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Character analysis of Holden Caulfield
Character analysis of Holden Caulfield
Holden caulfield character analysis essay
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The narrator of a story is an essential component to a story’s credibility. Who tells the story determines how believable the story is and how much the reader can rely on the narrator to relay the information correctly and without bias. The reliability of the speaker is important to the success of the work and how believable the events of the story are. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is the narrator. This has a huge effect on how the story is told, and how reliable it is. For instance, Holden is an exceptionally opinionated teenager. This causes him to be extremely biased. His opinions on certain things that he mentions throughout the story distort his retelling of past events, and make him a less credible source. The reader can also conclude that Holden is not reliable due to his excessive lying and exaggeration. For example, when Holden …show more content…
Due to past happenings, Holden can no longer be considered mentally stable. The reader can come to this conclusion when Holden explains the events that took place in his past; he says, “…they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage” (Salinger 39). The obstacles that Holden faced in the past cause him to react differently from others and, in some cases, exaggerate more than usual when encountering particular circumstances. For example, when Holden spends the night in the home of one of his previous teachers, he is awakened by his teacher standing near him and admiring him. Holden explains, “I know more damn perverts than anybody you ever met, and they’re always being perverty when I’m around” (Salinger 192). Knowing that Holden has experienced troubles in the past that cause him to be very defensive, the reader cannot be sure whether Holden is being reasonable or over exaggerative. Because of this, Holden cannot be seen as a reliable
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 also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood. Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child.
Holden Caulfield is the narrator of the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. At first introduction, Holden is very judgemental about different characters and seems annoyed about his life. At times, the narrator is rude and has a sarcastic tone towards others when speaking. Holden would be a friend of mine because I enjoy the company of a friend who makes corny jokes.
In the novel Holden is what you would call an unreliable narrator. The definition of unreliable is - a person or thing that cannot be counted on or trusted. You cannot trust Holden if you know that he lies all the time. Since the reader knows that he is a habitual liar you may never know the difference from when he is telling the truth or when he is telling another one of his stories. Holden goes in and out of mental lapses throughout the novel that affected his mind and psychological state greatly.
Holden’s thoughts emphasized to the reader that he is state of mind is very disoriented and so Holden comes off as unsure of his opinions causing contradictions. Critics of the book highly disagree on why Holden comes of as contradicting throughout the novel. Dan Porter suggested Holden acts in a hypocritical manner to avoid taking responsibility for his actions (goodreads). I disagree with the perspective that being hypocritical has a correlation to him avoiding taking responsibility but his mental health is large aspect of him avoiding responsibility. While I will admit that Holden did have actions that cause contradictions and could be even referenced as being hypocritical, Holden doesn’t take responsibility for his actions because of the feelings of depression he experiences that distort his judgement making it difficult for him to efficiently progress throughout the novel to reach his goals. In addition, after being beat up and taken advantage Holden remarked how he feels suicide. “What I really felt like,though,was committing suicide...I was all gory” (104). Holden struggling to maintain good mental health eventually leads to his downfall. His mental state makes it difficult for him to succeed and motivate himself to do well when he sees so much negativity. Holden has emotional response after agreeing to take sister's Christmas money
Throughout the course of the book it is clear that holden isn't adept at assessing situations. Holden’s impulsive personality Causes much of both the physical and emotional pain that is seen in the novel. As Mollie Sandock states “His story is full of failed attempts to communicate” the one seen where you can see this clearly is when holden go to the hotel room and pays for a prostitute. But when Sunny the prostitute comes to his room. He changes his mind and no longer wants her services and refuses to pay her the full amount. This shows that Holden
Holden is a compulsive liar. There's no denying it because it is a constant theme in the story “Catcher in The Rye” . However an argument that can be made is “Is Holden a Reliable or Unreliable Narrator? “. Holden can be a reliable narrator even though he is compulsive liar. This is so because he still tells us the truth, even though he lies too many characters throughout the story. Holden can also be an unreliable narrator.You can say that pretty much all first person narrators will be a little bias usually in their own favor.
In fact, he even boasts that he is “the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (16). This is shown to be a talent he takes advantage of frequently. \In one instance, he lies to a classmate’s mother for no apparent reason other than his own enjoyment. At one point he even remarks with pride, “you should’ve seen her. I had her glued to her seat” (56). For someone who despises fake and dishonest behavior, Holden seems shockingly willing to play with someone else’s mind through lies and deception. He even admits how terrible his lying habit can be, claiming “I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours” (58). This entire exchange seems to contradict with the contempt Holden holds for the dishonesty he sees in many other characters throughout the novel. Holden’s phony behavior continues further. Later on, he displays behavior towards three women at a bar that is in direct conflict with his previous resentment of his headmaster’s superficial judgement of people’s appearance. Holden crudely remarks “I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the blonde one. The other two were strictly from hunger” (70). He berates the headmaster for prejudice against people for their appearance, then turns around and just as bluntly assesses
At first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye simply tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is often characterized as annoying and whiny by the people around him. The anti-hero frequently speaks on impulse, making quick and often inaccurate observations of others. Holden’s immature and overly critical attitude turns off those he encounters, who are displeased with how callow he is. However, what these characters fail to understand is that there is actually a sort of sophistication behind Holden’s reasoning. In fact, throughout the novel, Holden disguises his maturity through outward displays of childishness.
In Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator who announces to the reader he is a liar; in spite of his claim, however, he establishes himself as someone we can trust. Even in the beginning, when Holden is introducing himself, and showing his qualities, he explains that he is, “the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life”(22). This shows to us that instead of lying to the reader in order to make himself seem like a better person, he says the truth, even when it depicts him as a less appealing person. This moment causes us to see him as someone trustworthy. While Holden makes out to be a trustworthy narrator, he also shares some of the past events in his life that cause his reputation to look much worse. Another time
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.
Holden has delusional thoughts. “Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around––nobody big, I mean––except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff [...]” (page 191). Holden’s dream is to keep kids from growing up, to keep them young and innocent. Holden’s views of this stems from his fear of maturity and growing up. The idea of keeping children young is a delusion thought because he, in theory, wants to control whether or not the children grow to become adults or become mature. Holden has a strong dislike towards “phonies” and anything having to do with them. In Holden's mind, as people grow older, they become “phonies”. Holden has shows signs of depression throughout the text, specifically on page fifty-four it states, “I got up and went over and looked out the window. I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.” Holden’s old roommate from another school had died after jumping out a window, and Holden had seen it happen. Holden was triggered into remember the event, causing him to feel lonely and depressed. Depression may be the cause for Holden's addiction to alcohol and smoking as well as his low appetite, low sex-drive, and insomnia. Holden shows many other psychological signs of schizophrenia, but the most predominate are delusional thoughts and
Over the years, members of the literary community have critiqued just about every author they could get their pen on. One of the most popular novels to be critiqued has been J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. In favorable critiques, Holden Caulfield is a good guy stuck in a bad world. He is trying to make the best of his life, though ultimately losing that battle. Whereas he aims at stability and truth, the adult world cannot survive without suspense and lies. It is a testament to his innocence and decent spirit that Holden would place the safety of children as a goal in his lifetime. This serves to only re-iterate the fact that Holden is a sympathetic character, a person of high moral values who is too weak to pick himself up from a difficult situation.
Holden's nervous impulse to protect women seems to have sprung up in his psyche from a very young age. After his brother, Allie, started to experience more severe symptoms of leukemia, Holden notes that his mother seemed "nervous as hell." His own mother's emotional problems (Lombardi) transfer to Holden on a very deep, psychological level because he feels partially responsible for his brother's fate in the first place. Seeing his mother in such a distraught state makes him feel even guiltier. The unintended consequence of this is that Holden grows up with a constant fear that he is going to hurt any woman that he grows close to. This manifests itself many times during his time in New York, with one of the earliest examples being his meeting with Sunny in the hotel room. Holden protects her innocence, but not for any particularly noble reason. He hangs her dress back up and insists that he just wants to talk, but Holden did not do this in an attempt to be some paragon of righteousness. Holden, on a deep, psychological lev...
An unreliable person is someone that other people are not able to count on and trust. That person seems like they know what they are doing and are the best, but in reality, they do not know and other people notice. When other people notice that they are not reliable, they begin to think otherwise of that person and cannot understand the direct situation that they are in. Sometimes that unreliable person contains qualities that are not attractive and could turn people away making them not believe them. In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden the narrator, appears to be an unreliable narrator because of his story that he has told and how he has gone about telling it. In the critique “Holden as the Unreliable Narrator” by Duane Edwards,