Not one person can deny the emotional scarring alienation causes. For Holden Caulfield from the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, alienation can be expressed through the song “Lonely” by Henry Rollins. Although alienation causes Holden to be lonely, he mentally cannot find the strength to break free. Holden goes to great lengths to avoid creating meaningful relationships with others, preferring to alienate himself and be left alone with his thoughts and memories. A representation of this in the form of song lyrics from Holden’s theme song go: “I get up, walk out the door, I’m better off alone.” (L. 29) Even though Holden is surrounded by people, such as his roommates at school, some teachers and his sister, he would rather avoid …show more content…
Holden refers to everyone around him as ‘people’, exclaiming that he is disparate compared to the surrounding world. Always wondering about seemingly pointless things, such as where the ducks go, Holden finds it difficult to understand that the “people never notice anything… (2).” Holden blames those around him for not noticing the hardships he is going through, resulting in him setting himself apart from the ‘people’ in order to feel better about his insecurities and low self-esteem. This creates an image of Holden believing himself to be superior to those around him, thinking that while he knows the problems that plague the world, the “people never believe [him] (5).” This further alienates Holden from those he’s close to as he feels like he cannot open up to anyone about what he is going through, forcing him to deal with his emotional hardships alone. Classifying those around him as uncaring further alienated Holden from society, as well as his blatant refusal to partake in conversations with anyone. While some people may be talking about how “...they’re crazy about cars…(17), Holden cannot even agree with something so trivial, explaining that “...[he doesn’t] even like old cars (17).” Even if he didn’t want to participate in the conversation, there was no need for such adamant denial over something so trivial. Once again, Holden’s fear of connecting with someone forces him to be alienated from the ‘people’ around him. By referring to those around him as ‘people’ and excluding himself from the majority, Holden has become alienated from the world that he thinks hates him. Despite the fact that Holden cannot stand to interact with the ‘people’ around him, he does not want to connect with someone, so he is not as lonely. The lyrics that aid in signifying this idea go “Feel the dark and cold alone it burns me…”
Holden Caulfield, created by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye, uses alienation to shape his personality. Holden isolates himself from everything he possibly could to try to find his purpose in life and how he can protect childhood innocence whilst staying in the midst of childhood himself. Alienation is important in the novel as is the basis of Holden’s whole life and what moulds him to be the person he is as his life is barely influenced by the role of others. Holden has constantly pushed everyone in his life away and by the end of the novel he realises "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." (pg. 192) This shows that he has finally un-isolated himself and is ready to grow up and face his life.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a popular novel that was originally published in the 1950’s. In the book, Salinger explores various themes through the main character Holden and his interactions with others. Some of these themes include, alienation, loss and betrayal. Holden constantly feels betrayed throughout the novel by several people, including his roommate, teacher, and sister.
Since Holden was isolated from his family, in order to not get hurt again he tries to find hypocrisy in people to stop himself from trusting others. Holden feels isolated after being sent to a boarding school that “was full of phonies” by his parents (Salinger 90). Salinger’s message to the audience with this quote is that when
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
Holden’s apparent desire to be separated from the majority of his family and friends appears to have been triggered by the death of his younger brother Allie. From Allie’s there has been a downward spiral in Holden’s relationships, as he begins to avoid contact with others and isolate himself more. The reason I believe this is because we can see how immense his anger is after Allie’s death, ‘I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist’. The death of Allie has become like an awakening to Holden, and has alerted him how precious childhood innocence is, when Holden comes to this realisation he convinces himself to do everything within his power to protect the innocence of himself and those around him, to protect them from what he sees as a false adult world. Although Holden clearly fails to protect himself, as he falls into all sorts of situations which hardly boasts of innocence and virt... ...
He's so used to the idea of being alone that it becomes what he wants. Holden is so petrified of losing the people he is closest to, so he decides to not be close with anyone. He is afraid of the same repercussions from Allie. He would rather keep to himself than risk contentment, rationality, and stability. He for so many days after his removal from Pencey would by himself go to bars alone and try to drink away his pain. “I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (Salinger 198). It’s during this time that Holden is falling down a dark, bottomless pit of depression and loneliness. It eventually almost became the death of him when he had isolated himself so much. He became sick, depressed, and full of anxiety. His decision to distance himself weakened him beyond his belief. “I still had that headache. It was even worse. And I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (Salinger 252). His depression was starting to get the best of him and all he needed was to be comforted by someone other than
Since Holden relies on his isolation to sustain his detachment from the world and to keep intact a level of self-protection, he frequently sabotages his own efforts to end his seclusion. When Mr. Spencer explains that “life is a game that one plays according to rules” Holden reveals that he feels imprisoned on the “other side of life” where there are no “hot-shots”. Here, Mr. Spencer is lecturing Holden on his failed attempts at schooling and illuminating key aspects of Holden’s character. After hearing this advice from Mr. Spencer, Holden immediately goes on the defensive and internalizes his thoughts of not belonging in this world. This event shows Holden’s failed attempts at trying to find his way in this “phony” world that he feels is against him and leaves him feeling alone and victimized.
Holden is intelligent and sensitive, but his thoughts and feelings are full of cynicism and negativity. He sounds bored and tired with almost everybody and everything. Holden constantly focuses on the hypocrisy and social rules of the world around him, and judges them to be oppressive and phony. Holden uses his cynicism and negativity to distance himself from almost everyone. However, Holden has good memories and thoughts about his younger sister, Phoebe, and of his younger brother Allie, who died a couple of years ago.
Throughout the novel, Holden leaves hints insinuating that he is distancing himself from people and society through his actions and decisions. Holden shows his hate towards the adult world by mentioning “phoniness” throughout the book, insinuating that he will never be like this, even though it’s impossible. His constant failing at school evidences that he isn’t planning to have a common future by having a job like most people would. It was evidently explained that Holden doesn’t fit in because he doesn’t want to be part of humans’ corrupted society. Regardless of how one feels about society, it is evident that its flaws made a teenager retract from accepting humans’ adult world, and instead negated to be a part of it.
“Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to man.” (Thomas Carlyle). In the story Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, this coming of age book tells of the teen troubles experienced by the main character Holden Caulfield. After Holden gets expelled from his school Pencey Prep, Holden leaves school a couple days early to explore New York City. In his travels he experiences isolation from friends at school, feeling disconnected from his family, as he tries understand these periods angst he finds some peace.
To Holden, everyone is either corny of phony. He uses these terms to describe what a person is if they do not act naturally and follow other people?s manners and grace. Holden dislikes phonies and thinks of them as people who try to be something they are not. He loathes people who showed off because it seems unnatural every time they do not act like themselves. Holden does not allow himself to have friendship because of his dull attitude. In the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Holden is lonely when he separates himself from the rest of the Pencey students by watching the football game from Thomsen Hill and not the grand stands. Holden is not a very sociable person partly because he finds himself better than many others. He dislikes his roommate because of his generic leather luggage. His next door roommate Ackley does not seem to want a friendship with him either. Holden finds Ackely?s zit crusted face ridiculous and doesn?t want him in his room at first. This shows the reader that Holden is a lonely person because he chooses to be lonely and does not want anything to do with people who do not fit into his perception of normal.
Everybody'd think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they'd leave me alone.” These quotes establishes to the readers Holden as a bitter character who thinks he is the only good guy stuck in a bad, fake world.... ... middle of paper ... ... After reading about Holden, I am inspired to be the opposite of him.
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
Throughout the novel Holden seems to be excluded from any group. He feels alienated from the rest of society, but I believe that Holden stays bitter on purpose. He keeps a cynical, sarcastic outlook on life so as to escape his true feelings. This is not uncommon for people who have trouble accepting their problems. 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. (Pg 125) “… I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie of course…” His bitterness is a shield against his reality, a reality he doesn’t like at all. Yet at the same time Holden really wants to communicate with people. (Pg 66) “ I damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz…” He is torn between the two ways to act and cannot reach conclusio...
He complains about his school, saying that it is just like any other school and uses language that makes him sound very obnoxious. Holden seems to focus on girls quite a bit, just like any other teenage boy. He seems to focus on one girl in particular, a girl named Jane. We soon learn that Holden’s personality is not your average personality. Holden does seem to have some friends but he does not fall into many peer groups with the type of personality he has. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. For this reason, he seems to play around a lot in the wrong situations. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. Holden’s resistance to emerging adulthood is the cause of many of the problems he is faced with during the