death is the ultimate change.

Reveling in innocence, perfectness, and being untouched by change

is the most comfortable pattern of living for Holden:

"In chapter 5 when Holden is waiting for Ackley to get

ready to go to town, he looks out of the window of his

room, opens it, and packs a snowball from the snow

on the window ledge. He begins to throw it at a parked

car, but doesn't because the car "looked so nice and

white". Then he aims at a fire hydrant, but stops again

because that also looks "too nice and white". Finally

he decides not to throw it at anything and closes the

window...What Holden sees through the window is for

him a visual embodiment of what he unconsciously

seeks: a state of Being which is distinct from the flux

of this world of Becoming, with its corruption, violence,

noise, decay and death." (Burrows 84)

When Holden talks to us about how much he loves the museum, he says

that the museum is great because everything just stays behind a piece of

glass and does not change. Some things should not change. He is really

saying that he doesn't want to change the way Allie changed. Also, he says

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