Holden Caulfield Alienation

The novel "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger is very interesting novel in which the main character, Holden, intrigues the reader with his unpredictable actions and upfront judgments of his surroundings. Holden alienates himself to try and help protect him from the outside world and conserve his innocence. He constantly proves this to reader many in times in the novel by, telling characters he feels different, wearing clothing that makes him stand out even though it may make him look stupid, and failing to come through in relationships with characters in the story.

In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.

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.

As previously mentioned, it is obvious of Holden’s intentions from the first chapter. The reader learns that they are not going to be following the life story of some random kid; they are going to read about the introversive thoughts and assumptions everyone makes at some point of their lives. Throughout the tale, it is obvious that Caulfield is depressed and as the story progresses, he seems to lose himself in the real world. As he moves

Holden Caufield emphasizes on the loss of innocence in children. He feels that once they lose their innocence, they will soon turn into phonies like everyone else. The loss of innocence is very common in the development in human existence. It is caused by many factors. Past a certain age, children are either forced or led unintentionally into a pathway of corruption. A child is also known to lose their innocence by desires, fantasies, and attention. But once they lose their innocence, they tend to desire to go back and pretend to be young again. In the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden discusses the importance of innocence in children's lives. He feels that once a child loses his/her innocence, he/she will soon be leaded to a

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationship he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.

Teen depression is a serious mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities. It affects how a teenager thinks, feels and behaves. It can cause emotional, functional and physical problems. Holden Caulfield lost his younger brother Allie to leukemia when Holden was thirteen years old. Following the death of Allie, Holden broke his hand punching the windows out of the garage of their summer home. Holden’s mindset reveals depression is the cause of his struggles. Depression was actively present in Holden’s behavior. The source of his depression was the death of his brother Allie. Holden was aware the entire time of his impending punishment.

Alienation is Holden’s solution to protect himself from others and adulthood. He constantly isolates himself to protect his innocence and not get affected by phony adults. However, Holden desperately wants to be loved and cared for. A sign of immaturity has shown in him because Holden instead of facing responsibilities he avoids it. Holden isolates himself from the people at Percy and purposely fails in almost all his courses and flunks out of school. Holden mentions that “They kicked [him] out… on account of [he] was flunking four subjects.” (4) Holden intentionally failed his courses do that he would be kicked out of school. Holden believes that

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very present one” –Albert Einstein. This quote by one of the most impactful men in the world emphasizes that although reality is not set in stone and changes constantly, it is an unavoidable part of life. This means that if someone refuses to accept their realities, it is due to issues within them that are unresolved. Holden, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, has extreme difficulty with facing the world around him, thus resulting in the restriction of him growing and evolving as a character. This is due to multiple reasons which include the fact that he never experienced closure from his brother Allies’ death, he does not want to lose his childhood innocence, he feels as though he does not fit in with society and his damaging obsession with mortality.

Throughout the novel, Holden's rebellious ways indicate that he refuses to conform to adult's expectations of him. The “phony” adults of society have no right to control him according to Holden. Several examples from the plot show that Holden's experiences with trauma affect his faith in authority figures. One of these traumatic events was the suicide of Holden's roommate, James Castle. According to Holden, James Castle is a very quiet student whose comments irked the wrong clique at Elkton Hills. He mistakenly called a very popular and influential person “conceited”, and that person's friends drove James to suicide. Although Holden despises the fact that they killed James, he is appalled at the lack of legal action taken by the school. He cannot believe that “All they did with the guys that were in the room was expel them. They didn't even go to jail” (188). While James Castle's death mortified Holden, he felt utterly perplexed that society could ignore and disregard the fact that an injustice had been committed. This causes Holden to lose faith in authority, especially in school administrators, to act in an ethical manner. Holden's distrust in authority stems from more than one event, however. His family life could have contributed to his lack of faith in authority figures. Holden tends to distance himself from his parents and tries to avoid them throughout the novel. Holden mentions that "[his]

In the book “Catcher in the Rye” three major themes stood out for me as a reader. Holden’s pessimistic language, alienates him from the world. The speaker demonstrates separation and incongruence; “athletic [bastards] stick together,” Holden portrays a sense of animosity towards groups of people sticking together due to how he is not able to do the same this also demonstrates alienation. At the end of chapter six Holden provokes his best friend Stadler by saying “You moron,” using this absurd language demonstrated hatred and insult which was the cause estrangement. Finally Holden exhibits how he was ostracized “don’t do one damn thing…way you’re supposed to” even though he didn’t show rude language, the meaning was blunt and impolite. Holden’s alienation was thought to occur due to his brother death and the absence of his family however it portrayed that he was different and did not want to make contact with others.

He gets angry very easily and is passive aggressive. By the end of the story, Holden passes out. Holden lies and he acts impulsively. Hes judhemental toward others. There are not many people that Holden has a good relationship with.

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

“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 assumption since Caulfield himself admits to being crazy twice throughout the course of the book. However, calling Holden Caulfield crazy is almost the same as calling the majority of the human race crazy also. Holden Caulfield is just an adolescent trying to prevent himself from turning into what he despises the most, a phony. Most of Caulfield’s actions and thoughts are the same as of many people, the difference being that Holden acts upon those thoughts and has them down in writing.