Holden's Humility

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,

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

When Holden talks about his roommate Stradlater you can see both low self-esteem and insecure sense of self being portrayed. Most of the time when he is talking about him he sounds like he’s jealous. “ He always looked good when he was finished fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway, if you knew him the way I did” (36). “He was pretty handsome, too-I’ll admit it. In both of these quotes you can see how he is pretty insecure.

Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in the Catcher in the Rye is a confused teenage boy, that judges people who seem to be not genuine. Throughout the novel, Holden presents to readers, many universal truths about a human’s daily life. All of these universal truths led readers to believe that, Holden acknowledges and appreciates people who are authentic and not fake. Holden recognizes that money creates a barrier in society which makes humans become phony. Holden describes how his roommate felt embarrassed of his inexpensive suitcases “It isn’t important, I know, but I hate it when somebody has cheap suitcases…You think if they’re intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor, that they don’t give a damn whose suitcases

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye features a complex narrative surrounding a troubled young student, Holden Caulfield. Difficulties he faces throughout the story force Holden to confront his fears of adulthood and maturation and the responsibilities therein through the difficulties he faces throughout the story. Academic controversy surrounds whether Holden learns from these confrontations and adjust accordingly, maturing throughout the story. While initially this seems rather subjective, a thorough analysis of Holden’s actions throughout the story as well as of the symbolism injected by Salinger makes it quite clear that Holden does undergo a significant maturity arc as the story progresses. Holden’s social development and maturation

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character and narrator Holden Caulfeild walks many different paths of life. He jumps around different aspects of his life throughout the book, showing the reader many different sides to himself. This theme is presented through the author’s technique in crafting the characterization and symbolism. J.D. Salinger develops a puzzle of a personality for Holden throughout the book, to show the complexity and multitude of sides to Holden’s character.

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

Holden is also described as a ‘young rebel’, who refuses to accept not only what his parents believe but also what they provide to him. He is the ugly duckling of the family, incapable and unwilling to take advantage of the opportunities his parents have bestowed upon him. He fails to meet their expectations and is shunted off to be cared for by others. His parents continue to live their New York socialite life, while Holden is enrolled, and expelled from one expensive private boarding school after another. The theme of parental neglect and insensitivity to the true needs of their children is prominent throughout Salinger’s novel and stems greatly from an increased focus in America upon material consumerism. The years following WWII were ones

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger that occurs around the 1950s. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old white male, who journeys to various places as he mourns over the death of his little brother, Allie. As a white male in a capitalist society, he has tremendous amounts of privileges that allow him to get. However, as the novel progresses, Holden describes his society as a place where honored human qualities are suppressed and capitalist ideals are embraced. Throughout the novel, we see that capitalism, “the social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, destroys the overall society for Holden and his generation (Rand).

The final symptom Holden experiences is his irrational behavior which is displayed several times throughout the novel. "You're a dirty...and you'll be-" (Salinger 103). Holden angrily backfires at Maurice, a man who began attacking Holden, clearly stronger than the teenager, thus only adding fuel to the fire. Holden's careless attitude results in him making ruthless decisions, such as agreeing to have a prostitute such as Sunny or willing to run away with Sally Hayes. "If you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you're probably aware of the strong connection between your condition and impulsive behaviors. Most of the time, you do something impulsively as a way of finding relief from a stressful feeling--for example, a painful emotion"

    J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.

In the bildungsroman Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger employs the struggle of individuality, inevitable maturation, and the childhood corruption of adulthood to reveal Holden’s alienation from society.

Written in 1951, J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye continues to be a popular book amongst Americans. Although The Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many public school settings in the United States it continues to stay atop some of the greatest books of all time lists. Whether people are in their teens or in their fifties they find themselves drawn to Holden Caulfield. At some point in their life they could relate to a sense of alienation, caused by money and wealth. Humans are wired to be jealous and want what others have. Holden Caulfield has the opposite problem, he has money and wealth which he inherited from his hard working parents. However, he himself is not motivated to work hard, graduate prep school and earn his own wealth. Instead he despises hard working students at the many prep schools he drops out of. Holden also has a big number of family complications. An area to explore is how wealth can contribute to feelings of alienation and despair. Holden Caulfield has a complex relationship with money, not wanting to associate from it, but benefiting from it. A further look into the 1950’s may give an insight into the troubled mind of Holden Caulfield.

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

Just as J.D Salinger, Holden’s socioeconomic background was at least middle-upper class (even though many of Holden’s actions and what he says demonstrates he belonged to the high-class) Holden struggled with family and class expectations. His family and culture expect for him to be reasonably successful at the prestigious High school to which he belonged, and then, after he was done with it move on to an Ivy League school. Holden’s problem is that he is incapable of seeing himself in that role, so he