Theme Of Holden Caulfield

In the book, Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield, the main character is a negatively charged person, doesn't want himself or others around him to grow up, and suffers from depression because of his brothers death. This is obviously Holden's way of alienating the entire world and delaying the consequences of facing reality. Alienation is a big theme in Catcher In The Rye, and something that Holden depends on most often. Holden Caufield is a negatively charged character as expressed on the first page of the book before Holden tells his opinion about his childhood.

He’s so desperate to communicate with someone-anyone-that he is reaching out to absolute strangers, oftentimes even considerably older than himself. When Holden was still at Pencey, he was feeling so dejected after fighting with Stradlater that he actually reached out to someone that he had painted a picture of as a poor hygienist, and as a social outcast, because surely ... ... middle of paper ... ...d to mean the world to him. Both his brother's death and parents desertion have evidently deeply impacted him. Holden pretty well lied to himself, claimed the he had no place in society, all to give him plausible reasons to isolate himself. By calling people phonies, which he frequently did, he was in all reality pushing them away before giving himself the chance to even debate getting to know them.

The ghosts of his past torment him repeatedly throughout the story, his child's guardians despise him and his old friends do not understand him. Duncan Schaffer and Lorraine Quarrles represent all that wrong with Charlie's life. Charlie attempts to steam forward and like a anchor they keep him moored in place. I can not truly sympathize with Charlie though there is a sense of empathy within me. I sense that with Lincoln Peters also.

Vladek's experiences during the war caused a drama... ... middle of paper ... ...is especially incapable of trusting people who didn't libe the same life, like his son. He is very cold-hearted and sometimes even unkovinf to Art. All this being caused by Vladek's inability to deal with the pain that he suffered through-out his life, ie. the war, the holocaust, his wife's suicide, and his heart disease. Vladek has a very complex personality that evolved so muh because of the expereinces that he made throught the Holocaust.

Throughout the book, Frank constantly changes the way he feels for his father. There are times when Frank completely despises him and others where he idolises him. At the beginning of the book, Frank explains that Malachy was “the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father,” giving the reader a bad impression of him. As the story moves on, there are several places where you can see that Frank loves his father, despite all the hard times he has put him and his family through. Malachy is constantly out of a job, leaving his family to survive on their own through poverty.

However, Hawthorne shows him to be an evil-minded person who is so consumed with vengeance and hatred that he cannot live when his victim dies. His only purpose in life is to make Dimmesdale’s life miserable; so when the minister dies, Chillingworth has no purpose left so he dies as well. The story of the scarlet letter is extremely relatable in the modern era. People often do not realize that everyone has his/her own story and that people should not jump to conclusions without knowing that story. The kid that is always angry and is always bullied?

In the story Charlie lost his job and is getting rejected for his sudden intelligence. He says “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved.” (Keyes 188-221) He cannot tell anyone about the experiment he went through so everyone thinks that he is a freak. He also now knows how he acted in the past so now he feels ashamed. In the story it says “Now I know what it means when they say “to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I am ashamed.” (Keyes 188-221) He feels bad about how he was before and now he feels worse about himself. So when he becomes mentally challenged again he feels worse about himself then before.

However, when his pride becomes blinding, Brother forces Doodle beyond his limits and is forced to accept the consequences. Though loved by his brother, Doodle becomes an innocent victim of selfishness and pride. The bitter seed of shame that blossoms into the flower of pride strangles discernment and results in absolute inability to accept defeat. Brother was ashamed of Doodle immediately following his birth. “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” (345).

As a result of his views, Holden withdraws from society because he believes society is “broken” and very flawed. Holden’s view of society is developed based on his experiences such as the death of his brother, flunking out of many schools, an unrealistic dream of becoming the catcher and the rye. He becomes very judgmental of others which are his way of feeling better about himself by looking at things cursorily and His approach is to dismiss thinking deeply

Holden was constantly wallowed in self-pity, hatred, and regrets he had no way of moving on from his past. He counted on Allie even when he was no longer there, “Allie don’t let me disappear” (Salinger). His hope would only diminish every time he would fail again or notice another flaw in the world. Even though he had several opportunities to change his life around he treated each one the same as before, and then was disgraced when he only grew more depressed. This is one of the reasons there is so much controversy surrounding this novel on whether schools should read it, as stated by this critic, “some people complained that the novel’s language was crude and obscene” (Moss and Wilson).