Holden Caulfield Individualism

In the hotel lobby, Holden thinks about Jane and their childhood together.Their families had summer homes next to each other. Holden remembers a time where Jane’s alcoholic stepdad asked her for some cigs’ and she began to cry. Holden and Jane used to hold hands, he states that when this happened he was truly happy. Also, Jane was the first person Holden showed Allie baseball glove too. These thoughts depress Holden and he heads out and takes a cab out to a nightclub in Greenwich Village.

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden complains that the people around him are all "phony." This view probably stems from the extensive trend of conformity that infected the 1950's. The reader can understand Holden's reason for hating these phonies. Holden describes any person that embraces the popular culture as a "phony" and disdains them for it. This is clear when Holden goes to see "The Lunts" with Sally Hayes and is absolutely disgusted by the people around him. When Holden meets Sally's acquaintance, George, he immediately recognizes him as a phony, 'strictly ivy league. Big deal." (p.127) Holden cannot stand people who do not think for themselves. Although Salinger never states his opinion directly, one can assume by Holden's statements that Salinger was also critical of the 50's theme of conformity, or at least aware of it.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger captures a teenage boy’s struggle with adolescence. The story is told from the perspective of Holden Caulfield, who embarks on a journey to New York City after being expelled from his boarding school. He meets new people and has experiences that reveal his personality and interactions. In the story, Holden is “fed up” with the world, he feels that everything and almost every person he encounters is “phony,” (a word often used by Holden). Anyone who Holden perceives to have affectations, he deems to be different from him. These people appear to be socially intelligent and are generally accepted into society, unlike Holden. Although Holden is very judgemental, he fails to recognize his own phoniness as well. So,

In “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden doesn't fit the 1950s ideal because he views society as evil and phony,which is significant because he feels negative towards society and even though he tries to fit and understand, this only leads to him becoming depressed.

Imagine living an isolated life in which everyone else’s opinions and actions seem to be wrong. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel The Catcher In The Rye, lives the life of a remote teenager who thinks society is filled with phonies that corrupt the innocence of people. In the story, Holden Caulfield is not the average 16 year old that cares about school or a social life. Holden gets kicked out of school, and explains his story throughout the course of a few days how he runs away from home and faces obstacles, later on reuniting with his younger sister, Phoebe, where he then wants to go to California because he starts to notice a change in Phoebe that Holden cannot handle. In Salinger’s novel The Catcher In The Rye, he demonstrates

If there is one book that has been banned in more school libraries than any other, it’s The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  First published in 1946, this novel has served as milestone for books that vividly describe the angst that comes from surviving the awkward years of teenage hood.   Throughout the novel , various values of society of then and now are displayed through the various characters in the text.   The values shown in the differ between the different archetype.

The postwar setting in J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye influenced the main character Holden Caulfield feelings of disillusionment during a time when conformity was the social norm. The novel revolves around a hasty teenager who is against conformity, this is apparent as the novel begins and he does not attend a football game that was considered “a very big deal around Pency” and “practically the whole school except me was there” (Salinger 4-5) . However, Holden’s discernment towards conformity is manifested furthered, when he visited Mr. Spencer, who tried explaining to Holden that he should conform to the expectations of school [society] by stating: “life is a game that one plays according to the rules”(Salinger 11). Holden’s mental

People living in a society tend to become a visual representation to the youth and even the elders based off of the good deeds they’ve done. However, not all those people living in the society are all hardworking and brave. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the character Holden Caulfield is not the most appealing person someone would ever like to meet. He tends to dislike a lot of people that are in his surroundings, he smokes as being a teenager, and does not put any effort in his education which leads him to fail in school. Nonetheless, Holden Caulfield is a well known symbol of a decent individual in light of his ability to rise above the similarities of society that makes individuals dishonest and somewhat corrupt,

J.D. Salinger, the author of the Catcher in the Rye, was a skilled writer. Salinger wrote about a wide variety of characters throughout this novel, many of these characters had a complex personality. Holden Caulfield is the main character in the Catcher in the rye. Holden is a unique character and he shares very little traits with the other people he encounters throughout the novel besides his younger sister, Phoebe. Holden and Phoebe Caulfield have two very different personalities but they share some distinct similarities. Holden is a gloomy, pessimistic, and unstable teenager. Phoebe, on the other hand, is a lively, optimistic, and innocent child. Throughout the novel Holden spends his time trying to act mature while Phoebe is living out the childhood he never had. Phoebe and Holden have very different personalities and outlooks on life. While the two have such opposing traits, they have a similar background and upbringing.

Throughout Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield expresses his disdain for “phonies” at practically every opportunity he gets. He prides himself in being authentic and speaking his mind and blames his lack of friends and his alienation on the faults of others. He pushes people away because he cannot stand to be around their fake personalities. However, though Holden may not realize it, it is not because of the flaws of his peers that he is a loner, but instead because of his own judgemental and abrasive personality.

He explains his answer by stating that all lawyers do is “make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot” (Salinger 190). In a Capitalist society like America, such a lifestyle of being rich, owning cars, being surrounded by material comfort, and being a “hotshot” is considered a dream. It is clear from Holden’s choice of words, especially the word “hot-shot”, that he feels it an exclusive club. Furthermore, the inclusion of the word “all” suggests that these personages of Capitalist society only live for this purpose of material comfort. Logically, according to this view, those who live for material comfort but don’t succeed or earn such comfort would be unsatisfied with Capitalism.

Holden is more of an extreme case when it comes to the resentment of conformity in American culture as he was extremely judgmental, however because of the extreme judgement he was not blinded by the norms that came with the culture of conformity, trying to fit or being accepted.

Holden has many issues with conventional people. The way they act, the way they look; it all bothers him. He expresses his hate for conventionalism in many ways, but there is one very unique way. He wears his red hunting hat. Now, his hat is no ordinary hunting hat. It “is a people shooting hat” (Salinger, 30), and “[he] [shoots]

Is the world a perfect, beautiful place? Or is it filled with selfish, evil people whose conformity is destroying society? According to Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the second question models the world in which he lives. Over a span of three days, nonconformist Holden seeks different people to connect with, most of whom are conformists, but is left isolated and unhappy as no one seems to care about him. Through the characterization of Holden Caulfield, JD Salinger develops the theme of society’s disdain of nonconformity, leading to the depression of nonconformists.

Secondly, in order for somebody to change themselves into a better person, they are subjected to pressure from society, themselves, and their peers. As seen in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden personally experiences immense pressure from society, telling him to conform to their ‘phoniness.’ Pencey Prep, Holden’s school, contains teachers who exhibit this pressure, which Holden describes by saying that his principal “would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile” (Salinger 14) if a student’s parents were “corny-looking.” Holden, as a teenager of the time, witnesses and understands that society is an inauthentic force that pressures people into performing actions that they may not agree with or believe in. In this situation,