Preview

Examples Of Alcoholism In Catcher In The Rye

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
538 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Alcoholism In Catcher In The Rye
Ageing in a society plagued with animosity is foreboding to say the least, but some individuals dive into new waters and never look back. Salinger created a world for one of his characters that attacked life in every way. Specifically, Holden Caulfield from Catcher In The Rye wills himself to enter a new, fascinating environment. The polar opposite of innocent, Holden stands defiant in his position against his peers. Apparent in many events, Holden defies childish innocence through his abrasive attitude and uncommon ideas. A major theme in the literature spectrum, alcoholism seems to have Holden in its clutches. Although Holden does not try to fight it at all, in fact, Holden embraces it and loves to have a drink, despite being underaged. Many times throughout the novel Holden explains that he likes to go to clubs and drink and dance. One case in particular, Holden visits a club orders a scotch and soda, he goes on to say “- my favorite …show more content…
Just as in many other novels, love, or a form of it, shows itself in the numerous relationships that Holden has with various women in the novel. Holden ‘talks’ or flirts with many girls in the novel. He speaks of Jane a lot, and goes on a date with Sally, and even dances with some girls at a nightclub. In an extreme case, Holden calls a prostitute. Although it does not go as planned when he calls her. Instead, she comes over and he thinks,”Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy”(106). Holden tried to obtain a prostitute in order to have sex and lose even more of his innocence. In a dramatic change of emotion, Holden feels very sad while looking at this prostitute. She is about the same age as him and it makes him feel very depressed because he is looking at someone who has completely lost their innocence and he does not like what he sees. As a result, he becomes very conflicted about what he wants to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    One of the most obvious diagnoses for Holden is that he suffers from depression. Throughout the entire book, he is always talking about the fact that one thing or another is causing him to feel lonely or to feel depressed. A lot of the time, he fails to accomplish even the most basic goals. He emerges as a perpetual defeatist, which is one of the classic signs of clinical depression. The fact that he turns to alcohol to try and make himself feel better is just another possible indicator of depression; many people who suffer from that malady turn to alcohol to try and feel…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Philips revisits Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. This novel results in inspiring him to live his life by its teachings, starting off the same age as the protagonist and ending roughly thirty years of age in the same mind track addressing both J.D. Salinger's novel and Holden to life. Mark Philips ends with a deep passion towards the book and its character Holden Caulfield.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, has a rather pessimistic view of adulthood and characterizes adults as phoney. In the novel, Salinger criticizes teenagers’ obsession of protecting their youth through the use of symbolism, thereby demonstrating that adulthood is inevitable, and fearing it is ultimately self-destructive.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In chapter 14, Holden is seen sitting outside watching the sunrise. Holden describes himself as feeling miserable and depressed. The tone of this chapter is very dark and loathing. Holden then reveals to the reader that he talks to his deceased brother, Allie, when he is feeling depressed. Allie has been dead for three years, yet his death still heavily impacts Holden. Later on in the chapter, Holden gets ready for bed, he states that he, “felt like praying or something. But I couldn’t do it. I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible” (Salinger 99). This quote also adds to the darkness of the chapter, Holden is looking to pray so he can have faith and hope, but cannot bring himself to complete the act. This quote also shows his weary and judgemental view on religion. Holden also smokes a heavy amount of cigarettes in this chapter, he describes the taste of the cigarettes as “lousy”, once again he cannot find an outlet to release his stress…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    He was also sort of a nasty guy. I wasn't too crazy about him, to tell you the truth.” Holden most likely hung out with people he did not like so that if he got kicked out of school he would not miss anyone he would leave behind. Throughout the book Holden also stated many times how he wanted to go out West and live in a cabin in the woods. The details in his fantasy of living in the West were constantly changing since he sometimes wanted to live in a cabin with Sally but other times he wanted to live as a deaf mute showing how he is not able to even commit to an imaginary future. At the end of the book Holden is walking in the street and can barely make it to each side of the road while he thinks about his dead brother Allie. This symbolizes Holden’s life since he only focuses on the present and struggles to make it through day-to-day life since he cannot commit to a future. Holden’s little concern for his future makes it more apparent that he cannot devote himself to a certain life style and even had a hard time maintaining a certain attitude due to the fact that he constantly reassured himself and said things like: “really” or “for…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Phoebe Caulfield Catcher

    • 2282 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye reveals a teenager’s dramatic struggle against death and growing up. The book is composed of stories after the protagonist Holden Caulfield’s expulsion from a private school. He leaves school early to explore New York before returning home, interacting with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an ex-girlfriend and his sister along the way. We characterize Holden as an innocent child that possesses an ideal fantasy of becoming a catcher in the rye, protecting an unsophisticated world of love, passion and justice. It seems Holden, a “guardian” towards childhood and innocence is the hero or “catcher” without any questions. Throughout the entire book, however,…

    • 2282 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden is still trying to get a grip at maturity as he is regardless a rebellious teenager, just as shown though our adolescents today. This kind of behavior and attitude grasps onto most high schoolers as they are trying to grow up faster. Most are missing what’s behind them and aren’t realizing what they have left. “Sometimes I act a lot older than I am--I really do--but people never notice it. People never notice anything” (Salinger 22). Holden has been trying to get away from the life he has, and wants to be grown up for all the freedom they are allowed to have. There comes a point in everyone's life where they just become…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He also details that the events occurring last winter were what inspired him to reach out for help. By doing this, Holden is contrasting the vast majority of the actions he makes throughout his madman experience. One of his main grievances with the people around him are that they are, as he frequently claims, “phony.” To Holden, just about everybody can be called a phony, particularly those his age and above. Of the many people he has opportunities to form relationships with, Holden only appears to care about two people: his deceased brother Allie and his younger sister Phoebe, both of whom are prepubescent children. These relationships exist to emphasize Holden’s lack of ability to let go of the past and develop as a person over the course of the book. He has an unhealthy admiration of their childlike innocence, which prompts him to act as immaturely as possible. Subsequently, he tries to show his maturity by making exceptionally poor choices such as getting drunk and hiring a prostitute. Whenever his actions have consequences, he blames the “phony” world around him instead of himself, which motivates him to alienate himself from others. Salinger’s main goal in characterizing Holden is to show how…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Themes

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He has habits to play around when he is bored. He’ll mess around with whoever is near such as his friends. Every once in awhile, he will reminisce about his past like his family. Holden misses his younger brother after he passed away. After Holden is kicked out of Pencey, he doesn’t want to go home early for Christmas break. He most likely didn’t because he didn’t want to get in trouble and have to be disciplined during the break. He acts as if he is a child being afraid before punishment. When he became intoxicated, he acted as if he had been shot in his side (195). He did so while he walked down the street. Another thing was that he is curious about where the ducks go in the wintertime. He doesn’t know so he asks a couple of cab drivers. Overall, he acts childish whenever he can. Salinger made a great effort on making Holden the way he is.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Holden sneaks into his house to visit with his little sister Phoebe, he demonstrates how sensitive he is. He wants to protect Phoebe and keep her safe. Holden does not usually enjoy talking to people; however, he does enjoy talking to Phoebe. Holden indicates this by saying, talking to her felt “swell for a change…it just felt well” (159). Holden demonstrates his sensitivity when he listens to his younger sister and wants to talk and catch up with her. Another time when Holden is sensitive is while drinking at the Wicker Bar with Luce. A seemingly immature Holden badgers Luce, the more experienced of the two, for details about sexual exploits with an older woman. Holden goes on, however, to complain of his own poor sex life: unless he truly likes a girl, he “can’t get really sexy with her” (191). Although his absolute need for experience drives him, his need for respect and emotional connection with a girl keeps him from taking action. The desire for respect overrules the desire for sex.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden is quite a peculiar kid. He tends to change his mind on a lot of things. However, the one thing he changes his mind about the most is whether he is ready to grow-up or not. Throughout the book he tries to do such adult like things, because he is sick of his usual life style. Then he gets sick of the unusual adult life. He talks to his sister, Phoebe, one night about the poem by Robert Burns, and Holden gets to thinking about innocence. How he wishes he could be the catcher in the rye. Stopping all the kids from losing that sight of innocence. He begins to regret all the adult things he did and wishes he could go back to the way his innocent childhood was.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is introduced to the readers as a troubled young who desperately wants to protect his youthful innocence. Because Holden constantly faces harsh realities of adulthood and world, he is even more compelled to protect innocence. He wants to protect not only his, but also those around him. Holden feels that childhood is something to be saved and kept, instead of learning the truth of adulthood since the adult world is an impure place that corrupt kids and ruin their perfect perception of the world.…

    • 836 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield, a cynical and paradoxical teenager not ready to embrace adulthood goes on a journey to explore the phoniness of the adult world. J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye published in 1951 reflects on Holden as a child as well as an adult. His neglection of adulthood and his blindness on the innocence of youth presents a great challenge in his life. The bulk of the novel displays Holden, a 16 year old teenager who just flunked out of Pencey Prep fleeing to his hometown, New York City in hope of staying at a hotel for a few days before revealing his expulsion to his parents. Throughout his stay, Holden has unusual encounters with past colleagues, his former neighbor, his sister Phoebe, and his old teachers. From these encounters, Holden acquires different perspectives on life and adulthood.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden's Phony

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Holden is choosing to lose his virginity as a way to prove he is grown, mature, and independent, one identity Holden craves but then realizes he actually doesn’t want to pursue with this action because Holden is using his virginity as a way to hold onto his innocence and childhood. Holden is conflicted between these two identities and also craves human interaction which plays a factor in Holden’s decision just to speak with the prostitute. Both of these factors are prominent reoccurring conflicts in Holden’s…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in Rye speaks to core of being an outsider, but beyond the anti-hero, anti-establishment persona that Holden reflects, Salinger wrote a portrait of a boy deeply troubled by the end of simplicity. Past the cynical nature and the reclusion from people, Holden is a little boy saddened by the death of his brother. Holden was never able to get closure over Allie’s death and because of this he has never been able to move on. To remember his brother and a simpler time Holden treasures innocence and has remained a child himself in many ways. Through the uses of metaphorical landscapes, a relatable anti-hero, and the setting of a repressed post-war American society Salinger depicts the journey of a young boy fighting, resisting the transition from childhood to adulthood. Holden Caulfield’s cynicism and reclusion are his defense mechanism, they warn of phony and slobs alike, but leave him lonely. He is both a figure for the youth and old alike, because Holden’s disdain of hypocrisy, longing for innocence, and his need for acceptance transcend age groups, these are human emotions that bother any age group. At the end of the novel, Holden says “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214). There are times when Holden comes off as neurotic, but in this case he meant that you will the way life used to be if you remember it. At the end Holden realizes that Allie’s death and his longing to go back to his childhood were holding him back, keeping him from applying himself. Many readers come away from that last line and feel that there is no happy ending for Holden, but the negative tone of the comment is less of a warning and more of a new being for Holden, meaning that Holden’s dream of being the catcher in the rye can can…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays