Analysis Of ' I Walk A Lonely Road '

Holden is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

Recorded on April 2, 1956, Johnny Cash’s first hit, “I Walk the Line,” features lyrics in which Cash wrote to explain his devotion to his first wife, Vivian Liberto. At least, that was the original intent. Vivian later divorced Cash due to his use of drugs and affairs he had with other women. With the separation, and the lack of faithfulness to both his wife and to the lyrics of this tune, the lyrics obviously do not hold up in Johnny’s case, however the song still serves to explain one’s unwavering love for another (Turner).

He is afraid of his adulthood, and has no one to discuss the matter. He reaches out to people, but pushes them away. For example, Sally Hayes is a friend of Holden’s whom Holden takes out on a date. Holden purposes the idea of running away to an area where he doesn’t have to grow up. Sally refuses and tries to talk some sense into Holden, but Holden doesn’t listen because what she is saying scares him. He is scared because she is ready to taking on the next step in her life, but he is not. Holden’s time in New York is a constant cycle of this type of interaction. He calls many people and tries to talk to them but there are some that he can not call, like Jane Gallagher, or Phoebe his younger sister. Holden does not call them because they are symbols of innocents and his childhood. He is so afraid of his future, that he so desperately holds onto his

59) Holden's failure to find someone to call is when his isolation comes into view, and earlier in the novel, he admits to wanting to commit suicide because of how lonesome he is. "I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead." (pg. 48) Not only does Holden not have friends, but his own parents do not have a good relationship with him. In chapter seven, Holden talks about his mother buying him hockey skates instead of racing skates. "She bought me the wrong kind of skates-I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey-but it made me sad anyway." (pg. 52) Holden's present from his mother symbolzes she does not even know her own chld well enough to know his interests. Besides his absense of friends and distant relationship with his parents, Holden's biggest sense of lonliness comes from the death of his younger brother, Allie.

”(Salinger, 145-146). This scene of the novel shows Holden’s need to leave and find a new start yet, these dreams end up crashing due to the fact that he is living in a fantasy. As the lyrics of the song say ”but I go nowhere” since Holden is running away about he can't hide forever. Another example, would be when Holden finds out that he is being kicked out of Pencey, so he decides to run away since and his parents aren’t going to know until a week has

Much of Holden’s inner turmoil comes from the lack of closure he had from his brother’s death. Regarding Allie, we can see that he struggles a lot with death and depression in general and we are shown this multiple times throughout the book for example in chapter one he describes himself as "wanting to disappear", introducing the reader to a first glimpse of Holden's frustration, saying, "I don’t even know what I was running for- I guess I felt like it. After I got across the road, I felt like I was sort of disappearing. It was that kind of crazy afternoon, terrifically cold and no sun out or anything…" This quote is important to the theme of unresolved grief because it reveals the fragility of Holden’s mental state. Salinger often uses second-person narration that addresses in the novel to show us that Holden is trying to disconnect from his problems and emotions by addressing the reader, proving that Holden has fallen negatively to the impacts of unresolved grief This also helps to make him feel less lonely and alienated. The personification of the "crazy afternoon" is a subtle nod to Holden’s damaging mental state about the effects of Allie's death. The windows are mentioned often and symbolize a barrier between himself and the people and world around him. Salinger was competently able to address the theme of unresolved grief, creating a novel that is untouched by any other in terms of quality and messages

This song fits in perfectly with how Holden is handling his problems. After being kicked out of a private school in which his mother paid for, he delays telling her until he can get his emotions under control. He goes to New York City and tries to get drunk to relieve his stress, as Billie Joe Armstrong did with drugs. “Am I just paranoid? Or I'm just stoned.” This song also talks about the constant paranoia he faces. Holden also has to deal with being paranoid as he is clearly insecure. It is rare that the reader will find Holden describing somebody positively. He is constantly making shallow judgments about the people he encounters. He says, “I’m not kidding, some of these very stupid girls can really knock you out on the dance floor.” Before even having a conversation with her, he already comes to the conclusion that she is a stupid girl. This proves his insecurity because he is seeing his imperfections through others and criticizing them for it.

Holden’s loneliness was a more concrete manifestation of his alienation. It is both a source of great pain and a source if his security.

Yet another issue Holden endures throughout this novel is loneliness . There are many reasons that he is very lonely all throughout the novel. The biggest reason he doesn't talk to anybody is because he is afraid he is going to get hurt emotionally. For example he is scared to call Jane and is scared to let her in his heart because he doesn't want to loose another person he loves, like his deceased brother Allie. Another example of his loneliness is when he meets the prostitute in the hotel. Holden knows that he can have the comfort of another human for a little while, but he doesn't want to do anything with her because he knows she will just leave after they are done having sex. In a way he is looking for something that will last longer, like a relationship, but he is too scared of being hurt . Although, “loneliness is difficult to fess up

This song is significant to this chapter because Holden talks about his ambitions and the troubles hes gone through in his past and this song is just about going after what you want in life and not stopping along the way and that represents Holden a lot.

Throughout the novel Holden is rejected and exploited by the society around him. As he is conflicted with himself to find a purpose in life he constantly tries to connect with a superficial society. The ongoing failure and fake personas he meets adds to his depression and cynicism. But instead of facing the problems by growing up and to move on Holden uses this negativity and isolation to protect him. Holden tries show that he is better than everybody else as this is the little stability he has left. When in reality Holden is just scared of the interaction of people because they just submerge him with complications he doesn 't know not yet how to deal with. Holden not being be able to cope with the idea of growing up adds to his loneliness which is the core of his pain. When his encounters first interaction in the novel, Holden Caulfield is an uncaring outcast who sees no motivation in life. As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side of life” (Salinger). Holden constant attempt to fit into society is hidden because of his detachment to people. His only stability right now is to search for his own individuality and to face adulthood himself. That is why

Holden recognizes and perceives to be alienated from the adult world thus causing himself to believe he is depressed. Holden believes he is depressed from viewing the adult world and thinking that it is phony. He believes that the world is phony, superficial, hypocritical, and shallow. He views this world everyday and realizes that one day he will have to step into it, but every time he thinks about the world surrounding him it causes him to become depressed. Holden becomes depressed because he desires to remain a child were innocence is preserved and not drastically taken away. In Holden?s scenario, he feels that his innocence was taken away by witnessing the suicide of his close friend and the death of dear brother. Holden sees the world that he has to become a part of and desires more to not be a part of it. This hatred of stepping into the adult world causes Holden believe he is depressed and

After Holden arrives in New York and takes a cab to his hotel, he "damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz, though. I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all," (66). Holden wants to talk to Phoebe as he has been isolated from her and feels because she is someone who he has a strong connection with, that she will make him less depressed shown by him saying that she had sense. Also while Holden is in his hotel room in New York, after his prostitute leaves, he "felt depressed," then he began "talking, sort of out loud, to Allie," (98). Allie's death made Holden isolated form someone who was close to him. Him attempting to talk to Allie shows how his loneliness and depression was caused by his isolation because he wants to try to reconnect with Allie to end his loneliness. While on his way to a bar from the hotel, Holden describes New York as making him feel "lonesome and depressed" and how he wished "[he] could go home and shoot the bull with old Phoebe," (81). Holden feels lonely and depressed in New York because of his isolation from Phoebe, someone he loves. This is proved by how he describes that he wishes he could go home and talk with her for a while. After getting to New York, Holden's feelings still follow him as he feels lonely and depressed thinking about Phoebe and wanting to see

J.D. Salinger uses the motif of loneliness to show how Holden’s struggles affected him negatively and demonstrate what made Holden lonely in this book. For example, the motif of loneliness describes Holden because after his brother Allie died he kept having flashbacks about him he couldn’t believe his brother is dead, for example he says, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist” (pg.39). This shows how when Holden feels lonely or sad or upset he gets really triggered which causes him to have a negative reaction to the world. Another example of Holden demonstrating the motif of loneliness in the book is when he was thinking about Jane Gallagher, he says “Jane Gallagher. Jesus ... I couldn't get her off my mind. I really couldn't” (pg.32). This shows us that just like Holden’s case with Allie he feels like he misses most of the people he hasn’t seen for a long time and that once he gets flashbacks of the important people in his life it is hard for him to move on. He does not feel safe alone. For instance, at the end of the book, Holden says “Don't ever tell anybody