Holden Caulfield Chapter Summary

In [What novel?] the novel, Holden Caulfield is a teenager who was just expelled [Based on the first and last chapter, you should have been able to tell that this is a flashback. Holden is in a mental institution working with a “psychoanalyst guy they have here” (213) and plans to “go home next month” (1).] from school for failing in his academics and as he decides one night to leave the school, he leaves running into many situations where it is shown that he despises the adulthood yet has already taken interest in things like alcohol, cigarettes, and sex. He seems to be sarcastic and careless in the novel with his remarks but with these kind of characteristics is also a boy who relates to teenagers all over the world in ways such as rebelling

In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is a nervous and unhappy dropout. After being kicked out of his prestigious high school, he goes to New York City and roams the streets for three days searching for both innocence and adulthood. While he holds a hatred for “phonies”, people he sees as fakes or cheats, he himself can be portrayed as a phony.

“’Like hell it (red hunting hat) is.’ I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. ‘This is a people shooting hat,’ I said. ‘I shoot people in the hat’” (Salinger 22).

Reveals about situation: Holden’s disorder is becoming more and more evident. He does not originally feel a sense of belonging, so he decides that he will move away. However, he begins to question his decision and become very paranoid above leaving. This reveals how he thinks he wants to leave, but in reality, he wants to stay home and mend his relationships with his family.

We all hold something close to our hearts that really means something to us. In Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a 16 year old young man that has gone through some rough times. With a little brother, Allie, that died of cancer at the age of 11, A big brother, D.B., who became big writing children's books so he left for hollywood soon after Allie’s death. Holden has been dropped out of three schools, and is currently attending Pency. Holden doesn't have much to be happy about in his life, not really much to live for. But those few things that he does love, that he does care for, really do mean something special. For instance, Holden’s little sister, Phoebe. Phoebe switches a switch in holden's mind that

Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden, the main character, describes a series of events that occurred to him up until he ended up in the hospital because he caught tuberculosis. In the end of the novel, the reader discovers that Holden’s physical and emotional distress is what pushed him to become sick in the first place. Holden is also accompanied by a psychoanalyst to help him cope through his emotional problems. The protagonist’s personality is very rare because he understand that the adult world is full of fraud and crooked people, therefore he considers everything around him depressing and unreal. An analysis of Holden’s behaviors, actions, and relationships throughout the novel portray that is was necessary he ended up

children. I see that children bring him happiness so why not keep him around children to restore it. Yes, Holden Caulfield is Clinically Depressed but with some changes in his lifestyle, I’d say it is possible for him to recover and move past this in

“A ‘life adjustment’ curriculum taught students to dress right, date right, engage in civic life and take on the trappings of maturity” (Golub 6). In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who has flunked out of multiple schools, experienced a sibling's death, and doesn’t really have any friends. Holden isn’t living the easiest life with all of these things going on and a lot of his actions show he is mentally unstable and doesn’t really have much of a purpose in life. He continues to try to act older than he is but he also believes that grown-ups are phonies. His dream job is a job that’s impossible and does not exist. He also doesn’t really like anyone because he thinks they’re all phony, yet he’s always looking to try to call people to make plans with them. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Holden is a casualty of the world of expectations Holden has to grow up in. He doesn’t fit in with others and he doesn’t meet the demands and norms that society expects from someone Holden’s age. He is isolated from everyone, including his parents, and everyone has expectations and demands Holden cannot meet. This causes him to feel alone and depressed for a majority of the book.

Acting one way doesn’t necessarily mean that is what a person is. In the novel, The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield tries to act older than he really is. Holden is a static character because he doesn’t change throughout the novel. He is still doing the same old games that he did at the beginning of the novel. Holden is a junior at Pencey High School. He isn’t a good student; near Christmas time he was flunking all but one of his classes. This led to him getting kicked out of school. Holden likes to think that he is older than he actually is. He starts to do things that he thinks older people would do. Lying and drinking are just two of the characteristics.

J.D. Salinger is best known for his character Holden Caulfield, who is recognized as a symbol for rebellion and anguish. He is rebellious because he wants to fit in but always ends up doing the opposite thing. He also in anguish because of his emotional distress. Holden really liked this girl named Jane who was going on date with his roommate Stradlater. When Stradlater comes back from the date he tells Holden all about it. This brings out the first sign of anger that Holden has. He try’s to punch him in the face but Stradlater dodges it and gives Holden a bloody nose. This makes Holden depressed even more. Holden is a very emotional person and being bullied at school is not helping him. He does not want to be like the preppy phony kids at his school. He wants

Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J. D Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, is a conflicted young man, being pulled between the life adults want him to live and the life he still hasn’t figured out yet. While teachers tell him school is the path to success, he remains disgusted with the entire institution itself. While people try to make connections with him, he pushes them way as if they were nuclear missiles waiting to blow up his entire world. All of these emotions tied up into one teenage boy have the makings for a disaster. What kept Holden from reaching this point, during his journey back home after flunking school at Pencey Prep, was his encounter with two nuns at breakfast one morning .

Holden believes that because of his older brother D.B.’s life experiences in Hollywood and in the army, D.B. has lost his innocence in the sense of joy and personal pleasure, and Holden doesn’t want to befall the same fate. Reflecting on D.B.’s earlier years as a new author, Holden comments that “he used to be just a regular writer, when he was home. He wrote this terrific book of short stories… Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies” (3). Holden can still remember the time when D.B. was “just a regular writer” who wrote about what he wanted to. Now, because D.B. has crossed over into the realm of writing screenplays to profit more, Holden is resentful towards his brother, even going so far as to say that if there’s “one thing [he hates], it’s the movies.” Holden’s resent stems from the fact that he wants to be able to return to a time when a more innocent and less self-motivated D.B. wrote a “terrific book of short stories” instead of being a Hollywood “prostitute.” Holden states that, in his opinion, D.B. “hated the Army worse than the war...when he used to come home on furlough and all, all he did was lie on his bed, practically” (155). When D.B. was in the Army for four years, he would return home miserable and unmotivated, and “all he did was lie on his bed.” Holden believes that the effects of war have stripped D.B. of his innocence, as the reader can infer that,

When his flashback begins, Holden Caulfield has gotten kicked out of Pencey Prep School and he goes to New York early before his parents find out he had been kicked out. He wants to be like an adult but feels like everyone around him is a “phony,” because of his internal struggles that result from things like his brother Allie’s death and his interest in Jane Gallagher.

Grief is one of the processes in life when a person experiences different emotions that occur in their life. Sometimes, advising or questioning depressed people is not needed; they just need a bit of time by themselves to realize what is right. Many people experience traumas by losing a close one and decide that life is meaningless. J.D Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye to express his thoughts outside and place them in a fiction book to explain and let out his past life into the novel and the protagonist of the story, Holden Caulfield.

Holden from Catcher in the Rye is a very old character, and he would most likely be different if he lived in current day. He would have access to the internet and he would be able to change himself online to gain friends that he does not have within the book.