Holden's Failure In Catcher In The Rye

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, has had great difficulty interacting in a productive way with people he encounters during the novel. Holden doesn't take responsibility for his actions, he creates excuses for himself after realizing he is failing in school as well as other aspects of his life. His constant use of the defense mechanism, displacement, and blaming other's 'phoniness' for everything bad that happens to him, is intended to protect his own insecurities about what he is going through in his life.

A family is meant to keep a person safe, care for them, and is a group/person one can share their feelings to, it is an important part of their life. This is the opposite to Holden, as Holden’s family is not big part in his life, however, they are on one of the reasons that Holden isolates himself from the public. He does not speak much about his parents as he is very distant from them. But after the loss of Allie, their youngest child, it drove Mrs. Caufield to a nervous state of exhaustion, causing her to lose sleep and to chain smoke. After Holden gets expelled from Pencey Prep, he knows his parents are going to get a letter from the school indicating his expulsion and he knows how his mother will react so he decides to stay behind and arrive

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

As the result, his actions lead us to believe that he is scared of growing up and becoming phony like the rest of the world around him. Holden is scared of education because it is part of maturing, which then makes him a part of the world of phonies, which he is trying so hard to avoid. We can then easily figure out that the reason why

J.D. Salinger, in his novel The Catcher in the Rye, centers around the life of Holden Caulfield past experiences that contributes to his personality; these obstacles makes him afraid to grow up and become an adult. Salinger details major events such as facing exile in his school because of failing classes, coping with death and trust, and being able to connect with people. These events that occur in his life, illuminates a the meaning of the book as a whole--young character’s growth into maturity and dealing with alienation. In the beginning of the book we introduced with Holden “standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill,” watching a game between Saxon Hill and his school, Pencey Prep.

Some might say it’s the teen’s fault for not trying hard enough or not caring, but in fact it can be the teacher’s fault. “The poorest teacher I had was algebra teacher from (name of school removed) High School. She never helped students that needed the extra help. She would just point and laugh at us if we didn’t know the answer. Sometimes she would throw rocks at me cause I used to comb my hair funny and because of that my feelings were hurt. I start listening to depeche mode music by myself in they dark (student drew an unhappy face at the end of the story)” (Gibson). This is an example of teachers not doing their job correctly. They should be encouraging kids to do well and not demoralizing them. Holden was also looked down upon. As from his teacher’s point of view, “ ..letter from your headmaster, to the effect that you were making absolutely no effort at all” (Salinger 205). He should’ve told Holden ways he could do better instead of expressing his opinion. His teacher believes he does not care about school, since he is a teenager and it is his nature to have other priorities. Contradictory, students in Holden’s time and now blame it on the teachers not being well behaved, not because they are involved with other activities. They both rebel because they’re not giving clear help and guidance. Students go through a time in their life where they explore new realms and want to become adults. They care

The challenges Holden meets emphasize his diligence and highlight the committed route he embarks on as a hero. Salinger utilizes Holden’s hardships to portray the struggle he encounters while battling against his adverse odds during his escapade. Through Salinger’s interpretation of a hero, he depicts Holden as a character who persists to pass the obstacles that confront him even amid failure; to illustrate, Holden’s constant battle to sever the unbreakable bridge between adolescence and adulthood provides an unstable foundation for Holden to grow: “something terrible happened just as I got in the park. I dropped old Phoebe's record. It broke into about fifty pieces. It was in a big envelope and all, but it broke anyway. I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible,

The Catcher in the Rye, experiences first hand the effects of two devastating traumas in the life of Holden Caulfield. These incidences, the death of his brother, the suicide of a school friend and his constant feeling of loneliness, eventually leads him to reject what he feels is the "phoniness" of the adult world. The death of Holden's brother, Allie, greatly affected his ties to reality and as it did start/trigger his mental breakdown. For instance, in chapter twenty-five, while wandering around New York, Holden continually prays to his brother saying, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie don't let me disappear," until he reached the other side of each street. This mental stability implies that Holden does not feel that he has a connection with his own surroundings.

Holden replies with "okay" because he's feeling upset. When Holden feels lonely he tempts to feel this way, vulnerable. It makes sense that he's looking for a friend to make him feel better and not alone. The connection we see here is that when we feel lonely we try to seek friends, even sometimes random people. But, we should learn from this and try to find people who who actually care about you. It’s important to express how we feel to someone because keeping those feelings inside can make you feel like you're drowning in your own feelings. Find friends who do care about you and want to help you, not for their own

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

Holden appeared to be really directionless. He didn't even have ‘the faintest damn idea’ where he could go. Holden didn't want to go home because he was flunked by the school. Besides, he was contemptuous of the part of ‘phony’ society his family belonged to. At the same time, he couldn’t fit in the lower class society because of his background and unfamiliarity with their cultural norms. He was an

In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden gets kicked out of his school,Pencey Prep, for poor grades. He causes trouble with the kids at Pencey Prep and decides to leave and stay at a hotel in New York where he causes even more trouble. People dispute over Holden's maturity or lack there of in the book. Some people view Holden's actions and thoughts to be justifiably mature. However others refuse to make excuses for his behavior and see his behavior as what it it, immature. Holden above all else demonstrates immaturity in the book “The Catcher in the Rye.”

In the Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden is very affected by the events in his life. After losing his brother, he sees the world and the people close to him as people he needs to protect so they don’t experience the sadness that he has. Holden’s relationships with his sister Phoebe, Sunny the prostitute and the young boy singing a song, all are examples of how his deep troubles and hardships influence his actions towards others. He is a complex person and tries to hide this deep sense of caring by acting cool when really his main goal is to save others.

The Catcher in the Rye is in its entirety, a essence of the preservation of innocence and the pursuit of compassion. The novel is meticulous in how it intertwines the teenage struggle with society and a looming adulthood. It also deals with issues of depression and mental illness. These issues are important because it helps the reader understand the rationale of Holden Caulfield. Holden suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as evidenced by his psychological and physical behavior.