Free Catcher in the Rye Essays - Holden Runs, be He Cannot Hide

Catcher in the Rye - Holden Runs, be He Cannot Hide

While reading Catcher in the Rye, one can easily see that Holden has a certain romantic view about his world. Holden thinks in a particular romantic way about almost everyone and everything. This unusual view upon the world actually hinders Holden rather then helps him throughout the story. By his own actions Holden is harming himself, not necessarily physically. Holden has an idealized view of the world, is introspective, and he celebrates the freedom of his spirit.

Holden has a romantic view because he has an idealized outlook of the world. One example is when Holden lies. He knows that this is a vile trait, yet he keeps on doing it. This is a part of Holden's character yet, deep in his heart he loves lying to people. For example, when he was on the train with Mrs. Morrow, he goes way off on a wild story and has difficulty keeping with reality. ` "Rudolf Schmidt," I told her. I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm' (Salinger 54). In the future, this will hinder him because lying can catch you from behind when one least expects it. The way he thinks about people is another part of Holden's idealized view that gets in his way. Most of the time Holden is talking about how everyone is a pretender. This is a bad habit because Holden is pretty much judging the people without even actually having met them most of the time. `Old buddyroos. It was nauseating. The funny part was, they probably met each other once, at some phony party' (Salinger 127). This hinders him a lot because many of the people in this book seem like normal people yet, in Holden's eyes, they seem like the worst of the worst. Many of these people might actually have helped him. Especially in the case of Luce, Holden acted like a baby and this hurt him a lot. The last thing that Holden does, due to his idealized view of the world is quite strange. Holden at some random points in the book, just thinks of a crazy idea.