A journey through a heartbreak can be tough on a person and may lead to clouding of proper judgment and beliefs. In the book Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old who has dealt with trauma and sadness in his past due to his brother’s death. This has created massive heartbreak for Holden who had become unstable when it came to projecting his feelings. This makes Holden not very admirable because he has trouble understanding age groups and the concept of growing up, he takes advantage of people by lying to them, and Holden has great difficulty when it comes to talking about how he feels. Holden may never realize it, but he is too far gone. Holden’s first problem was that he would never act his age in any situation. He …show more content…
For example, Holden’s love for Jane is symbolic and treasurable to him, but how he deals with it is in horrendous ways. So when Stradlater goes out on a date with Jane, Holden does not take it very well, “…then I tried to sock him with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open.”(49) This shows how Holden is not able to deal with his emotions the right way and in this case Holden almost did something that he would in the future regret, just because his emotions got in his way. This shows how Holden is not a commendable person because he should not be awarded for holding in his feelings and emotions when he knew that he had …show more content…
But, there are lots of reasons why that is completely untrue, for example, Holden keeps making illogical and strange decisions like asking a stripper over just after talking about how he was in love with Jane and how he wanted to protect people’s youth and innocence, “…I kept walking around the room, waiting for this prostitute to show up. I kept hoping she’d be good looking. I didn’t care too much, though. I sort of just wanted to get it over with.”(104) People may claim that Holden has many strong beliefs, but how good are any of them if he doesn’t ever follow them. It shows how rather than being sincere with his rules, Holden would rather disappoint not only his schools and his parents, but himself as well. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is shown as a character who can’t seem to make up his mind about anything. He lies, he never acts his age, and he does not talk about his emotions. It is difficult to trust a person like Holden, and he does not show of as an admirable person. It may have been Allie’s death that changed him, or maybe he has always been like this. Either way, Holden will one day have to wake up from his depressive state and get the help that he needs to become a happy and fully functional human
Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I started to cry. I’d give anything if I hadn’t, but I did” (p. 103). This occurs when Maurice argues with Holden about money that Holden owes to a prostitute. The situation becomes too much for Holden to handle, and he breaks down like a child. Holden also tries to have immature conversations with people who have become adults. Another example of imma...
Imagine if your best friend or someone close to you suddenly dies of a fatal disease. The death of this person would physically and mentally inflict trauma. All though the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a grieving seventeen year old because he endures a traumatic experience at the age of 13. His 11 year old brother, Allie, dies of leukemia, and this affects Holden throughout the novel. It causes him to yearn for his innocence and childhood back because he wants to return to the stage in his life when there are no worries. He realizes that it is not realistic to become a child again, and he begins to accept the fact that he must grow up and set an example for his sister, Phoebe. Growing up with the loss of a close brother, Holden wants to be a protector of all innocence, and later in the novel, he begins to notice he must find a solution to his traumatic experiences in order to become successful in his lifetime.
actions. Holden could not deal with his death and showed it by causing physical harm to
Holden shows the trait of compassion through his generosity to others, feeling of sadness for others and by showing true love for his family. Early on in the novel, Holden shows compassion about his brother, Allie, who died of leukemia. Holden says, “You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent” (Salinger 43). This quote shows that Holden is still affected by the loss of his brother. The reader can assume that Holden wishes that things went differently for his brother since, by what Holden says, Allie had accomplished many things in his short life. Another way Holden shows compassion is through his interest in complete strangers. In chapter 17, Holden describes qualities of different girls he saw waiting (137). Mainly, he describes how their legs are folded and what sort of guys they will end up with. By doing this, he is showing compassion about people he does not even know. Because Holden shows such concern about people he has never
There are numerous times in the book that Holden lies about his age. It seemed as if Holden wanted to be older than what he was. He was always wanting to do the things older people do, but he never looks the age he says. Most of the time he never got away with his lie, which made him a little more phony. Holden often liked to try to go to the bars and drink. In chapter 10, he goes to a bad and it says, “I ordered a scotch and soda…’I’m sorry sir,’ he said, ‘ but do you have some verification of your age.’”(Salinger 69). This is one of the many times Holden lies about his age and gets rejected. Holden was very interested in sex, even though he didn’t know much about it. He was always trying to get a girl to be with him. Women or prostitutes would not want to be with a teenager, so this is another reason he always lied about his age. In chapter 13, Holden meets the elevator man and the man offers him a prostitute. “‘How old are you, chief?’ the elevator guy said. ‘Why?’ I said. ‘Twenty Two.’”(Salinger 91). This is another example when Holden lies about his age, but the person he lies to questions him. Holden is a phony that never told the truth, not even about his
However, his feelings suggest that the true reason for his depression is his loss of Innocence. When he was 13 years old, he lost his little brother Allie to leukemia. Allie meant a lot to Holden. He even becomes a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling of the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet. “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a bastard—my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a 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. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him.” (Sallinger) In this part, Allie plays the role as the Catcher in the Rye and keeps Holden from falling of the cliff. This is why i believe that Holden wants to become a “ Catcher in the Rye”. He wants to help people like Allie has helped him. He feels that it's what he’d meant to do with his
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.
Holden feels as if he is stuck in his 13 year old self. Although he is aging he isn’t necessarily maturing the way his classmates and other people are around him. This is due to the fact that he never received closure when Allie died. When he starts picturing his own funeral because he might get pneumonia and die, he remembers D.B. telling him about his brother's funeral. He stated, “I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). Since he never attended the funeral he never got to say his final goodbyes to the one person he truly loved. Holden feels as if he can’t connect with anyone else in the world like he did with Allie. If he did then he would most likely push them away, so he wouldn’t have to experience the trauma of loss again, because it greatly impacted his life the first time. The trauma Holden experienced when he was younger resulted in him not being able to form stronger relationships with people which made him more depressed and
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.
In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is an immature boy. Holden’s immaturity cause him many problem throughout the book. He is physically mature but not emotionally mature. He acts like a child. “All of a sudden I started to cry. I’d give anything if I hadn’t, but I did” (p. 103). Holden shows his emotional unstableness.
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
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
It is made evident that Holden is enamored with Jane Gallagher, and this first manifests itself when Holden talks about her to Stradlater. “I used to play checkers with her,” Holden recounts. “ ‘She’d get [her kings] all lined up in the back row. Then she’d never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row.’ Stradlater didn’t say anything. That kind of stuff doesn’t interest most people” (41). In a world where almost everything is so “goddam depressing,” thinking about Jane’s minor traits actually makes Holden happy, even if it is the kind of stuff that does not interest most people. It allows him to channel his childhood, where he was oblivious to the phoniness around him. However, this silly nostalgia cannot get across to Stradlater, who is more interested in Jane as a sexual being than trivialities such as her checker tactics or struggles with ballet. This physical interest eventually becomes the root of their brawl in their dorm. Although Holden’s interrogative mood agitates Stradlater, Holden is only showing his genuine care for Jane. Unlike Stradlaer, Holden has enough sense to know that Jane, being the humble, intelligent girl she is, deserves to be treated right. So, even though Holden lets his anger get the better of him and eventually start a fight, he has reason to do
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.
They often make inappropriate comments,lack emotional control, or have unrealistic expectations for the future. Holden seems to struggle with all these issues. Holden shows his immaturity through him not being able to make decisions on his own. When Holden visits Mr. Spencer, he is told that ‘life is a game that one plays by the rules’. Mr. Spencer better understanding of how the world works because of his age. His message to Holden is to become socially intelligent and look at how his actions affect the world around him. Once again, Holden displays his lack of knowledge by ignoring this priceless advice. He is also unable to make clear, rational decisions. Holden is very impulsive and can only think within the moment. The way in which Holden makes snap decisions insinuates that he is very confused and unable to organise his thoughts in a mature fashion, exposing that his child-like state of mind still dominates the more logical and mature part of his brain. Many teens seem to struggle with romantic relationships as well as