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Holden Caulfield's Insanity In Catcher In The Rye

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Holden Caulfield's Insanity In Catcher In The Rye
Whether it be the bards that soaked up the noise and appeased the doldrums of ancient life, or the juggernauts and giants whose etchings are in cave clay walls, there has been a myriad of means in which humans convey quests and narratives. Although, these mediums may drastically there are countless fundamental traits that withstand in the dynamic realm of literature. J.D Salinger’s realistic fiction novel Catcher in the Rye follows the titular character Holden Caulfield and his inevitable fall from sanity. Holden is an adolescent who was recently kicked out of Pencey Prep, an elite private school, as a result of his inability to apply himself. Instead of going back home on the wealthiest side of New York City, he explores the underbelly of …show more content…
When Holden describes Jane as having her checkers in the back row, he is projecting the Madonna-Whore complex onto her because,it represents her virginity, by employing this mindset he is preserving the “pure” image of Jane that Stradlater tainted. In addition, Holden utilizes this defense mechanism to employ a thinly-veiled perspective of childhood by avoiding any overtly sexual descriptions of Jane, something Straddler and his other peers obviously engage in.The barriers towards sexuality in Catcher In The Rye deviates from the antiquated quest narrative,because traditionally sex is glorified,but holden does everything in his mean to either purify or avoid it .In his article, “Kings In The Backrow”, Strauch and Salinger compares Holden to another iconic literary character, Huckleberry Finn, which shows the idea of the restriction of sexual thoughts: “The Catcher suffers in comparison with Huck Finn. If Holden displays a superiority over Huck in certain traits of character, his neurotic psychology, intensified by sexual conflicts from which Huck was free and aggravated by a vulgar, dehumanized society, leads the boy to the psychoanalytical couch in a thoroughly pessimistic novel, whereas Huck Finn ends on a resolute note of

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