Holden Caulfield Loneliness

“I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would 've, too, if I 'd been sure somebody 'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn 't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (104). Holden is a complex character with mixed emotions about everything; many times contradicting his own thoughts and beliefs. Holden’s struggles are due to the lack of parental attention, the death of his younger brother, and his unusual relationships with other characters in the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye.”

Holden as a character displays the alienation of himself through his behaviour. Holden is not the same as many people and believes that everyone is a ‘phony’. Throughout the novel Holden realises more and more that he is different and sees the world differently to others around him. Holden has created an identity for himself and doesn’t want that to be diminished therefore he alienates himself from the rest of society to decrease the chances of that happening. Holden’s old school, Pency Prep, has the motto “since 1888 we have been shaping young boys into splendid, clear-thinking men.” (pg. 2) This increases Holden’s motivation to leave the school as it will be shaping his identity into something he doesn’t want to be; a man. Holden is all about protecting those younger than him from the dangerous world of adult hood and by alienating himself he feels he has a better chance of

Holden has either left or been expelled from about four prep schools, three of which are: Whooton School, Elkton Hills, and Pencey Prep due to his poor academic effort and his dislike of those around him, he feels .."surrounded by phonies." (pg.13) When the novel first begins, Holden informs the reader he is not allowed back at Pencey, his most recent school, as he has failed all but his english class. "They kicked me out. I wasn't supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all." (pg. 4) Although Holden is fully capable of excelling in his classes, his only real reasoning for the failure in his education is because he just does not care enough to put forth any effort. Failure does not seem to concern Holden, which itself is concerning. However, disapointing his parents

Antolini was trying to hinder him from going down the wrong path. Holden focuses on the little details like the gasoline rainbows in the puddles on the street and which suitcase is nicer. He overlooks the obvious, “big picture” which could better help him adjust and focuses instead on little, often-insignificant things he can handle. Moreover, Holden only pays attention to the things he’s interested in and doesn’t pay attention to the teachers or work given at school. This lack of interest has caused him to drop out of four schools and, therefore missing out on knowledge necessary for his well-being and self-discipline. Holden does not like change. Holden needs change, he needs to grow up. He needs to change his thoughts and behavior. Holden says “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 (122).”

In the beginning of the novel the reader learns that Holden has been kicked out of his school Pency-Prep.

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

Although Holden enjoys reading books, when it comes to doing any work beyond reading, he does not apply himself. He has flunked out of four prep schools, including Pencey, for “not applying himself.” For example, when he speaks with his history teacher who flunked him, he admits to being a “moron.” However, it is not that he is a moron, but rather that, like a child, he cannot stay focused on the task at hand: “Well you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I hot the bull for a while.

A disparate situation is presented to readers in The Catcher in the Rye. Early in the novel, Holden expresses the reason for his difficulties in school as his being: “always surrounded by phonies.”(Salinger 13) Holden is correct; he is completely incapable of relating to his peers. However he takes no time to consider potential solutions to his problem. During his conversation with Mr. Spencer, Holden communicates that he deals with his troubles by simply quitting; putting minimal effort into academics and socialization. Since Holden never addresses his emotions directly, he fails to realize

Holden is deathly afraid of conforming, growing up, and having to assimilate into the phony adult world. As a result he comes off as hypocritical as he is the most prominent phony in the novel. He constantly lies, refuses to connect with others and overlooks his own pain, letting it deeply impact his life. Holden is a compulsive liar; he does not have one honest conversation with anyone except his sister and Jane for the duration of the novel. When he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, for instance, he claims his name is Rudolf Schmidt and preaches about what an amazing guy her son is, even though he is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school.” (61) This shows that Holden falls victim to the same social conventions as everyone else. He says exactly what Mrs. Morrow wants to hear, despite the fact that he

He lies about her son’s personality and his identity, and flatters her by smoking with her and asking if she wants to get a cocktail with him. As soon as Holden gets off the train at Penn Station, he feels like calling someone, but he cannot think of anyone that would be available to call. He takes a taxi to a run-down hotel, where he sees people doing odd things like squirting water on each other’s faces. Holden starts feeling horny because of it, and he gets the idea to call a former stripper that his friend told him about. At first the stripper is annoyed, but she then suggests that they can meet for cocktails later, which Holden rejects but immediately regrets.

Holden had flunked out Pencey Prep, failing four out of his five courses, Holden was also kicked out of the other two, for reasons unknown. Holden claims his leaving of Whooton was a mutual agreement and Elkton hills, he just “quit”, although this just seemed to be his way of not taking responsibility for his failures. Although Holden appears to be rather smart, but he never actually applies himself, he just accepts the fact that he is flunking classes, such as history “It is alright with me if you flunk me, though, as I am flunking everything else except English” (Salinger PDF 7). Holden also doesn’t seem to be too concerned about his future either, as seen in conversations with Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini. Although Holden seems to have issues with adult figures, such as his reasoning for leaving Whooton, he doesn't exactly seem to rebel against authority per se, more like indirectly not accepting help, in a way rebelling against himself.Seen throughout the book several times is Holden debating on who to call and often deciding on to not call anyone, for one reason or

Then he goes on to tell how he is being kick out of Pencey Prep for failing four of his subjects and not applying himself to school. Before leaving the school to head home, he goes blurting out absurd words at his roommate, furious about not knowing what happened between his roommate and the girl he went on a date with. After that he took his stuff and left the school to go spend time at a hotel, instead of heading home right away. While trying not to go home to his parents, Holden get reacquainted with some of his old

Holden’s relationship with his own dorm room members while at Pencey Prep shows how Holden recognizes people who are genuine, while ignores or de -legitimizes people he feels

Holden's phony addiction gets him into trouble at school. Holden looks for the flaws in everyone and tries to eliminate that person he sees as a threat, such as when Holden decides to face off against the phony Stradlater after Stradlater's date with Jane. Holden also thinks every teacher is a phony who pretends to be helpful to students. If Holden has trouble in school he does not seek help from his peers because he believes that they are phonies. Hence this point is tied into one of the reasons he is kicked out of Pencey, failing four out of five courses. Holden's avoidance of things phony is very strong and he has a one-track mind. It is either his way or the highway, this is another example of how Holden's phony problem hinders his chance at full maturity. Holden is so scared

EDUCATION: His former teacher, a Mr. Spencer indicated that Holden has almost no motivation to finish school, failing all but one class (English) at his former school, Pencey Preparatory School. Holden is very intelligent and is very talented in english, mathematics and science, but simply lacks motivation. He finds it hard to make friends with other students and can be extremely rude towards people who he is closely acquainted with. His confidence level is above average for his age group. He understands that he is a physically attractive young man and has little trouble asking girls he just met to dance. He has trouble with boundaries, often times tackling his Pencey room mate and would knock on the doors of other boys in his class in the middle of