preview

Holden's Contradictions

Decent Essays

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a novel built on contradictory statements. This is partly because Holden, the angsty, teenage narrator, is still finding himself through the course of the book meaning that these contradictions show both positive and negative change in himself. The biggest contradictions shown thus far are both contradictory of Holden’s actions which is showing a lack of awareness of his true self. The first example of the Holden’s contradictions is in the beginning paragraph of the novel when he states that he is not going to recount his “whole goddam autobiography or anything” (3) and then proceeds to do that very thing by telling the “madmen stuff” (3) that happened to him a year ago. A second example of Holden’s

Get Access