Comparing Catcher In The Rye And 13 Reasons Why

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.

To begin with, Holden depressive state is evident as he displays feeling of hopelessness. For example, Holden realizes that his goals for preserving the innocence of the children are unrealistic. This occurs when all the children from the carousel are in attempts to grab the ring, and Holden realizes that he cannot stop the children from their inevitable outcome. This is evident through Holden’s comment, “if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off.” (Salinger 211).Holden realizes that he is powerless towards the society around. He believes he can preserve the innocence of children, being the catcher in the rye, saving them from falling from the cliff. However, he believes that all children will eventually border to adulthood and depart from their innocence is inevitable. Holden is made to believe that all children will eventually merge towards the corrupted side of society despite his desires. Another reason for Holden’s depression is because his desire for maintaining innocence is unrealistic which bring out emotional mental trauma. Moreover, Holden falls into depression as loses trust from the people that he admires. For example, he loses his trust in Mr.Antolini, who Holden respects, was caught inappropriately touching him. This incident also causes his internal turmoil as he was confused with regards to his teacher’s intention. This is depicted when Holden states, “but what did worry me was the part about how I’d woke up and found him patting me…the more I thought about it, though the more depressed and screwed up about it I got.” (Salinger 194-195). This reveals Holden’s loss of turn resulting in emotional disturbance. This event shows Holden that the society around him is corrupt, which makes him suspect others around him. Holden’s doubt highlights his internal conflict with himself. This betrayal

People of all ages experience a transitional stage throughout life, which would be the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood usually occurring during the mid teen years of life. This phase is considered to be the time when many children start to leave childhood for the life of adulthood. During these times of change many human beings experience confusion and potential problems of growing up in the adult world. Throughout the United States many people become confused of who they are as a person growing up, such as the protagonists of The Catcher in the Rye and The House on Mango Street who both experience difficulty in leaving childhood life for adulthood life. These two characters

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

Holden’s contempt for adults goes deeper than teen angst or a need to rebel. Rebellion is done out of a need for attention, however in Holden’s case he acts upon a fear and unresolved childhood trauma. Throughout the novel, we see our character Holden bouncing around denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Holden lost his brother to leukemia; Holden was 13, while Allie was 11. Holden was left devastated. At the beginning of this book we see Holden in isolation watching the football game on his own atop a hill after a long disappointing day in New York. Holden tells us about when he found out about Allie’s death, and in a fit of rage punched the windows out of the garage of their summer home, breaking his hand with the desire to punch the car windows out. Holden was unable to reconcile the loss of Allie. He missed the funeral because of his accident and continues to not visit the grave because of his denial of the situation. Holden used bargaining when he asked Allie to catch him in his fall through depression. Holden perceived the children of the rye as falling, while he was the only one actually falling with no one to catch him. Throughout the entire novel except in short bits, Holden claims to be depressed and hates being around those with less than himself. Finally, at the end of the book, Holden reaches an acceptance that he can’t control everything and life continues. He has to let go and allow others to reach for that carousel's golden ring even if they do fall along the

J.D Salinger expresses Holden growing up in a vivid image where people can see the clear view of Holden rising upward to be an adult. Throughout the book, Holden ostracizes himself in the society and makes him lonely. The readers can visualize Holden maturing when he realizes that not everybody is his enemy. For instance, when Holden leaves his teacher’s house in fear because the teacher was petting his head; he wondered “if just maybe [he] was wrong about thinking [the teacher] was making a flitty pass at [him]” (194). When he starts wondering if it was his own fault, it exemplifies that Holden is deeply thinking about his acts toward other people. His thinking can also relate to the last sentence “don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” (202). The last sentence is an example of Holden setting his importance on the people around him. But with all the obstacles that he goes through, he realizes that people that are involved in his life are an important factor of his life, and regrets having a live social life. This realization is an example of coming of age because we can truly see Holden’s thinking of what he thinks of a good life is which involves people around him.

Despite his longing for acceptance, “His efforts to connect with any stereotypical kid his age result in abject failure“(Privitera 204). Salinger thoroughly emphasizes this through Holden’s relationships with Stradlater and Ackley, with both of whom he has a strenuous and artificial relationship, demonstrated by his internal, flippant commentaries on his peers as he discusses them in the book (Salinger 31-40). Holden’s peers ostracize him due to his more introspective and introverted nature, as seen in Stradlater’s angry response to Holden’s reflective response to this writing assignment, saying that he doesn’t “do one damn thing the way [he’s] supposed to”(Salinger 47). These difficulties stem not from deficiencies of his peers, but rather a problem of Holden’s refusal to accept anything different from what he expects, making excuses about his reasons throughout the book to cover his actions. His rationalization of his internal wants and desires impedes any proper connection he could possibly make with his peers. He, “Subconsciously longs to be accepted yet feels he cannot make the connection”(Privitera 205).

In the beginning of the chapters, Salinger makes Holden seem relatable to other teens. “I could feel a terrific lecture coming on. I didn't mind the idea so much, but I didn't feel like being lectured to and smell Vicks Nose Drops and look at old Spencer in his pajamas and bathrobe all at the same time.” (Chapter 2) Many young teenagers can relate to this quotation, since not many people find it amusing listening to an elderly lecture. Later on in the book, his childish personality begins to show more and more as the plot moves. At some points, he would like to connect to the adult world and at other points, he rewinds to the idea of every adult being “phony” or insincere people. One example of this is when Holden meets with Sally Hayes on a date. At first, Holden seemed to believe he is in love with her at first, but he came to the state of annoyance and exasperation when he couldn't connect to the adult world Sally was living in when he asked her to move out of state with her. Holden imagines himself as the “catcher in the rye.” He conceptualizes a field of rye perched high on top of a mountain cliff, full of

Holden’s first betrayal was that of his memory and innocence by an egotistical peer. At Pencey Prep, he roomed with a student named Stradlater; the epitome of a teenage jock. Stradlater was openly very vain; as Holden stated as he watched Stradlater gaze at himself in the mirror, “he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere” (27). Because of his

His childish side is first seen while in one of the bathrooms at Pencey Prep, where Holden finds himself “sort of in the mood for horsing around” and feels “like jumping off the washbowl and giving old Stratlater,” one of his older friends, “a half nelson” (Salinger 34). Although he is sixteen years old, certain characteristics of a young boy are still preserved, for Holden has yet to grow out of them. Holden energetically plays with Stradlater in order to get his attention, rather than communicating to his acquaintance in a sophisticated manner due to a lack of maturity and known alternatives. This creates a notable tension between his hyper, boy-like liveliness and his insightful, dark seriousness, which continues to plague him throughout the rest of the novel and signals towards how such tension can be present in one’s own life. Despite Holden’s occasional youthful outbursts, he also possesses certain aspects of maturity at Pencey Prep. When summarizing one of his other friends named Ackley, he describes how one “had to feel sorry” for the boy because of his

The transition between childhood into adolescence is an essential period in one’s life that shapes how individual feels about themselves. This transition can be difficult for some individuals because they are unable to find their self-identity. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield neglects growing up and finds it difficult to search for his life ambitions. Similarly, in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood struggles internally to fulfil her ambitions and conform to societal expectations. Eventually, this affects the psychological state of the protagonists and leads them to fall into depression. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Holden and Esther lose their self-identity,

Holden Caulfield is an extremely complex character. He is constantly kicked out of various schools, convinced he is as dumb as everyone perceives him to be. Armed with a sharp tongue and quick wit, he can either weasel his way out of a situation, or the complete opposite. That being said, he often finds himself into fights, ending with a bloody nose because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Some examples of this are “All I know is i got up from the bed… and then tried to sock him… the next thing I knew, I was on the goddamn floor and he was sitting on my chest with his [Stradlater’s] face all red... ‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ he kept saying, ” (page 43). Here, Holden gets into a fist fight with his hot headed and short tempered roommate, Stradlater. This, of course, ends badly for Holden and results in a most likely broken nose and ruined shirt. Yet, he also manages to convince the mother of one of the nastiest boys in Pencey Prep that her son is an

Holden Caulfield is a very, very troubled young boy in a grown up filled world. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher In The Rye, 16 year old Holden Caulfield is stuck in a rut. He has been expelled from numerous schools, including his current one, Pencey Prep. Holden has been a troubled kid since the death of his older brother, Allie. Allie has played a big role in Holden’s life, and was completely traumatized by his death. Along with those family struggles relating to Allie’s death, Holden has a hard time accepting his adulthood. He wrestles with mental illness and growing up with all of those “phonies”. Even more so, he struggles with the idea of the person he is going to grow into. The environment of The

The Catcher in the Rye features a multitude of examples in which Holden is overwhelmingly suicidal and represents undesirable viewpoints. At one point in the novel, Holden admits, “what I really felt like though, was committing suicide” (Salinger 116). His pessimistic attitude and outlook on life can have a negative effect on the reader. “[The book] has been banned on the lighter premises of using profanities and being sexually explicit/suggestive, while it has also been banned for darker interpretations of the book, such as being part of a Communist plot, anti-religious, and promotive of homosexuality and perversion” (Bohan). The supports for banning are prevalent throughout the book, with no doubt that they are factual reasons. Nevertheless, the literary value and representation of adolescents in any time period overwhelm the reasons for banning the book.

In America, around twenty out of one hundred teenagers struggle with depression, and almost thirty percent will go untreated. J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye shines light on a young adolescent named Holden, calling awareness to his inner turmoil. Holden Caulfield might appear as the typical pessimistic teenager, however, he has a bad past that thrusts him into adulthood he never wanted. After the death of his little brother Allie, Holden fell into a dark hole and only keeps falling down further. Without any true role models, Holden is unequipped to handle his grief and refused to accept the past, depending on others for emotional support they are unable to give. Throughout the book, Holden's grapples with Allie’s death and searches for an eventual escape from his depression, causing him to grow as an individual. JD Salinger uses the symbol of rain to represent Holden's past, revealing that his journey through depression is rooted in his inability to move forward after Allie's death.