Holden Caulfield Tradlater

Holden’s career at Pencey Prep has been lingering because he doesn’t apply himself, and after he failed all his subjects— except English—he is prohibited from coming to the school after the fall term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation begins, Holden stands on Thomsen Hill watching the football field, where Pencey plays its annual grudge match against Saxon Hall. Holden has no interest in football and didn’t want to watch it. He was the manager of the school’s fencing team and was supposed to be in New York for a meeting , but he lost the team’s

Literature has always relied on techniques to catch the reader’s attention and format the story, and “the Catcher in the Rye” is no exception. Salinger brought many different writing styles into his novel to make it a bestseller. With his knowledge, Salinger was able to depict the persona of Holden to the reader without directly stating his characteristics. Salinger proves Holden is a lonesome figure who wanted to fit in but struggles to be accepted. The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden as one who struggles with his sexuality and adulthood and wants to save children from adulthood because of the difficulties that it has brought himself. Salinger greatly expresses Holden through the use of metaphor, imagery, symbolism,

Sex is something he gains new understandings about and he learns that it is something natural, but complex and not all it appears to be. For example, Sunny is a prostitute who Holden calls up to his room out of desperation. He’s so lonely that he’s just looking for conversation, but he’s searching in the wrong place. Holden admits earlier on in the novel, “sex is something I really don’t understand too hot” (Salinger 82). Sunny is young and sees her as a person who needs protection, however he expected someone who is a prostitute to be older. From this situation Holden learns that he needs the moment to be right and an emotional connection to have sex, that for him it is not something that can be casual although for others it might be.

Holden’s disappointingly cold experience with sex and prostitution after he leaves Stradlater and Pencey Prep is a betrayal of his childish dreams of greatness and celebrity. As he enters the elevator of a New York City hotel, the elevator boy asks him if he wants a good time. Holden agrees, as he is “starting to feel pretty sexy and all” (92), being his first official chance to live up to his dreams of sexiness and manliness. His mind even starts to wander to his grand fantasy of “Caulfield and His Magic Violin” (93) in which he is the most adored man in all the world. He never, however, lives up to any of these egotistical illusions. His disappointment comes knocking at the door in the form of a young girl named Sunny. The minute she undresses, Holden feels odd and uncomfortable. He “know[s] that you’re supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody gets up and pulls their dress over their head” (95), but he just felt embarrassed for her. His ego and dreams come crashing down, as his night is not of good times and achievement, but of a too young girl who is as nervous as he. It was quite depressing for him to realize that the adult world was made up not of the movie-like dreams he had entertained for so long, but of timid, depressing reality.

In the book “The Catcher In The Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield, the main character, faces many challenges with many different people. He tries to distract himself from the fact that he was kicked out of his school and needs to be home by Wednesday. Holden feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere, so throughout the book he tries to make strong connections with people he meets along the way. Holden made a connection with Jane and Sally throughout the book, although he seems more interested in talking and thinking about Jane more so than anybody else. Stradlater talks about going on a date with some girl Holden has no interest about and actually bothers Stradlater while he is trying to get ready, but once Stradlater tells him his date is

In both The Cather in the Rye and The Graduate there is a clear comparison between the two protagonists, Holden Caufield and Benjamin Braddock. Both protagonists are relatively young people who are confused about their identity and their true meaning. However, in both instances, each protagonist experiences a serious maturation process throughout the book or movie. In Holden’s case, he understands the purpose of family and its relevance. And in Benjamin’s case, he experiences (what is thought to be) true love near the end of the film, which is quite significant in the maturation process.

him some type of emotional security. Holden is not comfortable showing a vulnerable side to others and sometimes goes to extreme measures, like alienating himself, to avoid becoming hurt. This idea becomes apparent when Holden decides to hire a prostitute. When Sunny first arrives, Holden lies to her about his name and age, building up Holden’s disguise that he creates with his , sex. In “the scene with sunny [it] reveals that Holden is not ready for sexual relationships-- he is a “sex maniac” only in his head…” (Miller).

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.

When Holden heads back to his room after dancing, the elevator guy, Maurice, offers him a prostitute, “…‘Innarested in having a good time, fella? …‘Innarested in a little tail tnight’…” (Salinger, 118). He figures that he is just trying to offer him a good time because he saw him alone in the elevator so Holden goes with it. Then when the prostitute, Sunny, comes in the room he ends up sympathizing for her and regrets his decision. He pays for her time after an argument about the price and she leaves pretty upset. She later comes back with Maurice who beats him up for money. Holden didn’t think that Maurice and Sunny were those kinds of people because of his initial impression of them, but they ultimately caused him pain and suffering. He still carries a certain innocence with him even though he puts up a persona of an old

He connects with life on a very idealistic level which causes him to feel the flaws of others so deeply that he tries to cover himself by being in a state of disbelief. Part of Holden yearns for a connection with others on an adult level, while the other part of him wants to repudiate the adult world as “phony” and unjust and to recede into his own memories of childhood where things seem to be easier to deal with. He attempts to connect with other people over the development of the novel which leads him to interacting with other people as an adult and then deciding that he wasn’t ready for it. When Holden meets Sunny, it becomes clear to him that he is far from ready to be able to handle an adult situation. He starts to feel uncomfortable and makes the woman leave. Another encounter he had was at the end of his date with Sally Hayes, Holden tries to get her to run away with him, resulting in her strongly rejecting his dreams and him getting so upset that they part ways. Lastly, in his departure from Mr.Antolini’s apartment, he begins to question his ability to judge peoples characteristics. He had gone to the apartment to confide in his teacher about the choices he had made, but Mr.Antolini made him realize that his arguments weren’t very strong which made him unsure of himself and his views. Holden finally comes to terms with himself at the end of his story as he watches Phoebe ride the carousel. Everything seems to all come together at that moment. Holden shows signs of growth as he’s watching Phoebe. He realizes that the compassion he was missing had been there all along within his little

     This is shown when Holden meets Sunny, a prostitute at a hotel. He pays her, but sends her back without having sex with her. He feels depressed and sorry for her. The next morning Holden has a date with an old girlfriend, Sally Hayes.

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

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is faced with multiple “phonies” that divert him from those he really holds affection for. Throughout the novel Holden shows disgust for certain characters but his ability to build relationships of intimacy are most eminent. Through Allie Caulfield, Holden is able to make a more personal connection. Seeing as how he is now dead, Allie is a savior in the eyes’ of Holden when he is in the time of need. Phoebe Caulfield, Holden’s ten year old sister, shares similar tastes with Holden earning his respect as well as his time, allowing Holden to show affection to her more than any other character. Jane Gallagher although never physically present in the novel holds a special place in Holden’s heart, his first love. Through Jane, Holden is able to experience things that his brother and sister couldn 't give him, earning her his ability to show affection. With the struggle between adolescence and adulthood, Holden Caulfield, of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, finds himself through the relationships he builds with Allie and Phoebe Caulfield as well as Jane Gallagher.

Holden’s date with Sally Hayes exhibited his difficulty at cooperating with others. At first he gives us a dire impression of Sally, “I wasn’t too crazy about her, but I’d known her for years.” (p. 105) Later, he wants to marry Sally and says he is in love with her. The biggest mystery of all when it comes to women is with Jane Gallagher. Constantly mentioning Jane, Holden recalls playing checkers with her before he got sent to boarding school. When his roommate, Stradlater, has a date with Jane, Holden asks him a peculiar question, “Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?” (p. 42) Holden, jealous of Stradlater’s date with Jane, longs to see Jane but never has the courage to call her. Interactions with other people especially women perplex and overwhelm Holden. He therefore resorts to isolation, illustrating a characteristic of his mental state.

The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger is about a 17-year-old boy named Holden. Holden gets in a very bad condition after his younger brother Allie dies from Leukemia. He gets mentally ill and suffers from serious depression. Holden goes through tough times in which he has a lot of trouble finding friends and keeping good relationships. Relationship and sexuality are big motifs in the novel, which come up very often. Holden is always on the look for a new friend but he always turns away in the last moment. When Holden interacts with women in the novel, he is very different than when he interacts with men. The women characters in the book all are very important because they represent and