Essay About J.D. Salinger And Beginning Of The Book Holden

The Catcher in the Rye – Essay – Adrian Heatley
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The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old student living in New York, born to a family of three siblings and wealthy parents. At first, it may seem that Holden is another stereotypical teenager with a bad attitude, but throughout the book more and more worrying symptoms of a real mental disorder make light of the fact that Holden is not the rich snob he is so quickly portrayed to be. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden does not become a character with a progressive story and a character arc marked by his journey to “get better”. He becomes a hopeless one. His story continuously displays the sadness and harshness he sees in the world around him; it shows the despair he cannot erase from his mind. At the core of Salinger’s novel is not the journey that the audience would like to see, but the one that is the realest, the one that the audience knows all too well.

In the beginning of the book Holden starts out narrating as if he were telling a story to somebody. He quickly brushes through the beginning of his life, saying that he “doesn’t feel like going through it” (Salinger 184). He comments on how he also is a non-stop liar, and through this we first notice two main things about Holden: his problem with holding everything in and his pathological lying. But Salinger does not immediately and unwittingly share out the real situation Holden is in. The audience, at first, is led to believe Holden is just another troubled teen. After Holden mentions how he has gotten kicked out of every school he’s been to, the audience discovers that Holden has now been kicked out of the school he has most recently attended, Pencey. Holden also talks about his obsession with “phonies” — the fake people around the world, which Holden cannot seem to live without seeing or meeting. Salinger is purposely presenting a surface image of him for the reader to slowly figure out.

Through the characters Holden interacts with, the audience can see small glimpses of his attitude towards life and others. He talks about his childhood and how happy he was before his older brother Allie died. Holden’s childhood and childhood in general becomes a theme in the book. Holden later comments on his younger sister Phoebe, saying that “She was laying there asleep… You take adults, they look lousy when they’re asleep, but kids don’t. Kids look all right. They can even spit all over the pillow and they still look all right” (Salinger 206-207). To him, there is something about children that the rest of the world is lacking. It is innocence, youth, a carefree stance on the world — all things Holden does not have anymore. He explores his city, meets many new people, but nothing compares to him like the presence of children. Salinger has purposely shown Holden’s love for kids to create the contrast between what his life is like now, versus what he wants it to be. Holden’s sister Phoebe illustrates this perfectly: she says, “You don’t like anything that’s happening… You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t” (Salinger 220). It is true. Holden continuously does not find anything right with the world. He is not getting better throughout the book. Instead, he finds himself sad, alone, and hateful. Once Phoebe says that she knows this, Holden realizes the gravity of the problems he is having.

Towards the end of the book, all Holden can talk about is his hatred and dislike
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“The Catcher in the Rye” EssaysForStudent.com. 10 2017. 2017. 10 2017 < "The Catcher in the Rye." EssaysForStudent.com. EssaysForStudent.com, 10 2017. Web. 10 2017. < "The Catcher in the Rye." EssaysForStudent.com. 10, 2017. Accessed 10, 2017. Essay Preview By: Adrian Heatley Submitted: October 22, 2017 Essay Length: 1,015 Words / 5 Pages Paper type: Essay Views: 335 Report this essay Tweet Related Essays The Catcher in the Rye "I swear to God I'm crazy. I admit it." It is very easy to automatically assume that Holden Caulfield is crazy. It's even a logical 3,592 Words  |  15 Pages Social and Emotional Collapse in Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye Social and emotional collapse in Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye Several characters in both Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Salinger’s 718 Words  |  3 Pages The Catcher in the Rye THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about 2,202 Words  |  9 Pages Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfied is a young man who attends Pencey prep school in Agererstown, Pennsylvania. Holden failed four schools including Pencey. Therefore he sets off on 630 Words  |  3 Pages Manic-Depressive Behavior Exhibited in the Catcher in the Rye Manic-Depressive Behavior Exhibited in The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Cawfield a New York City teenager 688 Words  |  3 Pages Similar Topics Symbolism Catcher Rye Catcher Rye Holden Analysis Get Access to 89,000+ Essays and Term Papers Join 209,000+ Other Students High Quality Essays and Documents Sign up © 2008–2020 EssaysForStudent.comFree Essays, Book Reports, Term Papers and Research Papers Essays Sign up Sign in Contact us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Service Facebook Twitter