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Growing up holden caulfield conflict and challenge in catcher in the rye
The catcher in the rye chapter1
Analysis of holden caulfield character
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Chapter 19 Holden thinks about Luce who is three years older than Holden Holden says that he finds Luce amusing, even though he is effeminate and a phony Holde starts to ask questions about sex and annoyed by Holden’s juvenile comments and questions, Luce departs. Chapter 20 Holden stays at the bar and gets very drunk He decides to walk to the duck pond in Central Park to see if the ducks are still around He breaks the disk he had bought for Phoebe and becomes upset His hair is wet and he thinks about catching pneumonia, he imagines his funeral and remember his brother’s funeral Holden wants to talk to Phoebe, and he is running low on money, so he decides to risk going home He leaves
Holden struggles to make connections with other people, and usually resorts to calling them phonies whenever they upset him. He finds natural human flaws in people and runs away from connection immediately. His date with Sally shows this. Near the end of the date, Holden tells Sally about his plans to run away from life. When Sally gives him practical advice, Holden is quick to escape connection by calling her “a pain”. Sally’s advice would definitely guide Holden in a more realistic direction, but that is not what he wants to hear. Conflict always arises in his mind even if there is little in reality. His struggles with finding connection also make him too apprehensive to call his old friend Jane. Holden likes to think of Jane as a pure and perfect girl that he can
In The Catcher in the Rye, Carl Luce is a foil for Holden Caulfield in that Carl’s Maturity emphasizes Holden’s Immaturity. While talking to Carl Luce, Holden would not let go of the topic of Carl’s current sexual status asking him “how’s your sex life” (Salinger, 144). Carl many times told Holden to drop subjects on his sex life; from his ex-girlfriend, too bad jokes, and to his current girlfriend. Carl has a sense of privacy not wanting to talk about it while Holden is so excited about the topic he starts raising his voice without noticing. In the story, it is revealed that Holden is a Virgin which could be the reason behind his fascination. He is uninformed about sex and uncomfortable with the idea of it. This also adds another difference
time he plans on going home and visiting his family. When he arrives his mother asks
...ally. Holden's idea of moving away with Sally Hayes is a very irrational idea. As soon as he sees her he says, "I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her," (124). This immediate reaction is very unrealistic. While he is trying to form a permanent relationship, it is not very practical considering the circumstances. It seems like a perfect idea to Holden, but to Sally, and any other practical minded individual, it is not. Holden's struggle with relationships is often due to his immaturity and irrational thoughts.
Holden’s sexual struggles are visible through his interactions with Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce. Holden’s fascination with sex interferes with his elevated morals; as much as he wants to engage in intercourse, he voices his need to establish an emotional connection with his partner first, which prevents him from having casual sex. As much as physical intimacy is important to him, Holden needs to be taken care of and understood emotionally, as well, displaying that he holds sex in high regards and does not view it as something to be done carelessly. Holden just needs to be loved; but, unfortunately, his romantic life is sub-par at best, and until that changes, he’ll always feel confused – and very, very lonely.
cheerful disregard and that there is nothing wrong with him. He also feels that Holden’s
Holden is biased toward certain words that he sees as phony, but he still uses words that have the same connotation. In addition, he criticizes people who are perverted, yet he holds the same sexual desires even though he has never experienced it before. Finally, Holden tells lies to boost his self esteem however, he hates it when the same type of deceit is performed by other people. Holden goes through life meeting others and setting expectations for them. Unfortunately, those adults never seem to meet his expectations. Likewise, Holden himself can never manage to live up to his own ideals either establishing a character who is never fully honest and
He goes on and on about having certain feeling for people, but in reality he can’t stand them at all. “Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course...We both hated each other’s guts by that time.”(pg. 125-126). He continued on with Sally Haze about how they should just run away together. This whole time knowing that he can’t stand her. He has so much time on his hands that he wastes by doing things he ends up hating in the end. Holden is very indecisive throughout the story. He mentions phoning or going to see Jane Gallagher multiple times in the story, but he never does. “She was a funny girl, old Jane. I wouldn't exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out, though.” (pg. 77). By the way he speaks about Jane, it’s a surprise she wasn’t the first person he tried to
Between Ackley and Sally and assorted New York Cabbies, Caulfield dedicates a significant amount of time to “phony” friends and strangers. It’s evident that Holden doesn’t wish to become attached to anyone lest he be hurt losing them again. This takes a toll on Holden because he never fully understands anyone like he ahd with Jane and Allie. In this book, language often is used by Holden to distance himself from his actions. Since Holden is the narrator, much of what is said by him
Holden and Sally were finished watching a show when Sally sees a boy she knew “from somewhere” (141). The boy and Sally walk over to one another and they say hello as if “they hadn't seen each other in twenty years”(141). Holden finds this reunion nauseating because Sally and this boy didn't actually “know” (141) one another, but instead probably met just once at a party. Since the boy went to an ivy league school this is another example of Sally Hayes wanting to conform with the elite and increase her popularity. As the conversation between Sally and the boy continued she “started talking about a lot of people they both knew” (142). Holden felt this was the “phoniest conversation [he] ever heard in [his] life” (142). This was because Holden knows Sally Hayes was name dropping for her own self promotion. Sally doesn’t care about the boy, or want a real conversation with him; instead, she was being shallow and using him to her advantage. Holden and Sally then walk over to the ice rink, where Sally was given a skirt to wear. She then would keep “walking ahead of [Holden], so that [he’d] see how cute her little ass looked” (143). All Sally wanted was attention and would show off in any given opportunity. Sally conformed with all the other girls who were also wearing those skirts. Holden finds it repulsive to see anyone conform to
Sally Hayes is dim person whose phoniness blinds her from Holden’s cries for help and dismisses him when he needs her most, her phoniness changes Holden and he himself is forced into bad decisions because of it.
Holden does not view life as a fair game, explaining, “Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right- I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot shots, then what’s a game about it?”(8). He clearly identifies with the side without the “hot-shots”, and because of this, feels victimized, as if the world is betting against him. Holden refuses to accept a society in which people are not born onto an equal playing field. An opportunity for Holden to break out of his shell of isolation appears through both emotional and physical relationships, yet he struggles to accept their unpredictable nature. “Sex is something I really don’t understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are”(63). Relationships and sex are ever changing, and also require an openness Holden appears reluctant to give. He darts from one person to the next, constantly on a search for companionship, love, and a mentor, yet at the last second, Holden seems to throw his opportunities away, such as when he insults Sally at the conclusion of their date, or his repeated talks of calling Jane, and always finding an excuse to abort his plan. In Holden’s case, his alienation is his own form of self-protection. This painful isolation allows him to
Holden has a respect for women that he views as unnatural. He feels that his sexual desires should be similar to those of his roommate Stradlater and peer, Luce. Holden shows his confusion by saying, "The thing is, most of the time when you're coming close to doing it with a girl, a girl that isn't ...
Although Holden’s interest in sex often presents itself in a juvenile way, he does have sensible ideas about it. Perhaps
In his fight with Stradlater, Holden’s character is shown as a defender of innocence. He defends the memory of his brother through the report he writes for Stradlater. Because of Stradlater’s criticism on his brother’s death, Holden destroys the essay and says “All right, give it back to me, then,’ I said. I went over and pulled it right out of his goddamn hand. Then I tore it up.” Holden is tormented by the memory of his brother throughout the novel, and in this fight he defends his brothers memory by protecting the baseball glove. Later in this scene Holden is upset with Stradlater’s relationship with Jane. Holden explains, “If you knew Stradlater, you 'd have been worried, too. I 'd double-dated with the bastard a couple of times, and I know what I 'm talking about. He was unscrupulous.” Holden tries to defend Jane’s innocence and the reader is able to see Holden’s ethical code to protect the innocence and memory of others. In Holden’s confrontation with Maurice, Holden displays his detestation of the evil phony. “All of a sudden I started to cry. I 'd give anything if I hadn 't, but I did. 'No, you 're no crooks, ' I said. 'You 're just steeling five ' 'Shut up, ' old Maurice said and gave me a shove.” The scene between Maurice and Holden over the prostitute Sunny shows his emotions when it comes to fake people. In this scene he