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How Does Holden Change Throughout The Catcher In The Rye

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People change, you can’t ask people not to. Change is a part of the book The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and narrator of the novel longs for intimacy with other human beings. Throughout the book, Holden hesitates between wanting relationships and rejecting relationships. In the book Holden has different types of relationships and these relationships affect and change his character throughout the story. In this essay I am going to discuss how two of Holden's loved ones changed his character.

The Catcher in the Rye takes place in the 1950’s in New York. Holden Caulfield is a confused, judgemental and a somewhat lonely adolescent boy. He decides to leave school four days before Christmas break starts. …show more content…

There are many reasons for him to feel like this. First off, he lost his little brother Allie - whom he felt very connected to - to leukemia at a very young age. Also, one of his school mates committed suicide, which has had a big impact of course. And it seems that Holden does not have any close friends what makes him feel lonely. All these things combined could be the reason for him to fail almost all of his classes. Except for English, which he loves. And eventually the combination of his grades and his behavior led to him being kicked out of Pencey Prep, the school he went to. At one point he even talks about that it would not matter if he died. In the beginning he said: ‘I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was …show more content…

Holden is devastated by Allie’s death and carries around a baseball glove on which Allie used to write poems in green ink. Because Allie died so young, Holden thought that his innocence was taken away from him. I do not think Allie influenced Holden in a good way, because in reaction to his death Holden felt it was his responsibility to protect the innocence of all children. And this is not a healthy feeling, a boy of Holden’s age should not feel responsible for the innocence of children, he should have been able to accept that everyone is going to be an

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