Holden Caulfield Character Analysis Essay

I read the book and watched the John Lennon assassination video and the million dollar question is Mark David Chapman Holden Caulfield? I have to say no he isn’t. I will explain why I came to this conclusion. On the day of the killing, he carried two things with him when he shot and killed John Lennon at the Dakota apartments in Manhattan. He had a handgun and a copy of The Catcher in the Rye book.

Yet another demon that Holden avoids is the process of having to grow up. Throughout the book, he seems hesitant to develop any real ambitions or goals. He is a perpetual failure at school. He refuses to associate himself with mature ways of living, and so isolates himself from anyone his own age or older. This is all directly connected to Holden's picture-perfect image of his childhood. He sees this particular period of his life as his own personal paradise. He does not want to finalize the fact that he has to concede it's innocence in the end. Towards the end of the book, Holden shows his desire for life to remain as it was by saying, "...certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone." Holden does not want to join a world of phonies and greed, a world lacking in carelessness and irresponsibility. He won't, whether consciously or not, accept the fact that he has no choice.

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

In the novel Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old boy who defies society and pushes himself away from society. While he pushes himself away, he starts getting the title of an antihero. The qualities of an anti hero that Holden possesses include the of lack heroic traits, defies conventional codes of behavior and is not a villain. Holden, possesses all 3 of the main qualities to be classified as an antihero.

As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.

Adolescence, this is a time where you figure out who you truly are. This soul searching leads to self realization. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Salinger, has trouble accepting himself. Throughout his days he would put on a cap just to be someone else. It is his get away place, a place of isolation. A way for him to seclude from the world and become someone he isn’t. This is relatable to numerous teens. Though Holden could be described using numerous adjectives, Holden's character can be perfectly described as ignorant, a liar, and a slacker. He is ignorant because he does not learn from his mistakes. He is a compulsive liar. Finally, he is a slacker because he avoids work. Holden is just like countless people out there who do not apply themselves. You see, Holden could be smart. He could be successful. He just doesn’t have the motivation or ambition to do so.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is portrayed as a young, troubled individual. He tells us his story from the mental institution where he is currently residing. Holden is a 16 year old going through many different adolescent changes. He is expelled from his prep school for flunking too many subjects. He drinks, smokes, sees a prostitute, is punched by her pimp, goes on dates, spends a great deal of time in the park, and really does not do a great deal else. Holden is a very hard person to figure out and analyze. Throughout the whole book, Holden constantly changes his mind about things and has various conflicting thoughts. The experiences that Holden goes through illustrate the divide between adults and

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about the trials of life and the toll it can take on the psyche. I believe that Holden Caulfield is an under credited hero. He is a teenager forced to grow up in a time of turmoil with severe emotional handicaps placed upon him by family, friends and life in general.

In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the character of Holden Caulfield does not convincingly embody a compassionate and caring character. Holden, after having a difficult year at school, finds comfort in his memories of his brother Allie. Another instance of Holden finding comfort, is when he spends time with Phoebe. In the same way, Phoebe is supportive when spending time with Holden. However, this takes a turn for the worse, as Holden reveals to Phoebe that he is leaving. Holden finds comfort and love through his memories of Allie, his experiences with Phoebe and the support from he receives from her.

Through this quote, Holden shows his understanding of what he wants to do. He understands that he wants to protect adolescents from falling into the harsh adult world. Therefore, he makes heroic efforts to protect kids, such as scrubbing off the vulgar writings on the wall of the bathroom. Unfortunately, this is still a superficial explanation. He knows that he would like to protect adolescence, but he does not provide a reasoning as to why. The readers themselves are left to figure out why such fascination exists within Holden. Maybe it’s due to his own experience of being thrown into the phoniness of adulthood, or maybe it’s due to the death of Allie. Either way, Holden does not ponder the topic. Aside from this example, Holden does show other moments of deeper understanding, such as when Mr. Antolini warns Holden about the ‘fall’ he could experience. As Holden understands it, innocence must be protected and he therefore aims to catch children from “falling” into adulthood. On the other hand, Mr.

Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exist as the central protagonists of their respective texts. Caulfield and Huck undertake a journey in their text, in which the character learns from their experiences and meet different people, who alter their outlook on life. These main protagonists are still not mature, and this stands displayed throughout the two books, however the must mature soon, as they are becoming adults.

“BPD has a higher incidence of occurrence than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and is present in approximately 2% of the general public” (Johnston).Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, is an emotional disorder that creates unstable behavior and stress in an individual. Holden Caulfield, from J.D. Salinger’s, 1948 novel, The Catcher in the Rye has been psychoanalyzed by many readers. Psychoanalysis is insightfully looking at a characters action and behavior to better understand them psychologically. By psychoanalyzing Holden Caulfield’s behavior and thoughts, it becomes evident that he has Borderline Personality Disorder caused by his childhood trauma and neglect, and portrayed through symptoms that damage his relations

My Patient, Holden Caulfield has a family of six including his parents and himself. He has a ten year old sister Phoebe, older brother D.B. a screenwriter at Hollywood, and a younger brother known as Allie who had died of leukemia around eleven years old. Holden had attended at four schools including Pencey prep and was later expelled for failing most of his classes except for english. “This is about the fourth school I've gone to. " I shook my head..."Boy!"(Salinger 9).

The patient is Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Caulfield's appearance is tall for his age and surprisingly has quite a few gray hairs at the age of sixteen. Holden comes from an upper-middle class family. His family has enough money to support Holden with many luxuries including skates and expensive suitcases. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield aren?t there to talk, care, and be there for Holden, which seems to drive Holden away from his family. However, he has an intimate bond with his younger siblings, who embody innocence and youth. The death of his brother Allie has left a large scar on Holden. He has a cherished and intimate relationship with his young

Why is a raven like a writing desk? This question posed by Lewis Carroll in his novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Although never answered throughout the course of the novel, its tongue-twisting and mind-bending affinities stay apparent. Could the answer possibly be related to its symbolic nature tied closely with the lives of writers? Writers, seen as tortured souls with minds into the great unknown, are sometimes portrayed in dark and brooding atmospheres. However, these brooders create hope for those their art touches. Take Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Heralded as writers of the “lost generation”, these two men were alcoholics in their prime, although F. Scott Fitzgerald denied his alcoholic nature because he did not drink hard liquor. Despite their less than stellar morals, especially in the case of F. Scott Fitzgerald, these men were able to create worlds bound in paper, ink-stained sunsets floating through