Holden Caulfield Sociopath Analysis

From the beginning of the book the reader can interpret that Holden is a person who seemingly likes to be detached from society. He isolates himself from the football game and instead decides to stand in solitude upon a hill, looking down at all those below him. As he strives to find a goodbye to Pencey Academy, one can see that this is not a new experience for him, as he divulges the details of his mobile past, jumping from one school to the next.

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.

In the first chapter of this novel, we get introduced to the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden Caufield, from a rest home in which he has been sent for therapy. He refuses to talk about his early life, although he does explain that his older brother “D.B” sold out to writing for Hollywood. His story and breakdown begins in the school of Pencey Prep, a boarding school set in Pennsylvania. The setting for the early chapters in the narration is his "terrible" school, to which he describes the atmosphere to be “as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill”. Holden’s student career at Pencey Prep has been destroyed by his refusal to apply himself. We know this after Holden explains he failed four of his five subjects, passing only English. Due to his lack of effort and determination, he was forbidden to return to the school after the term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation began, Holden overlooked the football field, where Pencey usually

Holden runs away from the society because of his way of thinking that everyone is “phony”. At Pencey Prep, he purposely excludes himself from the community and feels alienated at times because he thinks nobody would have the same mind like him. He criticizes his school by sarcastically belittling, “they don’t do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school” (Salinger 2). He hates Pencey with a passion because he realizes that the advertisement is just an attraction for parents to pour their money in, but in reality, the school is not as great as it sounds on the paper. Holden most likely feels rip off when he finds out that Pencey is not what he expects from what others say. That is one of the main reasons why he alienates himself from people because he

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, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationship he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.

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.

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.

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield has peculiar behavioral tendencies. The author’s cynical narration presents the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose cynicism and personal oddities prevent him from conforming to a post-World War II society full of phonies to whom he cannot relate. It becomes increasingly evident that Holden, far from being pragmatic, has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood fluctuations. Thus, it is clear that his wide array of personal flaws including his cynical, depressive, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are rooted in underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has extensive psychological problems that are revealed through his depressive

In The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is shown to be someone who is against society. Throughout the book he wants to isolate himself from the world and calls everything and everyone that he sees with words such as “phony”, “moron” or “too good”. Some could say that Holden just wishes the world would change to the way he wants it to be. However, there is evidence that Holden is a misfit and that he is the problem, not society. The evidence that supports this are his experience at school, his thoughts of the graffiti with vulgar words, and his red hunting hat.

Holden's poor relationships with his classmates and teachers, or people in general, was evident before he went to Pencey Prep as well as during his stay at Pencey Prep. When Holden thinks back to his previous school,

Imagine going under treatment in a mental hospital or any medical center and telling a story of when you were sixteen years old. Well in the novel, Catcher In The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield tells a story of when he was sixteen years old from a mental hospital. J.D Salinger gives his outlook of the world through the main character of the book; Holden Caulfield. The book was first released to be a book for adults, but over the years has become common throughout young adults and teens. The main character and narrator is Holden Caulfield. Holden is a sixteen year old who is expelled from his four schools, due to failure in each of his classes. He frequently refers to people he does not like as phonies. Although Holden Caulfield is very negative throughout the book, he is also very hypocritical towards many things. Holden is very hypocritical towards many things because he calls almost everyone in the book a phony, and he whines and complains about people and their flaws. Even though he tries to hide the fact that he can also be a phony or any other person that he complains about.

He depicts Pencey as “one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life...Everybody was always locking their door when somebody wanted to come in.” (pg 97) By always being surrounded by phony students and phony teachers in a phony school, students are bound to come out as a phony. WIth each group of children going into the school and each class graduating, more and more people phony people are let into society. They then teach their children to be phony as well. Holden feels like by becoming the “catcher in the rye” he would be able to save children and preserve their innocence longer from this cycle of

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 Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye only likes the innocent parts of people. Throughout the book we are given examples of how Holden has different feelings based on who he is talking to. Three important characters in the book give three different personalities that add up to the overall conclusion that Holden is crazy.