catcher in the rye glass menagerie

The Catcher in the Rye and The Glass Menagerie

The person someone becomes is influenced by the losses they have experienced in their life. In Catcher in the Rye the main character Holden Caulfield is devastated by the loss of his younger brother Allie to leukemia. The loss of Allie never leaves Holden’s mind. It changes his perception of the world. In The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield’s husband abandons her and their two children Tom and Laura. For Amanda the only way to deal with the loss is to escape into a dream world. She forces this delusion onto Tom and Laura Loss of anything a loved one, a friend or a cherished possession can affect the way a person feels. Loss can change a person’s reactions or attitude toward something. This may cause the person to change the way they live their life or the decisions they make. Loss leaves an impression on a person.

Holden Caulfield is tormented by Allie’s death. The night Allie died Holden slept in the garage and broke all the windows with his fists. This was the only way Holden could deal with the loss of Allie. Allie becomes the model of the ideal person for Holden. Throughout Catcher in the Rye whenever Holden talks about Allie it’s what a great person he was. He describes Allie as extremely intelligent, someone you would have liked and as someone that never got angry. Everyone Holden meets or sees he compares them to this image of Allie but almost no one meets the standards. As Holden is eating breakfast in a diner he sees two nuns come in and helps them with their suitcases. He thinks nothing of them until he notices that their suitcases seem inexpensive. Holden talks about how he hates it when someone has cheap suitcases and how he can just get to hate someone for having them.

Holden never gets over Allie’s death. It causes him to become restless. He is searching for something to replace the gap in his life that Allie left. He looked up to Allie. Whenever Holden finds something that can replace Allie he discovers flaws about it. Holden feels that if he finds something he is betraying Allie. He never truly finds something to fill the void. When Phoebe asks Holden to name something he likes a lot he can’t think of anything besides Allie. Phoebe says Allie doesn't really count because he’s dead. Holden argues “I can still like him, though, can’t I? Just because somebody’s dea...

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...inessman. She blames her husband for her children’s bad qualities. When Tom stays out late or smokes Amanda says “you got it from you father”.

Holden and Amanda were both traumatized by the loss they experienced. Holden’s view of the world changes because of Allie’s death. In Holden’s mind no one will ever live up to Allie. Holden can’t see good in the world anymore. There is something wrong with everything when matched up against Allie. Even though this is true Holden is on an endless quest to find something that can replace Allie. The loss of Allie causes Holden to feel only something negative can result from change. The loss of her husband throws Amanda into a fantasy world. She will not accept that she should be anything other than the southern lady she was brought up to be, that Laura is peculiar or that Tom is not a budding businessman, and that she herself might be in some ways responsible for the sorrows and flaws of her children. Loss affects people in different ways. It can tear them apart or make them stronger. For both Holden and Amanda loss forces them to struggle with their emotions in an attempt to find ways of dealing with the loss.