Catcher In The Rye Relationships

The Catcher in the Rye Essay: Question #2 In this novel, The Catcher in the Rye, various kinds of relationships are illustrated that involve a character by the name Holden who craves for intimacy with other human beings. However, there exists a mystery in his craving, as he is sometimes never interested in them. To a much extent, his character can be associated with adolescent behavior. Loneliness is a major factor that makes him desire to engage in relationships although he is to blame for this due to his tendency to belittle everything around him. For example, he refers to people as phonies, yet he longs for affairs with some of these people. Some types of relationships examined in this novel include sexual, romantic, friendly, mentor,

Moreover, Sally put offs Holden because she is interested in things that he is never concerned or bothered with such as the play they go to see and the movies. Holden even tries to convince her to run away with him, but she turns down the suggestion. He fails to make any progress in his effort to win Sally; instead, he ends up making her terrified and mad. On the other hand, a familial kind of relationship documented in this novel involves Holden and his sister Phoebe. According to the description given in the novel, the death of their brother Allie managed to strengthen the bond between them. Phoebe became more close to Holden. For long time, Holden always had the desire to strengthen his relationship with his sister and this time round, he achieves his target. It is revealed that despite the distance that separates them when he is New York, he often thinks about her and even makes an effort of returning home purposely to check on her. One time when he gets back home, he engages in a conversation with her in which he expresses how he suffered from anxiety and pain. He even informs her that he felt like running away. In return, Phoebe expresses his love for him by comforting him. Notably, this relationship turns out to be everlasting and successful. In a different case, Holden is portrayed as being interested in having a relationship with his oppressive roommate by the name Stradlater. However, Holden is displeased when Stradlater gets involved in an affair with a girl that Holden knows. Stradlater exploits Holden, as it is narrated, by luring him to do his assignments where he even ends up getting critical of how Holden tackles those tasks. He goes to an extent of roughing him up because of this. The relationship between them is never successful due to that hostility between