Evil and Corruption in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. His view of the world does not change much through the novel. However as the novel continues, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change this.
In the book Holden succeeds in making us think that the world is crazy. Shortly after Holden leaves Pencey Prep, he checks in to the Edmont Hotel in Manhattan which was "full of perverts and morons. There were screwballs all over the place." His situation only worsens from this point on as the more he looks around this world, the more depressing life seems.
Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world which appears immoral and corrupt. Holden's beliefs on the possibility that not everyone has eveil intentions change only once in the book. The scene is that with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone as a pervert.
After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally decides that maybe he wasn't making a "flitty" pass at him. Maybe he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is really the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side. As Holden himself says, "It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out."
The one idea that does change during the novel is Holden's belief that he can change the world. On his date with Sally, Holden reveals his feelings. "Did you ever g...
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..., you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them." In the above passage from the novel, Holden hits the final breakdown. Being "the catcher" becomes obviously foolish. The gold rings are ironically not gold, but really brass-plated iron. The gold rings are symbols of the corrupted world which always "wears" a shiny surface to hide its evil. It is at this point that Holden sees that he can not stop children from growing up and losing their innocence. They will fall if they fall, there is nothing that can be done.
Shortly after this point Holden has his nervous breakdown. His breakdown is due to this realization that the world is incorrupt and filled with evil. He knows now with a certainty that he is powerless to stop both evil and growth.
Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world which appears completely immoral and unscrupulous. The three days that the novel covers place a distressed Holden in the vicinity of Manhattan. The city is decked with decorations and holiday splendor, yet, much to Holden's despair "seldom yields any occasions of peace, charity or even genuine merriment."3. Holden is surrounded by what he views as drunks, perverts, morons and screwballs. These convictions that Holden hold waver very momentarily during one particular scene in the book. The scene is with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone a pervert. After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally concludes that maybe he was not making a "flitty" pass at him. He wonders if he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side to something. However, this event does not constitute a significant change. As Holden himself says, "It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out."4. The sun, of course, is a reference to decency through the common association of light and goodness. His perception of the world remains the same.
Before we can understand why Holden leaves on his journey at all, we must understand his struggle. Holden cannot find a way to succeed. Even Mr. Antolini says, “This fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling” (187). This fall that Holden is heading toward has started with flunking out of school. Holden’s largest failure appears to be his inability to apply himself at school, which makes his life even harder. Also, Mr. Spencer is concerned about his ability to apply himself as he is failing 4 classes and “getting the ax is something he is familiar with” (4). Holden just wants someone to talk to and wants to break his depression by succeeding.
To conclude, Holden try’s desperately on holding on to his innocents. Triggered by the loss of his brother, Holden makes it his mission to protect kids from there inevitable maturity, sealing them from phony’s and. When he realised that he could not achieve the qoel of saving all children from growing up Holden has a nervous breakdown. He dosint understand the proses of life ad he can’t pick to stay a child for ever when in reality growing up is inevitable. ‘’We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.”
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story of Holden Caulfield's growth as a person. Some view Holden as a static character, and say that by the end of the novel he hasn’t changed. I’d say that on the contrary Holden is an extremely dynamic character throughout the story. Holden does change and grow as a character because he lets go of wanting to protect innocence in the world, we see Holden begin to grow into what Erik Erikson believes is the stage of development for adolescents, and he starts to be willing to apply himself.
The one thing that stands in the way of what Holden needs is himself. He continues to cut himself off from everything he had once loved. His negative self will not let him get close to anyone else, while trying to get distant from those he once was close with. Holden never looks to the positive side of anything. He is just stuck in a deep hole and he can’t find a way out. Whenever Holden believes that he has found something that could help him, he himself some how shuts the door to his own happiness.
Mr. Antolini?s theory as to what is wrong with Holden is right on, it?s just too bad he was unable to get through to Holden. Due to the fact that Holden has already given up on himself and is unwilling to apply the valuable advice he has been given. He has lost the substantial ability to find happiness in life and therefore can?t find the energy to motivate himself in anything he does. It?s a tragedy that someone as bright as Holden Caulfield is unable to find the strength within himself to persevere in a world of insanity.
Despite Holden's resistance to change, he starts to change. "Catcher in the Rye," reminds us that changing is not easy to process mentally. Going through the true process of change, it requires us to let go of the past and move on which is hard. The novel represents the hardship of changing. It reminds us how great the value of finding something special and precious is as well as a valid reason although it requires us to let go and move on with our lives. All it requires is to simply let
Holden is by far sensitive and can be overly emotional sometimes. When his younger brother Allie died, Holden dealt with the dreadful event by breaking all the windows in the garage, "just for the hell of it." When he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead, Holden leaves his apartment quickly, even though Holden identifies Mr. Antolini as a trusted mentor. Holden feels guilty about the death of his younger brother because he died so young. This feeling of guilt and the depression may help explain how overly sensitive Holden can be at times. Holden views himself as the "catcher in the rye", saving children and their innocence from going into the adult world that is crowded with "phonies." When he sees all the graffiti that says "fuck you", he becomes very distraught as the graffiti shows that the innocent world of children is already being affected by the vulgarness of the adult world. Holden exploits the "phony" world of adults often, such as when he li...
The negative light that Holden views the world under is a key contribution to his unhappiness. He is unable to see even a glint of sincerity in people’s actions which allows him to experience feelings of severe despondency and dejection. “People never give your message to anybody,” (pg. 166) shows how Holden no longer feels let down by people but instead expects the worst from them instead. He struggles to find genuinity in people’s actions, and in turn feels “lousy and depressed,” by nearly everything. Holden is constantly seen bringing down the adult world. It is shown he has an inner conflict between his adult and child self, leading him to feeling lost and without a place. He is disgusted by the adult world describing it as a place filled with “phonies” but, views adolescence as a source of happiness. He shows a direct fear of change by stating, “The best thing...was that everything always stayed right where it was.” (pg. 135). As Holden is being pushed out of his childhood and into an area where he feels out of place, it is only inevitable that this would be a source of his depression. Both of these internal conflicts add to Holden Caulfield’s
He begins to own up to his mistakes and starts to build stable relationships with his peers. In a conversation with Phoebe Holden mentions that he wants to be a catcher in the rye, and save children from falling off the cliff. Being a catcher in the rye is a metaphor that represents Holden's dream of saving people and leaving a lasting mark on the world. “ I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy”(186). When we enter this point in the book we can really get a feel for how much Holden has matured as he has begun thinking about others and not just focusing on himself. Although Holden has progressed in his track towards maturity he still tends to sway away from maturity. Holden continues to impolitely disagree with others and argue his way to the top in order to achieve what he desires, “Daddy's going to kill you.” Phoebe suggests, then Holden comes right back and states “I don't give a damn if he does” (186). This example shows that Holden still has a fixed mindset on his ideas and doesn't allow for new thoughts to persuade him to change his opinions. This forces us to view him as immature as we do not see a man who is incapable of interchanging ideas with others and therefore unable to interact with his
...one of us faces the struggles of growing up. We can either complain and rant and blame everyone else, or we can stay positive and try our best to rise above the challenges. Holden showed me how we can keep grumbling and keep whining, but that is not going to make the situation better. We should not let our hardships and challenges defeat us, but rather we should conquer our challenges. It is so much better if we stay positive in facing our challenges than if we just complain and whine about our hardships. Holden, despite his bitterness, is a character that has surprisingly inspired me to be more positive in facing my life’s challenges. After reading this novel, I really hope that the ‘Holdens’ of today will realize that being pessimistic and isolated is not cool; I hope they will be able to grow up someday and face their challenges in a more hopeful, positive way;
The origins of Holden’s disillusionment and the reason that it all started is the death of his younger brother which he was very fond of and admired, Allie, three years ago. The death of Allie is very significant in Holden’s mind since it is an event which he remembers quite clearly at multiple occasions during the book. For example, when Holden is writing a descriptive composition for his roommate Stradlater, he decides to write about Allie’s baseball mitt since it is the only thing on his mind. “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was
Which is the kind of world he wants to live in. Holden expresses his desire to preserve the innocence of others when his sister Phoebe tells Holden that he doesn't like anything, and that he has no ambitions of what he wants to be when he is older. Holden then explains that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He says that he imagines little children playing on top of a hill and that his job is to protect children from falling of the hill. This symbolizes catching children from losing their innocence and falling into the adult world. Holden tells Phoebe, “I know it crazy, but that is the only thing I’d like to be” (172). This unrealistic desire is contributes to why Holden is struggling to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Critics of the novel have said Holden would like to suspend time stating, “Holden's desire to protect children shows his desire for suspending time, for inhabiting a space of young people conserved endlessly” (Yahya 3). Not letting go of childhood memories or accepting the harsh realities of adulthood are damaging when transitioning from
First, Holden is mentally unstable because throughout the book he shown himself to be an extremely depressed and sad person on the verge of suicide. For example, "It made me so damn sad when I thought about it, their never going anywhere swanky for lunch or anything. I knew it wasn't too important but it made me sad anyway."(Pg. 114) Sadness comes so easily to Holden that something as joyful as two Nuns collecting money for a good cause that helps people depresses him. He is like a time bomb "tick" "tock" just waiting for the right situation to arise till he has a complete break down. In addition, "I thought probably I'd get pneumonia and die. I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral and all."(Pg. 154) Thinking about death in general is a very hard thing to do for most people but thinking about your own death and funeral is quite bizarre. Holden lacks the emotional skill of controlling his feelings; instead he blows his emotions out of proportion and takes it to the extreme. Finally, " I'm glad the Atomic Bomb was invented. If there's another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will."(Pg.141) Holden starts to think about this horrible idea because of his natural melancholy attitude about his own life. Even to the untrained eye this is an obvious sign of mental illness.
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.