Examples Of Alienation In Catcher In The Rye

Actor Judd Nelson once said: “Young alienation, disappointment and heartache is all a part of the first real growing up that we do.” Nelson’s quote demonstrates a main theme of alienation throughout J.D. Salinger’s contemporary fiction novel The Catcher in the Rye. The novel follows teen Holden Caulfield as he leaves his school and stays in New York for the weekend. There, Holden constantly finds himself alone and isolated even though he meets many people. Through diction, indirect characterization, dialogue, and symbolism, Salinger creates the alienated character Holden Caulfield.

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.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

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

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

J.D. Salinger 's "The Catcher in the Rye" portrays a troubled teen in New York City. Over the few days the novel depicts, the boy displays his critical and unhealthy mindset. Eventually he has a mental breakdown. Through psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield, one may suggest that Allie 's death, social development, and an identity crisis are large contributing factors in Holden 's mental breakdown.

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

Although Holden “hardly even know[s]” James, he sees him as someone who is real and not phony, admiring his resistance to lie (Salinger 171. The deaths of Allie and James cause Holden to contemplate suicide in order to escape the world of phoniness he lives in. Consequently, Holden’s constant thoughts about suicide lead to his own loss of innocence and advancement toward adulthood.

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

He is not intensely preoccupied with academic achievement like many more modern teenagers, having failed out of several prestigious preparatory schools, but he is clearly intelligent and tends to dwell on“heavy” topics like death and loss of innocence. His cynicism and sensitivity, in addition to the trauma he experiences from losing his brother Allie, suggest that he has depression or another untreated mental illness, an interpretation which is common among readers and supported by Holden’s visit with a psychotherapist at the end of the novel. Despite the risks he faces through having an untreated mental illness, shown when he is warned that he is “riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall” through self-destructive behavior, the conformist culture and social niceties of the 1950s prevented him from being able to discuss his thoughts for a large portion of the novel. (186) This culture, specifically the “phony” prep schools, is clearly toxic for Holden and likely contributed heavily towards his negative mental state, and therefore the negative image he often has of

Holden’s alienation is a result of how he wants to avoid the problems in his life and how he doesn 't want to acknowledge them.This character of a brooding adolescent is created to show the physical effects of events in his life. Throughout the chapters he frequently refers to the hardships in his life.These hardships include his brother’s death at a young age, his intimacy issues, and inability to form healthy relationships.Holden’s innocent manner therefore is caused by the impression that his brother’s death left on him.His unknown sense of identity has subsequently made him feel detached from his own family. As his elder brother and younger sister are considerably successful,Their successes have made the recently kicked out Holden feel

Alienation is when you isolate yourself from the rest of the world and Picture yourself as some type of “Alien”. It is used to hide one's true self from the world so that they will always feel safe, at the cost of relations.Throughout the novel (book), (Author) highlights the Alienation of Holden through 3 minor characters. The character Jane Gallagher, which is one of Holden’s close and trusted friends, she shows how Holden Isolates himself throughout the novel. Secondly, the character Ackley, which is one of Holden’s neighbors, clearly emphasizes Holden’s want of Isolation in the novel. Lastly, the character Sally Hayes, which is dating Holden, shows

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

When the reader looks back at Holden’s history they can make assumptions as to why Holden wants things to stay the way they are. The general assumption would be because Holden is very distant to people who are dear to him. He mentions his younger sister, Phoebe frequently but cannot connect with her in any way due to Holden’s enrollment in a relatively distant school. Holden also recalls his two brothers, Allie and D.B., whom he is exiled from in result of Allie’s tragic fate and D.B.’s migration to California. The death of Holden’s favorite person, Allie, results ultimately in the unstable mental condition that controls Holden. Holden’s fascination with children and their mentalities is driven from Holden’s mourning of Allie’s death. While Holden tries to resist changing, he is identifying himself with Allie. Critic, Hermit Vanderbilt, agrees that, “Obviously despairing at the cosmic injustice of such an early death, Holden falls into a schizophrenic disorder interested in keeping him from growing up and keeping the role of Allie alive.” (Vanderbilt 299). In addition to the laments of personal loss, Holden also desires a stagnancy of time because of his fear of losing his moral purity. This is shown when Holden speaks about how his older brother, D.B., has lost his moral standards in the pursuit of fame. Holden feels D.B. has strayed far from his truly respectable writing when D.B. “sold himself out” to the expectations of Hollywood. Holden refers to D.B. as a

He drinks, he smokes and rebel against both his teachers and adults. Holden is a very negative person and is constantly trashing other people, if not he is lying to them. He likes calling people ‘phonies’, even tough he acts like a phony himself. And this is his hefty scare, he is terrified of growing up, yet he realises it is time for his body is changing and turning him into a man. Holden has had an uncomplicated life if you disregard away from his brother’s death. He comes from a good family, has never lacked anything and has agreeable opportunities. An instead of using this to his advantage, he gets sucked down into a pessimistic and sad vortex. He never feels at home anyplace or feels a strong connection to people. Rebelling is an ordinary thing to go through in your adolescence and Holden has it bad. He is indeed a ‘rebel without a