Salinger And Holden Caulfield

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In The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a troubled teenager who is swinging dangerously between becoming an adult and protecting the innocence of his childhood. Holden’s repressed feelings, extreme depression and cynicism emerge from Salinger’s own reclusive life. There are several similarities between J. D. Salinger and his protagonist Holden. Salinger lead a life of mystery filled with speculation and rumors. Holden is Salinger’s way of expressing his hidden feelings and dealing with his inner demons without publicly announcing them to the world. Salinger secretly projects his repressed feelings from his difficult childhood, gruesome war experiences, and his own personal feelings about the world inside the …show more content…

People pretended to understand Salinger’s life and began to write biographies about him. “In the mid-1980s, Salinger came out of his seclusion for the express purpose of stopping the publication of Hamilton 's biography of him”. Hamilton solely based Salinger’s biography off of various letters written by Salinger that he found at different libraries (Hathcock). Salinger also “sued to block publications, biographies, and unauthorized collections of his short stories, or works too closely inspired by his own” (Teicholz 120). Salinger, young at heart, felt out of place with the people within his age group. He had a nine month relationship with Joyce Maynard who was quite younger than him. This didn’t bother Salinger as he was “in touch with his inner teenager” (Teicholz 121). Holden feels this discomfort as well. He acts immature and several years younger than he is while also trying to display an older persona. He states, “...I act quite young for my age sometimes...Sometimes I act a lot older than I am-I really do-but people never notice it” (Salinger 9). Holden portrays an innocent child struggling with the adult world. He wants to protect children from becoming corrupted by adults. Holden wants to become the “catcher in the rye” who catches children before they fall off the metaphorical cliff into adulthood. This projects Salinger’s id; his wish to protect the innocent. Holden has a fascination with younger people as well; Phoebe, his little sister and Jane Gallagher, who he desperately tries to keep frozen in time and

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