Holden Caulfield's Transformation

Over the course of the novel The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield matured in many ways. He traveled to New York and found out what life really becomes as you get older. He got hurt physically and emotionally, but he also got help from people like Mr. Antolini. This affected him in a couple of ways because towards the end of this novel he decides that it would be better if he stopped hating everyone, and everything, and went back to school. In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is considered to have never of changed from the beginning of the novel till the end, however some people believe he did change.

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel, “The Catcher In The Rye.” He has changed dramatically since he left Pencey Prep. At the beginning of the book. Where he started to tell what happened in his life, at the beginning he was Rebellious and didn’t seem to care about what was going to happen to his future. An example of this is when Mr. Spencer sat Holden down on the bed and gave him a lecture on why he flunked and that he should care about his future, but you could tell that he could care less. However Holden appreciated the help Mr. Spencer was trying to give him. Another example of Holden being Rebellious is when Stradler was joking about having sex with one of Holden’s friends and he thought “I’m going to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it will split his goddam throat open.” Then after he was pinned by Stradler Holden kept calling him a moron even though he was told to stop multiple times and it resulted in Holden getting punched in the face and nearly knocked out.

Holden Caulfield’s fear of change, especially death, is a consequence of Allie’s passing away as a child due to leukemia. This has a huge impact on his view of the world around him. He fears change and refuses to accept the fact that innocence doesn’t last forever, chaging everything pure and hating the phony world of adulthood. Through the use of the voice and thoughts of Holden’s character, fear of growing up and death are expressed as a result of the traumatizing experience he had as a child.

The main characters I chose were Holden Caulfield, Sally Hayes, and Ward Stradlater. Holden is the protagonist, he has many feelings flowing through him throughout the story, he’s depressed, lonely, confused, anxious, horny. lost, and perceptive. He has little to no motivation and has been kicked out of his school, Pencey Prep. Holden has grey hair, wears a red hunting has, smokes too much, and drinks often despite being 16.

In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, protagonist Holden Caulfield recalls the events that lead up to him being admitted into a rest home. Making no effort to give the reader any back story about his life, he hurdles directly into the start of his journey. He describes sitting atop Thomson hill overlooking the football game currently being played at his school. Holden doesn’t join his fellow peers down at the stadium because he had recently been dismissed from his school, Pencey Prep. Moreover, Holden had newly lost a surplus of fencing supplies, despite being the fencing captain. Consequently, he is filled with shame and dismay and wishes to not be encompassed by his successful classmates. Throughout the novel, Holden tells his adventure

Through Holden’s characterization, Salinger makes his readers question Holden’s every thought and action. Throughout the book, Holden mentions his severe depression but he puts it into perspective when he says, “The thing is, if you get very depressed about something, it’s hard as hell to swallow”(Salinger 216). Despite numerous mentions of his depression, this quote allows us to see its interference with basic life functions. This lets his readers see his depression in a personal way. Salinger lets the reader see the effects of his depression exemplified when his brother died. Holden describes the incident when he says, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it”(Salinger 44) allowing the readers to see his crazy behavior of Holden Caulfield in a result of his depression. This all builds up to his lowest

Holden Caulfield’s life is defined by his dislike of pretty much everyone and everything because his parents never taught him to do otherwise. His parents neglected him by sending him to multiple schools and never taught him how to deal with his emotional issues. Holden was never taught by an adult how to deal with his grief after his brother, Allie’s death. Since almost every adult Holden meets end up letting him down, he grows up to be emotionally stunted and thus is rejected by the world around him.

We all have obstacles within ourselves that are hard to overcome. But, in the end, you grow and become a better person. Every human being, like Holden, must go through this obstacle. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles to maintain friendships and relationships. Due to his lack of vulnerability and fear of connection, Holden has had quite a traumatic life.

Holden’s parents as it seemed in the book they didn't necessarily fill the large role of parenthood. holden from a young age wasn't given all the attention he needed as a young child . his parents loved him but just weren't present in his life because of the working obligations they had. We can see this when Holden says “ and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me and all..” (Salinger 1). We can see a clear absence of his parent's figures when he gets kicked out of boarding school and they didn't find out until he had the mental break down. At this point, it is clear that Holden Caulfield has an underlying mental condition. He failed out of four schools;

In J.D. Salinger's book, Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden goes through a tremendous amount of hardships. He struggles through them except they do not push him to become a better person or to thrive in the tough situations. The tough situations he was put in break him instead proving a point that the person enduring the hardships is not always stronger than. In the case of Holden the hardships were stronger than the person eventually breaking him in the end. He goes through hardships that most people his age wouldn't go through like the death of his younger brother Allie, his relationship with his parents, and the expectations set for him. Holden struggles

The characterization of vulnerability is quite important within the novel, for it shows that no matter how strong or tough Holden seems to act in the many adventures that he undergoes, he will forever feel helpless and defenseless when attempting to prevent others from feeling the same way as he has always felt. In The Psychological Structure of The Catcher in the Rye, James Bryan, language and literature writer, explains how “[Holden] is hypersensitive to the exploitations and insensitivity of the post pubescent world and to the fragile innocence of children” (Bryan 1065). Being vulnerable leads Holden to wanting the best for children that have no clue of what the real world is really like. Growing up, he flashbacks to the times that’s people continuously attempt to give him advise about what is to come, but continuously not taking it. By the end of the book, and all of the stories he has yet to tell the readers, we now truly understand why he is so vulnerable to the true meaning of life. Holden never straight out allows the readers to sense what kind of person he truly is. He continuously puts up a front that makes the readers think that every man is for himself, and that life is a hard obstacle that may or may not be overcome. Besides acting tough, Holden thinks to himself a lot. When doing this, the readers get to experience his inner thoughts and feelings to the events that happened in the real world, his real world. When viewing life behind the main character’s eyes, the readers are able to get a glimpse that Holden is hurting in a way that he cannot control. Even though Holden is older than his younger sister, by having the conversation with her at the end of the book, he finally realizes what his meaning of life is supposed to be fulfilled for, and being vulnerable is not going to

Discovering a sense of belonging while remaining unique to oneself is a difficult challenge to overcome while living in a society which promotes and accepts conformity. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, explores the journey of teenager, Holden Caulfield, who searches for a sense of understanding of the world while transitioning from childhood to adulthood. At first glance, the story seems to be a simple narrative about a confused and cynical boy abolishing rules and searching for ways to escape his environment. However, a closer examination of certain events and settings throughout the novel, provide insight allowing readers to analyze and understand the hardships faced with accepting and overcoming the fear of change and the inevitable

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a high school student that has gone to many boarding schools and been kicked out of every single one do to bad grades. He has a little sister and had a little brother, but doesn’t have a very good home life or connection with his parents every since his little brother, Allie, died of leukemia. His parent’s grieve and get over his death quicker than him and Holden doesn’t see how they do it. He never got closure and this affects how he acts towards everyone in his daily life and ultimately how he feels they treat him. Holden struggles emotionally with the phoniness of his relationships because he thinks people are unreliable, immature, and always tend to leave him.

In a society filled with impureness, Holden Caulfield searches for purity and innocence in everyone around him. Lonely, affectionate, and judgmental, Holden is the narrator and protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye. His actions and the way he acts reveals that Holden is very lonely, and is longing for human companionship. Holden is somewhat mature above his age, but still desires pleasures like any other teenage boy. After meeting people, Holden becomes very judgemental about the way people act. Theses traits all come together at the end and put Holden into a psychiatric institution, living a few miles away from his big brother.

Change is an essential component in the continued success of the human race and thus important in the development of society. As such, society expects people to constantly change and adapt. Readers typically expect to see the development of characters throughout novels, or other pieces of literature. In the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, J. D. Salinger deviates from the normal progression followed by most novels by characterizing the protagonist as an individual undergoing temperamental changes and uncertainty throughout the novel. This novel is known to have attracted criticism from numerous reviewers from all time periods, who tend to make the argument that the novel 's main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, does not develop at all throughout the course of the book. However, this is not the case as Holden grows and develops through the book, recognizing specific ideals from the environment that is around him and responding to them. These reactions towards change are seen through Holden 's discovery of himself, relationships with other characters and the actions that he decides to take in given circumstances throughout the book.