wake up feeling like a brick is on my chest. My ribcage is bandaged like a mummy and a sickbay gown hangs loosely on my scrawny shoulders. I look like a vampire… And not the kind from twilight that girls swoon for. I’m talking about real vampires. Pale, bony and sickly. The doctors say I’m lucky to have escaped with a shot right to my stomach. A few inches up and I would’ve died with a hole in my chest. A few inches down and I would’ve been singing soprano in the local boys choir. On my hospital bed
Holden holds a very cynical appeal to life “. . . 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.” (Salinger 22.83 pdf). This quote is tells you that Holden feels that child innocence is his responsibility to maintain, which isn’t a healthy
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
Does one really know the definition of psychological instability? Perhaps it has an existence at the mental institutional treatment sanitarium here in southern California. The patient of evaluation, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old Caucasian male, weighs approximately 120lbs with a skinny, lanky stature and is 6 feet and 2.5 inches tall. Caulfield has crew-cut hair that is graying on the right side. The patient was an occasional drinker and smoker but has now cut cold turkey due to being institutionalized
Holden thinks that everyone is phony and that no one can be as innocent as Allie was. In Holden’s mind, Allie was perfection to the tee: But it wasn't just that he was the mos... ... middle of paper ... ...o have hallucinations and become sort of crazy. While walking along Fifth Avenue in New York City, Holden starts to have delusions. These delusions serve as the main sign of Holden’s declining sociological standing. Proceeding Allie’s death, Holden changes his personality, social life, educational
people he was surrounded with rather than his studies, and couldn't apply or commit himself to bettering his education. Holden also had a hard time being committed to girls, he would either lose interest or find a reason not to like her. “I wasn’t too crazy about her, but I’d known her for years” (Salinger
revisit the same lagoon. Holden’s carelessness about life displays his overall difficulty taking position among the norm. Holden states “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody
Levels of Meaning in The Catcher in the Rye Protected by a cocoon of naiveté, Holden Caulfield, the principal character in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, therapeutically relates his lonely 24 hour stay in downtown New York city, experiencing the "phony" adult world while dealing with the death of his innocent younger brother. Through this well-developed teenage character, JD Salinger, uses simple language and dialogue to outline many of the complex underlying problems haunting adolescents
another couple being intimate, he thinks: “I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw”(34). He decides he’s in need of a similar experience and attempts to convince a girl to meet up with him. Yet, when she leaves an opportunity
The Catcher In The Rye In a novel, the theme is the insight of real life. J.D. Salinger’s initiation novel, The Catcher In The Rye, describes the adventures of 16-year old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and first person narrator, who refuses to grow up and enter manhood. The most important theme developed by Salinger is Holden’s problem of dealing with change; he has trouble dealing with death, he refuses to accept children’s loss of innocence as a necessary step in the growing-up process,
's desk and read the whole notebook. It didn't take me long, and I can read that kind of stuff, some kid's notebook, Phoebe's or anybody's, all day and all night long. Kids notebooks kill me” (208-209). Again, Holden finds it enjoyable to read the crazy thought process and carefree nature of kids. His sister, Phoebe, writes anything that comes to mind and to him that’s a real person. This quote emphasizes Holden’s frustration of the adult world, “phony” people who don’t act true to their nature. Thus
represents Holden's dream of saving people and leaving a lasting mark on the world. “ I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy”(186). When we enter this point in the book we can really get a feel for how much Holden has matured as he has begun thinking about others and not just focusing on himself. Although Holden has progressed in his track
sensitivity towards preserving the beauty and innocence of children is further evident in chapter twenty five, in the incident where he visits Phoebe's school and finds swear words chalked on multiple walls around the school. “It drove me damn near crazy,” says Holden as he sees the words on the walls, and worries what the little innocent minds would think they mean after reading them. He was so infuriated that he “I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it” (Salinger). As James Bryan rightly puts
People deal with overwhelming and frightening situations differently. Some people might immediately begin searching for a solution while others may use delusions as a way of coping and avoiding the problem completely. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden struggles to accept the adult world and all of its flaws and instead, creates delusions to escape the impeding issue. The author shows that denial and rejection are a part of human nature that are utilized as protection against whatever
The Etymology and Symbolism of Characters' Names in Catcher in the Rye Catcher in the Rye's pallid cover, adorned only with seven multicolored bands in its upper-left corner, is not what one would call eye-catching. Its reverse side lacks criticisms or reviews of any sort; in fact, it is bare of anything except a copyright date. Human beings are advised not to judge books by their covers, rather that they should look further than the obvious and try to apprehend the implied meaning. The
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 everyone if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” (163 Salinger) Holden’s quote explains
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 - I mean if they're running and they do not look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.” (Salinger. 93) this is a metaphor
This is very similar to the ‘Catcher in the Rye´ scenario, Holden’s dream job. In this scenario, Holden feels he has to keep the children in the rye, (their innocence), and stop them from falling of the cliff, (into adulthood) “.. . . 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—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d
The Catcher in the Rye Whether or not if this book is good or not you won’t find out till you read this essay. The Catcher and the Rye is just about a 17-year-old guy named Holden which is our main character talk about a crazy adventure/story on what happened to him a year ago on why he left everything he had and moved to California. It all starts out at his school Pencey high but he couldn’t just leave he had to say his goodbyes. As a person/character, Holden is Immature, dishonest, and depressed
uses verbal irony that makes him seem phonier. When he meets up with Luce at the bar, he engages in a conversation about women. Holden, who has not had sex, exclaims: “I regard [sex] as a physical and spiritual experience…it depends on who the hell I’m doing it with” (162). The humor behind Holden’s phoniness is apparent throughout the novel, as he constantly reminds the reader of his hypocritical attitude. With reminders to the reader that he is a “tough guy”, Holden is adding to his ironic idea