ISP Reading Journal

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

In the beginning of the story we get to meet a character named Holden. A character with a weird personality. The number of readers who have been able to identify with Holden and make him their hero is something that I think is weird. Holden has a discontent and a vivid way of expressing life which makes him resonate powerfully with readers who come from backgrounds completely different from his. It is tempting to inhabit his point of view and just deduce what is wrong with him. The obvious signs that we see in Holden are troubled and unreliable narrator are manifold. He fails out of four schools, he manifests complete apathy towards his future therefore he is hospitalized and gets check ups by a psychoanalyst for an unspecified complaint.

On page 61, in chapter 8, Holden just got in the taxi and heading to his hotel. He says in a desperate way, “would you care for a cocktail.” The diction choices can infer that his maturity level is higher than the people in his age group. The author has purposely crafted the narrator in this way to show that he had no other option but to grow up fast. He continues to develop as a character, on page 68, in chapter 9, Holden thinks to himself, “I didn’t care much i was too depressed to care whether I had a good view or not.” The reader can infer that the main character is starting to reveal his true self. The author craft in this way to make the reader have sympathy for the narrator. On page 68, in chapter 10, Holden thinks to himself, “ I danced with them all - the whole three of them-one at a time.”The diction choices can infer that the narrator treats the three women like trash by fooling around with them and have no respect for them. The author has purposely crafted in this way to show that he is isolated from the world because he has not been interacting with others in such a long time. On page 87, in chapter 11, the narrator flashback to his childhood, “anyway, I was telling you about that afternoon Jane and I came close to necking.”The diction choices can infer that he starts to reveal the other side of himself, the real him is someone who actually cares about people who he loves.

He hides under a visage of a cool ‘bad boy’ trope, seeing the world through a heavy filter- to him, anyone who's anyone is a phony, a liar, or just plain bad, despite him judging many things he later goes on to do himself. Over the course of the book we come to see Holden has built an opinion of the world that shields him from the pains and complexities of life. The author displays Holden’s traits quite prominently, especially through his use of language; he writes as Holden speaks- vulgar, rambling, and easily derailed, jumping from idea to idea infinitely

Holden Caulfield, the main character in the novel, is not the typical sixteen year old boy. Holden has many characteristics that aren 't typical of anyone that I know. Holden is very afraid of growing up. He feels the adult world is "phony", everyone in it, and everything associated with it. Holden never actually states that he is afraid of growing up, or that he hates the idea of it, instead he expresses his resistance to become

This theme is a major literary catalyst in the novel and in the life of Holden. The term “Phony” is used 44 times and through Holden’s perspective, the word is used to describe everything he dislikes about people. This, however, is a huge contradiction because he fails to recognize that he is a phony himself. He is hypocritical and doesn’t realize his own ‘phoniness.’ Holden says in chapter 3 he is “the most terrific liar he has ever met.” This is a central contradiction since he spends a great amount of time in the story stating how much he loathes “phonies.” Holden hates it when anyone is insincere and less than truthful with him, but he tells lies throughout the book to almost everyone he encounters. Even though his deceptions aren’t true and often times are unkind and fiendish, he is nothing less than a phony himself. Holden is convinced that everyone is phony mainly because he believes the world is simple and that everyone should be as innocent and honest as children are. “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera.” (Chapter 3, sentence one). Holden is an example that the world isn’t as simple as he would like it to be. The fact that he is a liar himself, makes the world he conceptualizes to be

During the novel Holden lies to cover up his real feelings or as an excuse to not tell the truth. In Chapter 3 Holden says, “I’m the most terrific liar…” he continues by saying how frequently he lies to get himself out of trouble (Salinger, 2010:17). After Holden is expelled he decides to leave Pency and life it up for three days in New York because he cannot stay longer. Holden cannot go home sooner because he’s not feel like telling the truth to his parents (Salinger, 2010: 54). Holden choses to do the wrong thing because it is easier than to stay at Pency till Wednesday or to face his parents. Holden is contradictory he says, “I’m quite illiterate but I read a lot.” (Salinger, 2010:19). One cannot be illiterate if you read a lot. Holden is even more contradictory when he speaks of Allie in heaven but admitted that he is an atheist (Salinger, 2010:107). It is clear that Holden’s words and actions are contradictory when he says that the movies are phony but attends the movies a few times during the three days (Salinger, 2010:30).Holden’s character is riddled with dishonesty, wrong choices, and contradictions and true to an

This word is a strong indication of how Holden feels about the adult world. He feels as though adults are phony, superficial, and shallow; he has called almost everyone that he has come into contact with, a phony. However “phony” is not just repetitive, but it is also a central theme of the novel because he feels as though every adult is a phony and the adults do not notice their own phoniness. On the contrary, it is ironic that he views himself as the epitome of virtue surrounded by phonies, but in fact, Holden is actually a phony himself, by being a compulsive liar and refusing to face the

Holden himself is guilty of being phony because he is hypocritical at times throughout the book. Holden is angered by the words written on the school walls because kids will see the word and later think about them.Since he believes in child innocence, he wanted the writings on the walls to be covered. Although, Holden Believes in child innocence he goes around smoking, drinking, and having close experiences with sexual activities. In the novel, he claims to hate people who repeat themselves, yet he repeats the same words over and over again throughout the book. He claims to be illiterate, yet he reads a lot. He says something, and his actions don’t relate with his words, therefore making Holden a

     Holden is one confused kid trying to beat the Man in the 1950’s. He grew up ignored by his parents, drifting from school to school in search of a purer lifestyle. On page one Holden humbly describes his lousy growing up. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you will probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like…but I don’t feel

The main character, Holden Caulfield, tells about his life before and after he was kicked out from Pencey Prep. The novel was told in first person through the eyes of the narrator, Holden. He recalls the events as a series of flashbacks placing the setting of the story in his mind.

The book is narrated by the main character, Holden Caulfield, while he is in a mental hospital or a sanitarium of an unspecified location. The book is set around the 1950's while Holden is sixteen years old. The narration begins on Saturday after classes end in the school, Pencey Prep school, in which Holden attends. Pencey is Agerstown, Pennsylvania and Holden has failed four out of five classes leading to his expulsion. Pencey is the fourth school that Holden has been expelled out of because of him failing classes. Currently watching a sporting event on top of a nearby hill that is overlooking the field of play, Holden decides to visit his history teacher, Spencer, that he is fond of. While he does go there, Holden does not stay long because

Holden is deathly afraid of conforming, growing up, and having to assimilate into the phony adult world. As a result he comes off as hypocritical as he is the most prominent phony in the novel. He constantly lies, refuses to connect with others and overlooks his own pain, letting it deeply impact his life. Holden is a compulsive liar; he does not have one honest conversation with anyone except his sister and Jane for the duration of the novel. When he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, for instance, he claims his name is Rudolf Schmidt and preaches about what an amazing guy her son is, even though he is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school.” (61) This shows that Holden falls victim to the same social conventions as everyone else. He says exactly what Mrs. Morrow wants to hear, despite the fact that he

The self-narration of Holden’s life is what gives the reader an insight into the way he thinks and feels. It helps you understand why Holden is the way he is. Without this explanation from him, you wouldn’t empathise with him, or like him very much at all. It’s the little stories he tells, like the story about Allies baseball mitt, “…Allie had this left-handed fielders mitt… he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink.” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) or about how he knows Jane Gallagher, “You were never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.72) that make you see the softer side to him.

He drinks, he smokes and rebel against both his teachers and adults. Holden is a very negative person and is constantly trashing other people, if not he is lying to them. He likes calling people ‘phonies’, even tough he acts like a phony himself. And this is his hefty scare, he is terrified of growing up, yet he realises it is time for his body is changing and turning him into a man. Holden has had an uncomplicated life if you disregard away from his brother’s death. He comes from a good family, has never lacked anything and has agreeable opportunities. An instead of using this to his advantage, he gets sucked down into a pessimistic and sad vortex. He never feels at home anyplace or feels a strong connection to people. Rebelling is an ordinary thing to go through in your adolescence and Holden has it bad. He is indeed a ‘rebel without a