Catcher In The Rye Character Analysis

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

The lost of innocence can totally change the way people view the world. A person who illustrates this can be found in J.D. Salinger’s novel, the Catcher in the Rye. The story happened during the 1950s, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Agerstown. A teenage boy named Holden, who witnesses the death of his older brother Allie when he was only 13 years old. Then consequently, he blames himself all his life for the death of Allie. As time went by he starts to search for a sense of innocence that was lost in the beginning of the novel. Throughout the course of the novel, the author conveys that Holden is continually stuck in between childhood and adulthood. The author uses Holden’s struggle to convey that in reality often times people who

To begin, Holden’s use of profanity and alcohol at a young age plays a substantially large role in the diction that he uses. Since this novel takes place during the 1950’s, Salinger consistently weaves words such as “goddamn” and “bastard” into Holden’s everyday language. His little sister, Phoebe, even tells him to “[not] swear so much” (218). Although peers and adults constantly tell Holden to stop such frugal language, Salinger views it as necessary to accurately depict a rebellious teenage boy of the current time period. Furthermore, Salinger’s lingual decisions regarding alcohol affect how the reader sees Holden as a person. Alcohol is very easy to get in the 1950’s, and frankly, it is what Holden turns to every time he gets depressed. One instance is in the Lavender Room, when Holden asks the waiter to “stick a little rum in it” (91) because he “can’t sit in a corny place like this cold sober” (91). Despite the fact that liquor is easy to procure,

It is often said that the people one surrounds themselves with can reflect things about themselves, such as their beliefs and ideals. One’s friends and acquaintances can reveal subconscious attractions to people that fulfill their ideals or agree with the things they say, but these relationships can also help one discover their personal philosophies by reinforcing opposing views. Indeed, in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the way Holden reacts to and interacts with secondary characters reveal his established philosophies and the values he holds most dear to him.

In Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, had many opportunities to learn life lessons but every time his faulty thinking caused him to focus on the problem and not the solution. Whenever Holden looks at situations he negatively overgeneralizes them with a bad attitude rather than learning from it.

Holden Caulfield is a character who has been through rejection and wishes to protect others innocence. He is a teen boy who is the main character in Catcher in The Rye by J.D.Salinger. He has an older brother named DB, a younger sister named Phoebe, and a younger, deceased, brother named Allie. Holden retells his story on him, trying to be the catcher in the rye. Holden has been kicked out of different colleges. He has been rejected by different girls. Holden goes through his life story. He talks about being kicked out of Pencey, his friend Jane, his “acquaintance” Stradlater, and how, when, and where Allie died. Society is to blame for Holden Caulfield's decline in mental stability. Society does not help Holden. Instead, they ignore his

In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has recently expelled from school, had lost his younger brother to Leukemia and witnessed the suicide of one of his peers, struggles in his journey of coming of age. He isn’t fond of the idea of having to mature and be exposed to responsibilities and problems of the real world. As a result, he tries to preserve the innocence of his younger sister, Phoebe. One way in which he aims to accomplish this goal is through a Little Shirley Beans record which he buys in hopes of giving it to Phoebe. Salinger utilizes the symbol of the broken record to develop Holden’s loss of innocence and deteriorating character.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger that occurs around the 1950s. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old white male, who journeys to various places as he mourns over the death of his little brother, Allie. As a white male in a capitalist society, he has tremendous amounts of privileges that allow him to get. However, as the novel progresses, Holden describes his society as a place where honored human qualities are suppressed and capitalist ideals are embraced. Throughout the novel, we see that capitalism, “the social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, destroys the overall society for Holden and his generation (Rand).

American literature is full of classic novels containing heroic protagonists; Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye is not one of these classic heroes. The article Some Crazy Cliff by Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller Jr. provides one interpretation of the novel suggesting that the protagonist is unique compared to others commonly found in American literature; most heroes are seeking acceptance while Holden is seeking something within the society he is trying to leave. The novel follows Holden Caulfield, a young boy who recently flunked out of high school, over the course of three days. During this time, the protagonist returns to New York via train, but does not want to be with his parents until they have already learned of his

Holden cannot accept the consequences and responsibilities that come with becoming an adult, so Holden struggles to remain a child. He thinks of the adult world as perverted and gross, but he does not realize that he is being bought into that world. He wants to save the kids before they are captured into the adult world. Since Holden has a strong pull to innocence, he worships his two little siblings, Allie and Phoebe. When talking to his little sister, Phoebe, he is awakened back into reality and is pushed to

In J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher In The Rye, it starts off with young man named Holden Caulfield at his school football game at Pencey Prep talking about his life. Following that the sudden and unexpected death of his little brother Allie occurs due to cancer. Holden becomes depressed and rebellious. He is aggressive towards anything and anyone who stands in his way and will knock down anything that tries to stop him from doing whatever he wants. Holden shows that the effect of Allie’s passing dawns on him throughout his life and he greatly shows it from time to time. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden represents the voice of real people by getting expelled, being depressed, and smoking/drinking.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden’s inability to form relationships and live a normal life are mostly due to his younger brother's death. Holden truly loves Allie and that's saying a lot for someone who is as stubborn and picky, when it comes to relationships, as Holden is. Saying goodbye to Allie was not only a death of a loved one for Holden it was also the loss of his sanity and stability. Allie's death leaves Holden viewing the world in a miserable way which leads to him obsessessing over his moments of adolescence and desperately try to preserve other people's innocence.

A talented poet has the ability to write and understand poetry anywhere and anytime. In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has two brothers that discuss war poets. Holden’s brothers are D.B. and Allie. D.B. was in the army during World War II for four years and despised his job and the men in the army surrounding him. Although D.B. was in the army, “he didn’t get wounded or anything and he didn’t have to shoot anybody.” (140). D.B. is also a writer which makes Allie think that the war is a good era for his older brother to further expand on his literary skill. Henceforth, D.B. makes “Allie go get his baseball mitt and then he asked him, who was the best war poet, Rupert Brooke or Emily Dickinson. Allie said Emily Dickinson.” (140) Allie’s opinion on Emily Dickinson being a better war poet then Rupert Brooke can be supported to be true. D.B. cannot support Rupert Brooke strongly as D.B. was the one who loathed the army whereas Brooke glorified war. Emily Dickinson’s poetry proves that one does not have to live through war to know of war and its hardships; reading her literature allows the audience to understand the nature of life, the relationship of the dead to the living, and the countless lives lost due to fatalities of war.

In chapter ten of J.D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, there are three important concepts: loneliness, depression, and idealism. Holden evinces these concepts when he talks about his younger sister, goes to the Lavender room, and mentions Radio City Music Hall. Each of these concepts builds upon each other, especially the idea that Holden is lonely.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of