Karrin letcher
Mr. Mahoney
AP Lit & Comp Per.1
November 28, 2016 Many highschool students can relate to Catcher in the Rye because they are the same age as the protagonist, Holden Caufeild, and may find themselves facing similar feelings and situations. Holden is a lanky sixteen-year-old boy. Half of his hair has already turned grey, causing him to often be mistaken as an adult. He often uses his misjudged age to drink at bars and flirt with much older women. Holden has just been kicked out of the third elite prep school he has attended. He is flunking all of his classes except for English and refuses to put up with the “phonies” that seem to be everywhere around him. Throughout the story Holden dons his bright red hunting hat, with ridiculous
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Just like Holden you probably get yourself into some juvenile trouble. However these adolescent transgressions do not compare to the important adult decisions Holden and every other teen experience. This is a truly incredible book for teenagers to read because it is so applicable to our lives. It genuinely feels as if Holden, is telling his story rather than an adult author writing from a child’s perspective. Because of this, the novel never feels condescending or patronizing. You'll never be able to meet another youngster as likeable and sound as Holden Caulfield, despite of his failings. Although he's still not out of the woods entirely, at the end of the novel, the reader still holds out hope that he's going to turn out all right. It wouldn't even be surprising if he grew up to write a few books (he talks about books quite a …show more content…
Holden often says he will start crying, but he does not know why, then these emotions would vanish and he was filled with manic energy. From this rapid change and waves of emotion the reader can conclude that Holden may have manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. Salinger is absolutely brilliant in his treatment of his character with a mental illness, he does not play up Holden’s disorder and make it look “cool”. Nor does he chastise Holden for his emotions, he just presents these abnormalities to his readers and encourages them to accept that, “that’s the way it is” that Holden’s mind is not something to be idolized or feared. In this way Salinger is truly forward thinking, his mind was more in 2016 than in
The Catcher in the Rye was about Holden, who admires in children attributes that he struggles to find in adults to talk to him and he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. Holden Caulfield,who is 16 year old teenager went to three schools, but fails four of his five subjects only passed English he also struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. In the novel, Holden tells the reader through a few days of his life, in which he flaunts his hostile environments. Throughout the book,
Throughout the novel Catcher and the Rye, the author J.D Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as someone who is battling with growing up and who is putting up barriers. Holden’s brother died when he was eleven years old, meaning he lost his innocence at a young age. Holden keeps this in the inside and lets out his anger by calling everybody “phonies”.He does find comfort in a red hunting hat and his dead brother Allie. Holden's comfort in materialistic hat shows how he doesn’t appreciate the people close to him.
From its publication, The Catcher in the Rye gained widespread aversion from schools through its blatant profanity. But despite the time gap since the publication in the 1950s until now, the book explores immortal themes of adolescence and maturing still relevant today. Symbolizing the average teenage life, adolescents throughout the country are able to connect to Holden without question. As Holden agonizes over his purpose and depression, teens relate to this some intangible part of themselves. Holden frustrates over dating, drinking, low grades, switching schools, and life in general. Suddenly, in a second, as the adult world threatens the once serene childhood, as the weight of responsibility of being an adult crashes, Holden crumbles.
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a sixteen year old boy, Holden Caulfield, who tells the story of his experience of exploring New York after being expelled from his high school, Pencey Prep. Throughout his travels, Holden seeks to find truth and a sense of belonging in the “phony” realm of adulthood: the stage of life that he is entering but is not yet willing to accept. Over the course of the novel, Holden often ridicules the adult world, idolizing the idea of childhood instead, as well as the purity and innocence it contains. His strong feelings of alienation constantly incite feelings of wanting to run away from, or escape the situations that he is put in. Furthermore, Holden feels as if he needs to protect children from transitioning
Most teens seem to believe that they are more prepared for drinking, drugs, and sex than they actually are. This mindset is no different for 16 year old Holden Caulfield in the book, The Catcher in the Rye. As the novel's main character, Holden attempts to participate in adult activities, although he is inexperienced, because his brother's death stole his childhood innocence. Holden felt as though he was responsible for protecting his sister and other young children by pushing himself to become an adult. Although Holden thought forcing himself to grow up would help himself and others, it only resulted in his mental relapse. Since Holden's failed attempts at adulthood resulted in his insanity, the challenges of change are consistently reiterated
The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in
Holden is very immature and cannot act his age for anything. In the beginning of the story, Holden was very immature and self-centered and he often did very immature things, but he wanted to be an adult. This is very contradicting considering that he is very immature. In the novel, Holden states, “Boy! I said. I also say Boy! quite a lot. Partly because I have a lousy vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen.” (Salinger 16). This shows how Holden is very immature and needs to start acting his age and this could be dangerous to society. This is why he needs to stay inside the mental facility. In the mental facility, he will be safe and he will not cause any harm to anyone or to himself
67% of Canadians say they have personally known at least one woman who has experienced physical or sexual abuse. Holden sees no issue in the fact that most guys don’t stop when asked to and as a young female, I would not want any man to think that not having consent is okay. This text also reveals to me that rape was maybe normalized and even compromised in the 1950s. Perhaps this is part of the many reasons this book was banned when it was published. In the 1950s the percentage of sexual assaults that went unreported was shocking, being raped was a personal shame for the victim because their reputation would shatter. In “The Catcher in the Rye” rape and consent are both topics that seem unfamiliar or swept under the rug.
Holden Caulfield is a 16- year-old junior who doesn’t want to grow up. When introduced at first, Holden appears to be a normals boy. He behaves like a normal teenager and thinks of girls often, especially his friend Jane. However, it soons becomes clear that he isn’t a normal teenager. Even though Holden has just a few friends, Stradlater and Ackley, it is clear that he isn’t able to
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.
Salinger depicts Holden to have clinical depression, like many other young people. According to The Mayo Clinic, clinical depression is extremely common, affecting over 3,000,000 people every year, being most common ages fourteen and older. Holden expresses a lack of motivation and concentration, two very clear symptoms of clinical depression, multiple times throughout the novel. He expresses his affection for Jane and deep desire to get back in touch with her, but always seems to lose motivation just before the moment comes (59, 105, 116, 150, 202). Holden also explicitly expresses depression, using the word depressed, depressing, or other variants over several times throughout the book. Noteworthy examples include when he says, “It was even
Is there really an age to be grown up? Should being grown up mean you have responsibilities, like a house, a job, car, and the actual age of 18? Is that what it takes to be called “grown up”. In my opinion I don't think that's the case. I don't think age means anything. It's all about if you are responsible, polite, respectful, mature etc. Especially when it comes to foul language. Should you have to be a certain age to be introduced to it? Even when the case has to do with books, and the school providing you to read them. The question is whether or not The Catcher in the Rye should be banned for age reasons and because of its language and sexual content. In my opinion it shouldn't be banned for its language and sexual content.
Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger is a classic novel that is not only controversial but contains relatable characters such as Holden Caulfield. Holden is a 16 year old boy who has gone through so much pain and hurt throughout his life that he has given up in school and during the novel you start to see that he has given up at life itself as well. Holden struggles with depression, unhealthy drinking habits and with failing out of school. These three struggles are very relatable to teenagers these days. In the following paragraphs I will show you the connection between teenagers these days and Holden and the the similarities that make him such a relatable character. Holden is an ideal and universal representation of teenagers.
A challenge is an attempt to remove books, while banning is the actual removal of the book. Challenges remove material from a library or curriculum, yet most are unsuccessful. The main reason why people challenge books is to protect children from bad ideas, such as offensive language or sexually explicit content. One of the most challenged (and banned) books is The Catcher in the Rye. Criticized for being the quintessence of a terrible book for children, this novel by J.D. Salinger is argued to be as hated and avoided as it is loved and esteemed.
Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.