Preview

Why Is The Catcher In The Rye Bad

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
483 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is The Catcher In The Rye Bad
The Catcher in The Rye written by J. D. Salinger is about a troubled 16 year old kid, Holden Caulfield. Holden has been a troubled kid, flunking out of various private schools and throw every happiness away. Holden Caulfield has a lack of control in his life and actions.

When Holden was 13, his younger brother, Allie, passed away. Holden was very overwhelmed with emotion, he then since hasn’t been the same. Holden lacks control and acts very impulsively. When he found out Allie died, he punched out all the windows in the garage. Holden says that it was “just for the hell of it” (39). This shows that Holden isn’t the most psychologically most stable person. But, he does say that he can’t explain why he exactly did it. Holden just says, “It
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Phoebe's Mistake
    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Phoebe's Mistake

    The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger is a story about a depressed prep student, Holden. Holden has been kicked out of countless prep schools. He gets kicked out of Pencey before winter break; the only option is to go back home. As he travels home he goes through rounds of alcohol and has trouble with women. Once he reaches home he talks to Phoebe; his younger sister. Phoebe asks Holden what his dream job was; saving kids from losing their innocence. While spending time with his sister, Holden realizes you have to let kids grow up even if they make mistakes along the way.…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does Holden Lose His Innocence
    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does Holden Lose His Innocence

    The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger is about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who struggles to find his identity. Holden wants to be an adult but he also subconsciously wants to stay young and maintain his innocence. Holden shows this when he hires a prostitute but doesn’t have sex with her. Holden’s negative encounter with the prostitute shows that although he tries to act like a tough adult he is still a kid at heart.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Holden Caulfield Mature
    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Holden Caulfield Mature

    The world of childhood is sheltered from the corrupt adult world and maturation is a sometimes difficult pathway between the two. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, is a fictional novel seen through the eyes of sixteen year old Holden Caulfield after he is expelled from Pencey Prep. Holden leaves Pencey two days early to explore New York City before he has to return home. On his excursion, he meets prostitutes, nuns, his old girlfriend, and his sister Phoebe, while traveling around the city contemplating life and his future. Through the varying behaviors of Holden Caulfield, his maturity is shown to be stuck in a limbo between his imminent departure from the childhood world and his fear to move into the world of adults. Holden finds sexual activity intriguing in some situations, but also perverse and immoral. When Holden comes home,…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield Symbolism
    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Holden Caulfield Symbolism

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Holden Caulfield In The Catcher In The Rye
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Holden Caulfield In The Catcher In The Rye

    Holden Caulfield, the novel’s protagonist, is a pivotal character in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is characterized as an innocent, apathetic, naive teen who is seeking knowledge of life and the meaning of becoming an adult. Holden’s struggle with seeing the genuine nature of people is something that acts as a barrier for him throughout the novel. Holden is troubled and burdened throughout the story, which causes him to have a warped view on an array of subjects. Holden passes strict judgement on everyone, as he struggles to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Holden appears to be stunned when he sees how different the life of an adult is comparison to that of children. His views on topics such as, life, his future, and sex. Holden approaches each of these subjects with strict views, and feels dejected when he realizes there are more multiple perspectives to these topics.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Holden Caulfield Phony
    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Holden Caulfield Phony

    The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is a reflection of his own life being shown through a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. Like Salinger in the novel Holden jumps from prep school to prep school not finishing each time, however excels in English classes. Holden’s life in the novel shook the nation with controversy and curiosity. Illustrated in the text it conveys extreme depression, sexual tension, love, and lewd language. Holden attempts to see the “phony” world through a new light, however fails due to the type of person he is, his troubled background, sexual confusion, family issues, and fallacious world we all live in.…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Holden as a Teenager
    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Holden as a Teenager

    Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Holden Character Essay
    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Holden Character Essay

    The first trait that Holden possesses is sensitiveness. Holden is definitely sensitive, and be very emotional at times. The first example that shows that he is sensitive is when he breaks all the windows in his garage, as a result of his Brother Allie's death, ''I broke all the goddam windows just for the hell of it''. Salinger characterizes Holden as sensitive, in order to accord with the novel’s theme that depression can be a quarantined disease. Holden being sensitive contributed to the decision of him writing the composition about Allie, because of how he remembered breaking the windows in the garage, after Allie died. Another example that shows his sensitiveness is when he leaves Mr. Antollini's house as a result of him petting his forehead and waking up ''I was embarrassed as hell.'' Holden’s sensitive state of mind provokes him into acting faster on things, without thinking of it first. This act that happened contributed to the depreciation of his health.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Themes
    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Themes

    J. D. Salinger published Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Later, he wrote several short stories after. The story takes place in New York City in the late 1940s, after WWII. Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye is faced with the problem of growing up in New York. Throughout the book, the theme of growing up is showed. In the story, New York is a society in which there are a lot of phonies. Holden constantly resists the pull of adulthood as it faces him in life. J. D. Salinger develops the theme of growing up through New York and Holden’s resistance to the society.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Adulthood Analysis
    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Adulthood Analysis

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis
    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis

    Holden disconnects himself from reality in order to protect himself from grief. "[He] was only thirteen, and they were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, because [he] broke all the windows in the garage. [He] don't blame them. [He] really don't. [He] slept in the garage the night he died, and [he] broke all the goddam windows with [his] fist, just for the hell of it. [He] even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon [they] had that summer, but [his] hand was already broken and everything by that time, and [he] couldn't do it."(39) It is common for teens to express their anger in…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Censorship In Film In The Catcher In The Rye
    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Censorship In Film In The Catcher In The Rye

    The Catcher in the Rye is a book set in the 1950’s. The time period was a highly racist time which effected the book greatly. The main protagonist is Holden Caulfield who is also the narrator of the novel. Ackley, Stradlater, and Jane Gallagher are a few of Holden’s peers. The trio and the rest of his family & peers affect him deeply. Some people believed that Holden was “his own worst enemy’.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield And The American Dream
    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Holden Caulfield And The American Dream

    He reveals his fondness of Allie which suggests there was a strong connection which is something that Holden doesn’t have in his life anymore. . ‘I remember once, the summer I was around twelve, teeing off and all, and having a hunch that if I turned around all of a sudden, I’d see Allie. So I did, and sure enough, he was sitting on his bike outside the fence.’ The irony of his brother’s death is that the only person Holden had a connection with, passed away leaving him alienated. Through Allies death it also becomes evident that Holden can’t deal with change. His stream of consciousness continues to explain how he reacted to Allies death. “I broke all the windows in the garage.” He confirms his emotional dysfunction to such a vast change and reveals how alienation took over his life. Holden speaks using a puzzled sense of emotive language. “He’s dead now. He got leukaemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You’d have liked him.” He suggest that the reader would have liked Allie and though the rest of the scene he speaks fondly of him, though to talk of his death in such an emotionless way begins to contradict everything he is saying “He’s dead now.” Later during a conversation with his sister Phoebe he reveals that he is in fact isolated from people and the one true person he was close to has died “Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Coming of Age in Catcher in the Rye
    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Coming of Age in Catcher in the Rye

    The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger is a coming of age story. It is a story narrated by the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who is a sixteen year old boy, but has a mind of a ten year old innocent kid. In the beginning he thinks of innocence as important, but later he realizes that growing up cannot be stopped. He wanders around the New York City by himself and gains experience of life that teaches him to become mature. This book is clearly written to show the theme of coming of age because it shows many symbols of coming of age, it shows the changes of young adults in modern life, and it creates an image of Holden growing up.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Theme Analysis
    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Theme Analysis

    J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics