Holden Caulfield Teenager

In the novel , Holden was able to look past the masks people wear on a daily basis and thought of them as phony people, especially the school officials that he’s dealt with. In one scene of the novel, Ossenberg is introduced as previous student that went to Holden's school, Pencey Prep, and had a dorm named after him. Holden’s opinion is easily shown when he says, “I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs”(17). In this quote, it is clear that Ossenberg is seen as a joke and a bit of a hypocrite. In this scene, Ossenberg talks about how people should pray to God whenever they are in some type of trouble and that he himself does this as well. Holden finds this very phony because Ossenberg is very wealthy and drives a big Cadillac so it would seem unusual for someone like him to be in any type of trouble. In this novel, it was clear that Holden had very high standards towards adults and greatly criticized them if they didn't live up to those expectations. Holden most likely didn't do well in school due to the adult school officials he had to deal with. Another example that shows how felt about a school official was Mr. Haas. Holden describes this character with his most honest opinions and disapproved his actions. Mr. Haas was described going around shaking the hands of parents but if the parents were corny looking then he wouldn't spend too much

Holden’s struggle with school is a universal experience for teenagers. Students struggle to maintain great grades and stay connected with social aspect as well. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden gets kicked out of 4 schools and at his most recent school Pencey, he failed 4 out of 5 classes Holden does not have many more options for schools and as a result is struggling. Many teenagers can relate with Holden because 20% of high school students never graduate and over 1.2 million teens drop out of high school per year just like Holden. More studies show that 49% of students reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis. When students have no more motivation it causes their grades to dramatically drop and the stress to pile on. Holden

Spencer told him that. Holden’s explanation of why he is passing one class only is typical as a teenager. Salinger’s message in this quote is dedicated to teachers. Salinger wants to send a message out there to teachers that teenagers are more pressured when they receive lectures from their teachers rather than a word of advice. Teenagers suffer because of school constantly. Teenagers have a hard time processing and learning new things everyday. Teenagers are more stressed out when they have to take tests that determines the grade they get. Holden’s struggles in school demonstrates the kind of problems real teenagers are facing.

One of the many reoccurring Holdenisms (a word that Holden the main character in Catcher in the Rye repeats a lot) is “I feel sorry…” or he expresses sorrow towards another person. Holden is a wealthy depressed teenage boy from New York living his days out in many boarding schools back in the 1950s. The title Catcher in the Rye relates to Holden’s feelings of longing to be the catcher in the rye by “saving” children. But in reality he is the one needing to be saved and he is still a child barely getting close to adulthood. His statements of feeling sorry has correlations to Holden not being able to help others even if they aren't asking or seem to need help.

“The catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger is a novel narrated by a young teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden insinuates that the location he was writing takes place in a mental institute where he is undergoing treatment for his breakdowns. The story begins in Pennsylvania at Pency Prep, the school he had been expelled from. He then recounts his adventures in New York City. Holden’s nature is viewed as anomalous due to his judgmental and critical personality. He enjoys philosophizing people and ridiculing their “Phoniness.” Consequently, he’s impulsive and fails to see the reality of the adult world. Holden shares personality “|

One of Holden’s main defense mechanisms in the novel is isolation and same isolation can derive from his constant depression.. Holden chooses to isolate himself many times throughout the storyline because of his saddening past. An article by Debbie Roome acknowledged “Depression is another prime cause of isolation. A depressed teen loses interest in everyday activities and drops out of social groups at school” (Roome). The reader will in fact see this early on in the book demonstrating Holden flunked out of his school! The quote “Where I want to start telling is the day I left Pencey Prep. Pencey Prep is this school that’s in Agerstown, Pennsylvania” (Salinger 2) is an example of where Holden flunked out of his school, he in fact failed

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.

There are certain qualities that define maturity, and they vary from person to person. Throughout the story, Holden Caulfield, the sixteen year old protagonist of “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger is slowly but surely becoming a mature, young boy. He battles through his teenage life because he is caught between two worlds; one of pure bliss and innocence, the other of a mature adult. As he aspires to be “the catcher in the rye”, he wants all children to hold on to their innocence as long as they can because he feels the world is full of “phony” adults. However with the help of some friends and family, he is able to realize that he cannot save all children and that they will eventually have to grow up. Jeannette Walls, the author and main character of the memoir, “A Glass

Being a teenager is hard. There are even many struggles that a person has to face throughout their adolescent years such as dating, getting good grades, and keeping a good relationship with friends and family. For Holden, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye, going through the traditional high school’s struggles wasn’t easy. In addition to all the ‘normal’ challenges that every teenager has, Holden also had depression. Depression cast a dark shadow that followed Holden all throughout the story. Despite all of this, Holden made his life difficult for himself by doing things such as unfairly judging people, telling numerous lies and having a pessimistic attitude. Holden’s life, and the lives of the people around him could have been much simpler if he tried using these traits in a positive way. Instead Holden’s life was unnecessarily complicated, as he forced challenges onto himself from the way he behaved.

Throughout the novel, Holden's rebellious ways indicate that he refuses to conform to adult's expectations of him. The “phony” adults of society have no right to control him according to Holden. Several examples from the plot show that Holden's experiences with trauma affect his faith in authority figures. One of these traumatic events was the suicide of Holden's roommate, James Castle. According to Holden, James Castle is a very quiet student whose comments irked the wrong clique at Elkton Hills. He mistakenly called a very popular and influential person “conceited”, and that person's friends drove James to suicide. Although Holden despises the fact that they killed James, he is appalled at the lack of legal action taken by the school. He cannot believe that “All they did with the guys that were in the room was expel them. They didn't even go to jail” (188). While James Castle's death mortified Holden, he felt utterly perplexed that society could ignore and disregard the fact that an injustice had been committed. This causes Holden to lose faith in authority, especially in school administrators, to act in an ethical manner. Holden's distrust in authority stems from more than one event, however. His family life could have contributed to his lack of faith in authority figures. Holden tends to distance himself from his parents and tries to avoid them throughout the novel. Holden mentions that "[his]

The author gives Holden a voice by using aphorism to describe his opinion of his school. The main character seems to dislike his school a lot. Honestly a lot of people don’t like school, probably just not to the point where they think it is a terrible school. The character also seems to be bored of the “scenery” because he doesn’t see girls a lot of the time. In real life, there are schools like that, all boys or all girls schools. In my own experiences, I don’t hate school, I just hate the amount of work that is given but other than that it’s all really easy and I could live with it for

Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye, is stuck in between two very important phases of life. As James Bryan would say Holden “is poised between two worlds: one he can not return to and one he fears to enter.” Holden Caulfield grasps on to childhood because adulthood confuses him. He does often contemplate about adulthood, but he still seems to not understand many concepts that occur within the adult world. Holden Caulfield makes a great deal of decisions that show that he is still acting like a child, but he also shows a lot of actions that have him leaning towards the progression into adulthood. Even though he makes these crucial actions that could lead him into adulthood he always seems to fall right back into his

Set in America during the postwar period when (Rosen, p. 554), Holden Caulfield, the turbulent protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, finds himself dreaming of . Representing a fierce despiser of the neurotic adultism through the narration of Holden, even though he is not entirely immune from the temptations of adulthood, more than a cruel descent into a reality made of vice and corruption, Salinger’s novel emphasises Holden’s the desperate and constant attempts to ascent to the stage of a typical innocence of childhood. The theme of falling is recurrent all over the novel and is particularly crucial in one of the most agonising scene of the novel. In this scene Holden, still on the edge of the sidewalk and about to cross the street which

Holden Caulfield “was sixteen” (11) when lying about his in his story. He makes false impressions about his age to get way with doings that he may not be enable to do a sixteen year old. When having an interaction via the phone with Faith Cavendish, a woman that Holden had gotten the address to from “a guy [he] met” (71). When Faith answered the phone, Holden “made [his] voice quite deep,” (71) so that she would not suspect his age. She made a later comment in the conversation telling holden that he sounds “a little on the young side,” but Holden told her that was a compliment to sound mature. Since faith was not really “a whore or anything” (71). Holden did not want to be caught being sixteen, since she may not want to hang out with a teenager.

Youth is the time of deadly dangers. It is a time where one simple mistake can spiral the rest of one’s life out of control. Although trials and tribulations await for those who enter this stage of life, there are many of those who have survived through this treacherous storm of confusion and angst. Two of these contestants that have made huge strides in this game are Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye, and Junior from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Holden, a youth from New York, has been expelled from his high school: Pencey Prep. Finally, having enough of his life, he goes out and ventures onto wherever the wind blows. With only himself and his pessimistic personality to brave the world, he desperately clings