Catcher In The Rye Quotes

Without thinking, he agrees to Maurice’s deal and prepares for his interaction with the prostitute. Captivated by lust, he felt he could use her for practice to gain more experience. “‘I figured if she was a prostitute and all, I could get in some practice on her, in case I ever get married or anything’” (Salinger 92). Later, the hooker arrives in Holden’s hotel room to quickly finish her job, however, he begins doubting his choice of agreeing to allow her infiltrate his hotel room and wishes for her departure. To encourage her to leave, Holden consistently lies, “‘I’m not in the mood, I just told ya. I just had an operation’” (Salinger 97). Attempting to demand her to leave, he realizes he was blinded by his lust instead of his reasoning. Instead of declining Maurice’s deal, he is glued to a terrifying situation he unknowingly involved

Literature has always relied on techniques to catch the reader’s attention and format the story, and “the Catcher in the Rye” is no exception. Salinger brought many different writing styles into his novel to make it a bestseller. With his knowledge, Salinger was able to depict the persona of Holden to the reader without directly stating his characteristics. Salinger proves Holden is a lonesome figure who wanted to fit in but struggles to be accepted. The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden as one who struggles with his sexuality and adulthood and wants to save children from adulthood because of the difficulties that it has brought himself. Salinger greatly expresses Holden through the use of metaphor, imagery, symbolism,

““Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”

After having been challenged on his previous ways of thinking on his journey alone, Holden begins the gradual process of obtaining self knowledge, maturity, and identity as the values of society are accepted by the protagonist. For that reason, as he watches Phoebe on the carousel ride, he observes that:

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulfield is shown in this book to display multiple different personas. Holden has a tendency to tell lies, acts in a careless, self-destructive manner. However, Holden has also shown a personality in which he acts in a caring, empathetic demeanor, shown in scenarios such as his outlook towards the prostitute, and his refusal to allow his sister to come along with him to the cabin in the woods. Furthermore, Holden Caulfield’s attitude and problems mainly stemmed from his refusal to accept his brother’s passing, as Holden had exhibited a deep connection and love for his brother. These incidents collectively show the storyline of our troubled protagonist as he progresses

His loneliness makes him feel depressed and willing to die. At his hotel, Holden decides to hire a prostitute: “She didn’t care what the hell my name was, naturally” (105). Normally one would go to a prostitute for sex, but Holden is solely focused on finding company. He is looking for any kind of connection or relationship between him and this stranger, but she is only willing to talk business. He is feeling so deserted that his best prospect for company is a prostitute who does not even care about him. He knows prostitutes are considered among the worst of people, and they are also illegal. However, Holden loses perspective in terms of the way he sees himself in comparison to others. Now thinking that he is now on the same level as prostitutes in society. Holden grasps onto relationships with people like prostitutes (and later taxi drivers) because no one is there for him like Allie was. It is almost as if Holden is trying to recreate his relationship with Allie. Although he can not find anyone nearly as special or satisfying, so therefore he reverts towards ending his life. He describes the lobby of the hotel that he is staying at as empty and full of dead cigars, leaving him feeling lonely and frustrated as he says: “I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead” (101). When his emotions start to

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character and narrator Holden Caulfeild walks many different paths of life. He jumps around different aspects of his life throughout the book, showing the reader many different sides to himself. This theme is presented through the author’s technique in crafting the characterization and symbolism. J.D. Salinger develops a puzzle of a personality for Holden throughout the book, to show the complexity and multitude of sides to Holden’s character.

This is what Holden referred to when he said he didn’t even think. In spite of Holden’s initial actions to seek some sort of human contact, once Sunny (the prostitute) arrived, he once again begins to distance himself. He lied to her about his age, name, and why he didn’t think he should sleep with her (he was recovering from surgery). This is one of the ways that Holden isolates himself time and time again. Another example is when he ran into his former classmates mother and he lied about his name and told her that he was out of school early because he needed brain surgery to remove a tumour. These lies that Holden tells others are his way of interacting with others while still isolating his true self for protection.

So Holden did what he did best - lying. He told Sunny that he just had an operation. Sunny, still wanting to get her money, climbed onto his lap and started whispering into Holden's ear. This only made him more nervous. In the end, he paid her the five dollars he owed her, but she insisted it was ten dollars. She got angry and asked him to get her dress. Finally, she left. Holden sat down, smoked, and thought about his current predicament with his parents. Eventually he went to bed. Someone started pounding on the door. It was Sunny and Maurice. They wanted another five dollars. They basically broke in, and Maurice shoved Holden over. Holden still refused to give them the money. Sunny grabbed Holden's wallet and took the money. Maurice ended up punching Holden who fell to the floor. Only then did they leave. So Holden had about two minutes of decent conversation, a few cigarettes, and a sore face just for hiring this prostitute. I think Holden learned how the real world is. In the real world people are not always honest, they want money, and some are willing to be violent to get it.

Holden also has several redeeming qualities that keep him from being the rouge that many censors and critics wanted to label him in the fifties. As mentioned previously, Holden feels deeply for others and spends much of his time trying to understand them. For example, he admits to being a virgin and attributes this to the concern he has for the girls he is with; "he feels he would be taking advantage of their weakness if he had relations with them. " (Lettis, 6) "They tell me to stop, so I stop. I always wish I hadn't, after I take them home, but I take them home anyway." (Salinger, 121) He is also brutally honest, a quality children possess and adults seem to lose as they age. Holden dislikes things he

Even though Holden wasn’t really showing it, he was trying to do anything to be accepted and to gain his friendship, which shows how lonely Holden is. Another example of Holden’s loneliness is after his fight with Stradlater. When Stradlater wouldn’t share his details about his date with Jane, Holden goes to Ackley’s room to seek comfort and maybe try to gain his friendship. Then, in Ackley’s room when Holden tries to sleep in Ackley’s roommate Ely's bed for the night, Ackley doesn’t give Holden permission to sleep despite the fact Ely is away and won’t be back for a while. Holden feels completely isolated and rejected because of Ackley's response.

Looking for acceptance, Holden Caulfield agrees to meet with a prostitute, Sunny. He says that he wants to lose his virginity. However, he really just wants

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

This passage proves that Holden is dissatisfied with the boys at his school, he believes they are fake and he does not social well with them. Although Holden doesn’t want to interact much, when he does end up interacting with people, he usually gets the short end of the stick. For instance he invites Ackley, a boy he meets at Pency Prep, along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. ‘“I’m not worried about it. Only, I’d hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and found some guy-”’ (Salinger 49). Another instance is when Holden pays Sunny even though they don’t have sex, and ends up getting scammed. At a young age, Holden lost his younger brother, Allie. This had a huge traumatizing effect on him; Holden felt useless because he was unable to help his brother. Holden turns his emotions into anger; stating that he punched out all the windows in the garage. Another time Holden felt unable to help was when his peer, James Castle, was harassed and bullied, leading to James’s suicide. Holden says, “... and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him”’ (Salinger 170). Holden feels that society had

Jerome David Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is based on the life events shaping main character, Holden Caulfield, into the troubled teen that is telling the story in 1950. The theme of the story is one of emotional disconnection felt by the alienated teenagers of this time period. The quote, “ I didn’t know anyone there that was splendid and clear thinking and all” (Salinger 4) sets the tone that Holden cannot find a connection with anyone around him and that he is on a lonely endeavor in pursuit of identity, acceptance and legitimacy. The trials and failures that Holden faces on his journey to find himself in total shed light on Holden’s archenemy, himself.