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The catcher in the rye, holden relationship with girls
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“All I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told you about. [….] Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 277). Holden Caulfield comes in contact with many females throughout the novel. Some of them are for better, and some cause him to be more depressed. Holden is currently in a mental institution. He is telling a psychoanalyst everything that has happened to him a few weeks before last Christmas. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye the author demonstrates how two characters can help Holden hold his sanity or can make his whole world fall apart through the use of Sally and Phoebe to show that relationships can be difficult and confusing or the exact opposite. Relationships could go either way, they can be trustworthy and positive or they can be confusing and complicated. Sally Hayes’ relationship with Holden would be described as confusing and complicated. Before he sees Sally, he is not really looking forward to the date and does not know why he planned it in the first place. Holden says, “The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I’m crazy. I didn’t even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like …show more content…
I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it” (Salinger 162). However, right when Holden sees her, he sees how drop dead gorgeous she is and all of the sudden is in love with her. Holden is somewhat affectionate
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger's novel set in the 1950s, told the story of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Deciding that he's had enough of Pencey, his fourth school that he'd failed, he goes to Manhattan three days before his scheduled return to home, not wanting to inform his parents that he'd been expelled and sent back. He explores the city, calls up some old friends, gets nicked by the elevator operator, and gradually becomes bitter about the world and people. He then visited his sister Phoebe. After fleeing from the house of Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher, because of mistaking his actions for a homosexual overture, Holden went to Phoebe's school and sent her a note telling her he was leaving home and to meet him at the museum. When Phoebe arrived, Holden angrily refused her request to take her with him and she ignored to speak to him. He then took her across the park to a carousel, bought her a ticket and watched her ride. Holden ended his narrative here, telling the reader that he was not going to tell the story of how he went home and got "sick". He planned to go to a new school in the fall and was cautiously optimistic about his future.
Again, this is one of the few people that Holden likes and doesn’t consider a phony like everyone else. He talks highly of her and he sees himself in her in the way that she alternates between behaving like an adult and behaving like a child, the way he says he also does. It bothered him greatly when she asks him if he “got the ax again,” referring to his expulsion. She starts asking him questions about his future and what he likes (if he likes anything at all) and it forces him to wake up. Everyone has been telling Holden to realize his situation and put more effort into schoolwork and relationships and to start caring. Holden’s reality is very simple: he wants to be the catcher in the rye to protect children’s innocence and stop them from growing up because all adults are phonies. Again and again, being told that that isn’t plausible annoys him. He feels betrayed, when his own sister, someone who he thought would understand him, joins everyone else in telling him to put forth more
Although relationships are typically seen as a joyful and necessary part of life, Holden fears relationships because they
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl.
The Catcher in the Rye has been described, analyzed, rebuffed, and critiqued over the years. Each writer expresses a different point of view: It is a story reflecting teen-ager's talk--thoughts-emotions--actions; or angst. I believe it is an adult's reflection of his own unresolved grief and bereavements. That adult is the author, J.D. Salinger. He uses his main character, Holden, as the voice to vent the psychological misery he will not expose -or admit to.
Holden often resides within his own ideologies which often conflict with that of the society’s. This is prevalent within Holden’s viewpoint as many of the adults being “phonies” and is not far from the truth. Most of the characters seemingly lack depth and are consumed within their own shallowness. Sally is the epitome of society’s shallow nature by outwardly expressing her needs. “‘Look. I have to know. Are you or aren’t you coming over to help me trim the tree Christmas Eve? I have to know’” (Salinger 130). She is too busy worried about her own affairs that Holden’s deteriorating state simply is not even recognizable in her eyes. Her focus is on what he can do for her rather than sympathizing with his issues. People are often this way where they ignore problems that om their solution., Salinger’s viewpoint is a bit cynical towards this as most of the adults have this traits perhaps portraying the loss of empathy from childhood to adulthood. Another overall theme regarding society is the advocation of honesty morally but avoiding uncomfortable situations with lies in practice. Holden often regards this type of behavior has “phony” but regardless finds himself following along as well. “I’m always saying ‘Glad to’ve met you’ to somebody I’m not at all glad I met” (Salinger 87). Small talk,
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a coming-of-age novel set in New York during the 1940’s. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story, is a detached seventeen-year old boy harboring feelings of isolation and disillusionment. He emphasizes a general dislike for society, referring to people as “phonies.” His lack of will to socialize prompts him to find nearly everything depressing. He’s alone most of the time and it’s apparent that he is very reclusive. This often leads him to pondering about his own death and other personal issues that plague him without immediate resolution. Holden possesses a strong deficit of affection – platonic and sexual – that hinders and cripples his views toward people, his attitude, and his ability to progressively solve his problems without inflicting pain on himself. The absence of significant figures in his life revert him to a childlike dependency and initiate his morbid fascination with sexuality. In this novel, Salinger uses Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce to incorporate the hardships of discovering sexual identity and how these events affect adolescents as they try to understand their own sexuality.
that he is trying to hide his true identity. He does not want people to know who he really is or that he was kicked out of his fourth school. Holden is always using fake names and tries speaking in a tone to persuade someone to think a cretin way. He does this when he talks to women. While he is talking to the psychiatrist he explains peoples reactions to his lies like they really believe him, when it is very possible that he is a horrible liar and they are looking at him with a “what are you talking a bout?” expression. Holden often lies to the point where he is lying to him self.
Holden's sensitivity is revealed, throughout the novel, by his actions and attitudes towards sex. The first reference made to sex in the novel comes when Holden refers to his roommate, Stradlater, as a "very sexy bastard" (32). Holden thinks this after Stradlater expresses interest in hearing about Holden's old friend Jane and her experiences with her "booze hound" stepfather, "running around the house naked, with Jane around" (32). Stradlater's lack of sympathy provokes Holden to think of him as a "bastard." While Holden does sympathize with Jane, Stradlater is more interested in the perverse connotations of Jane's past because "Only very sexy stuff interested him" (32). On the other hand, Holden "knew her like a book" and has come to the realization that "you don't have to get too sexy to get to know a girl" (76). Holden also demonstrates his sensitivity in the form of respect for the ...
J.D Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye is about a teen, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the narrative. Holden is full of unique problems and most of the time lost in his own world, that can’t face reality. The psychoanalytic theory arranges a lens of definition when working at Holden Caulfield. Holden is seen as a lonely, rebellious teen who flunked out of an all boys private school, Pencey Prep. Failing school exemplifies how Holden controls his own decisions in the real world. As stubborn Holden is, opening up his persona and experiences to people is very hard for him, “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me…” (Salinger 1). From a Freudian psychoanalytical perspective Holden would seem to keep all his thoughts all bottled up, not speaking, and opening up to people. “The preconscious holds information we’ve stored from past experience or learning. This information can be retrieved from memory and brought into awareness at any time.” (Nevid 469). Holden is one step closer to becoming a better changed person by speaking to his psychiatrist, and there is only way to find out if he did.
Many young people often find themselves struggling to find their own identity and place in society. This search for self worth often leaves these young people feeling lonely and isolated because they are unsure of themselves. Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger's main character in the book The Catcher In the Rye, is young man on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. One contributor to this breakdown, is the loneliness that Holden experiences. His loneliness is apparent through many ways including: his lack of friends, his longing for his dead brother, and the way he attempts to gain acceptance from others.
Holden has a respect for women that he views as unnatural. He feels that his sexual desires should be similar to those of his roommate Stradlater and peer, Luce. Holden shows his confusion by saying, "The thing is, most of the time when you're coming close to doing it with a girl, a girl that isn't ...
In J.D. Salinger’s controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in no hurry to face his parents. Holden travels to New York for several days to cope with his disappointments. As James Lundquist explains, “Holden is so full of despair and loneliness that he is literally nauseated most of the time.” In this novel, Holden, a lonely and confused teenager, attempts to find love and direction in his life. Holden’s story is realistic because many adolescent’s face similar challenges.
...people are slim, and if he does, they usually end up in conversations that become hostile. The reason he fails to make contact with most people is nearly his own fault. He is also finding the wrong things to say to people. If he can't find someone to talk with, it's often as much his fault as that of the people he meets. The only person he has managed to have a decent conversation without lying and becoming hostile is with his sister Phoebe. The reason is that he adores her so much because she adores him. As with Sally Hayes, he does not like the way she acts and believes that she is a "phony" even though he remains civil towards her. In all, Holden Caulfield is faultfinding, choosing to like only those who fall under his careful standards and disliking those who do not. His attitude towards women will change only if he decides to change the way he view them.
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...