"The Catcher in the Rye" opens with Holden Caulfield at Pency Prep, his high school, where he has just been kicked out for failing almost all of his classes. Holden, as a lost and frustrated teen, goes to his room for his last night before planning to run away from Pency Prep for some "alone time" before telling his parent he was kicked out of another school.…
When someone is young, they tend to have innocence about them. As children grow up, they no longer possess this natural innocence. Exposure to all of the hatred in the world causes this loss. Holden Caulfield realizes this simple fact, as he himself grows up, and has a difficult time with the change. He experiences problems with communication as well as his school work. A common theme used throughout The Catcher in the Rye has to do with contradictions Holden makes. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, first person point of view is used to highlight contradictions Holden makes throughout the novel.…
Holden loses his innocence when his brother, Allie, dies. Allie is one of the only people Holden cared about, and he struggles with the idea of his beloved brother being touched by the angel of death. He always talks about how Allie was one of the nicest people he has ever met and his mind won’t let him get over it: "But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He…
When he is at the carousal with Phoebe, he says, “if they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (211). What Holden means by this, is that you cannot stop people from growing up. The only way to stop aging and stay a child forever is death. Holden was so caught up with Allie’s death because Allie no longer is growing up, and he does not have to face the hardships of being an adult. Allie does not have to live in a society “surrounded by phonies” (13). Holden finally comes to terms with the fact that he must grow up and move…
In The Catcher in The Rye, by J.D, the main character, Holden, can be seen as a troubled teenager growing up in a less than perfect society. Throughout the novel Holden struggles with the fact that many young and innocent kids will grow up and see the world from a different perspective. He naturally becomes worried for all future generations who will one day grow, as he did, and loose their innocence. The fixation of youth and innocence can be seen in the title of the book, as well as throughout the novel.…
Similar observations are made by academic writer and author Sarah Graham in her book entitled Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, Graham addresses a variety of reading techniques, themes, and comparisons/contrasts in regards to Salinger’s most popular novel, but she specifically addresses the main theme of Holden’s attempt to escape the phony 1950’s materialistic focused society surrounding him. Graham begins her take on this theme of escaping society with a chapter on Holden’s rebellion: “Developing the theme of rebellion, Holden’s visit to Mr. Spencer confirms that he is opposed to the conventional ideas that school and society encourage in order to promote stability” (34). During this visit to Mr. Spencer’s house that Graham…
Holden vainly seeks for innocence in society only developing anger and depression as a result. Holden acts disturbingly at the thought of Jane, his childhood friend, having a casual encounter with his room…
At the book’s beginning, Holden Caulfield is characterized as jaded from his awful childhood experiences and cynical, with a disdain for all adults and their “phoniness”. With a propensity for exasperating nearly everyone he comes into contact with, Holden is alienated from society. Yet, as the novel progresses, Holden is spiraling downward. He is depressed and all attempts at making a solid connection are repudiated. Contemplating suicide and searching for a way to protect children from reaching adulthood, Holden is quite disconnected from reality. When he takes his sister Phoebe to a carousel, Holden realizes that he cannot save children from maturing. He understands that falling and getting hurt is part of growing up. Sexuality, cursing and other darker aspects of adulthood will be seen by children, as they are part of developing. Poor childhood experiences and alienation hardened Holden’s views on aging. However, once he realizes that maturing is not always a pleasant experience, Holden sees that his efforts in protecting children from adulthood were futile and he becomes temporarily happy before having a mental breakdown. Through his negative experiences and epiphany on adulthood, Holden attains an understanding of maturity and is saved from self…
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.…
Everyone is born innocent, but inevitably for one reason or another, people lose it. Childhood is when this change starts to take place. To Holden, there are two types of people, people who are innocent and and phonies, who have lost their innocence. I believe Allie had the characteristics of both sides. He competed in sports, had a wide variety of friends, and was also sensitive enough to write poems on his baseball glove. Holden's friend, Jane is sensitive like Allie. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, such as her alcoholic father, her innocence is being stolen from her. Holden knows this and hopes Jane can hold on to her innocence even in the hostile environment she lives in. "Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?"(P.42) This is Holden's way of asking if she has held on to her innocence. Holden's sister Phoebe is falling into phoniness. The culprit in this case is the media. It is robbing her of her childhood and thrusting her into the life of an adult. This is shown when she begins to obsess over movie stars.…
Imagine what it feels like to be a teenager. Is a teenager considerate and open minded? The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger talks about a teenager named Holden Caulfield who tells his story about a school named Pency Prep in Pennsylvania, away from his sister and parents. Throughout most of this book, Holden explains his inner thoughts regarding everyone he knows, and most of them are judgmental. Holden is considered to be a typical American teenager in this novel. First of all, teenagers like to express their thoughts. In Sylvia Plath’s article “Sylvia Plath at Seventeen”, she begins saying,“As of today I have decided to keep a diary again―just a place where I can write my thoughts and opinions when I have a moment. Somehow I…
The genuine joy Holden gets from watching Phoebe is a striking image of his fantasies of innocence and his collapsing psyche. For a moment Holden sees the joy that he envisions all the children of his rye field are like. Within Phoebe’s happiness Holden is transfixed and distraught, because the sudden realization that he is transitioning to a world he does not feel equipped for triggers the end of his ambivalence. As the carousel spins so does Holden’s reality, he loses sense of even further sense of himself. The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, but it is unique in how Holden not only resists growing up, but also he ends the novel more unstable and lost than he started off as. A quest or journey is supposed to lead to a literal or metaphorical…
Themes in stories can be developed through many different means. It can be openly stated or just simply implied. Throughout history symbolism has been used to develop stories. Even in the bible there are multiple symbols that can be found. J.D. Salinger uses symbols to help readers understand the overall message and theme of his book The Catcher in the Rye. From Holden’s red hunting hat to Allie’s baseball mitt, symbols are constantly being thrown into the story. One other symbol that I think is highly significant is the ducks in Central Park.…
Reality” is shown when Holden has to move past the death of his younger brother, Allie. Holden really loved Allie. Holden knows his brother is long gone, but he makes no attempt to get over Allie’s death. For example, when Holden gets “depressed”, he tells Allie to get his bike and “meet [Holden] in front of Bobby’s house” and to “Hurry up”(Salinger 110). This clearly shows that Holden is not over Allie’s death. Holden still pretends that his brother is alive and creates fake scenarios to continue his fantasy of his brother still being alive. Holden is choosing to cling onto the past, rather than let it go. When Holden later encounters his little sister Phoebe, she quickly snaps him back to reality by reminding that “Allie’s dead” and adds that “If somebody’s dead and every, and in Heaven, then it isn’t really-” (Salinger 189). Phoebe wants Holden to move past the death of Allie. She reminds Holden that Allie gone, that he needs to let go of Allie. Phoebe wants Holden to get past the grieving process and move onto the road of healing. Phoebe helps Holden realize that he now has to move forward. After a period of eternal conflict, Holden finally accepts the truth. His brother is dead. The only way to get past it is to move forward. Holden shows that he finally accepts that his brother is dead by concluding the book with , “God, I wish you could’ve been there”(Salinger 234). The “you” Holden is referring to is his brother. Holden…
Although Holden values intelligence in women, Holden often allows physical appearances cloud his judgment. Most people suppose like Holden does, and that is if someone is attractive, he/she will likely be chosen over a person who is not as attractive. Holden is a sixteen-year-old teen, who is experiencing rapid hormonal development. This means that the better-looking the girl, the more interest he will have in her, even if she is dull-witted. If people could see inner beauty, they would not worry about outer beauty. Since humans live in a physical world, they go on appearance. Inner beauty is reflected on outer beauty, creating a person an all-around beautiful being. Also, sometimes, inner beauty is not reflected on outer beauty, making…