Is Holden Caulfield Relevant Today

Essay In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, the person telling the story, Holden Caulfield, talks about a part of his life when he becomes lonesome and how he wanted someone to approch and have a good comunication about how he views life. Throughout the story, Holden talks about the characters in the book whom he comes across and how Earth is filled with “phonies”. Today's teenagers can relate to Holden in some way because being a teenager myself, sometimes feel like there is no one I can talk to or no one to relate to. Many teens today only want someone who they can be open to, perhaps someone congenial.

In The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is shown to be someone who is against society. Throughout the book he wants to isolate himself from the world and calls everything and everyone that he sees with words such as “phony”, “moron” or “too good”. Some could say that Holden just wishes the world would change to the way he wants it to be. However, there is evidence that Holden is a misfit and that he is the problem, not society. The evidence that supports this are his experience at school, his thoughts of the graffiti with vulgar words, and his red hunting hat.

“In our media-intensive culture it is not difficult to find differing opinions… The difficulty lies in deciding which opinion to agree with and which ‘experts’ seem the most credible” (Espejo 11). The perceptions of one age group in society of another age group are built upon assumptions that are made through what is visible. However, rarely is anyone willing to understand the reason behind someone’s actions. Sibling rivalry, the death of a loved one, moving to a new school, competition among peers, and the reputation adolescents have today often end up giving a misperception of society to teens and of teens to society, thus damaging the relationships between society, as illustrated by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye.

The book, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, discusses many different aspects of the life of a young adult. The main character, Holden Caulfield, appears to be a typical self-absorbent teenager. Yet the majority of the time Holden makes valid points on what goes on in today’s society. Even though the book was set back in time, the issues discussed in the novel are still relevant today. Holden is often seen as an arrogant individual when in reality he wants a better world to live in.

“ The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”

The Catcher in the Rye is even more relevant today than it was in the 1950s when it was published. This is because some of the main topics of depression and mental health that we see in the story are more obvious today than they were in the 50s. J.D. Salinger makes mental health a main focus of The Catcher in the Rye. When this book was written, mental health wasn’t spoken about that much. In today's world, it is much more of a focus.

J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. The narrator, Holden Caulfield, is a sixteen-year-old boy whose life is filled with family issues, peer pressure and high school problems. I think that Holden Caulfield is both relevant and irrelevant in today’s society. I believe that many kids can relate to him and the things he does as a teenager, making him relevant. I also believe that with all of the technology, some of the things he does would be irrelevant. “The Catcher in the Rye” is a great book and it shows how Holden Caulfield is both relevant and irrelevant today.

A popular read for teenagers, The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, follows Holden Caulfield during his time alone in New York City. During this time he faces many challenges and makes difficult choices that help him mature. Although The Catcher in the Rye was written in the 1940s, the novel still continues to be relevant to today’s adolescents.

The book “The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel by J.D Salinger, this book taps into the mind of many teens across America, some can even relate to the main character. The book itself is band because it shows what real life is actually like for teens, it’s unfair and unpredictable. Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of this novel and life for him isn’t going the way he wants. Do I think that this novel is still relevant today, yes I think it is, many teens today are stressed out and have many problems to deal with, the story of Holden Caulfield is full of “phonies” as holden calls everyone that he him doesn’t like. This novel has characters that are very relatable even to today’s generation, It’s like Salinger could see the future this book is still relevant today.

In Holden Caulfield’s mind, he lives in a world that can be split into two halves: the world of the innocent and the world of the corrupted. These worlds are equated with children and adults, respectively. He despises “the adult world and its cruelty and artificiality” (Chen) otherwise known as “phoniness”. With The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger explores an adolescent’s journey as he navigates through the gray area of an otherwise black and white world. Throughout the book, Holden frequently tries to blend in with either side of the spectrum, only to be pushed back into limbo. Despite Holden’s glorification of the purity of a child and detestation of the impurity of an adult, he doesn’t

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger provides its readers with societal values of the 1950s time period by examining the actions of the main character, Holden Caulfield. Salinger possibly had written this classic novel in order to give an analytical view on the society of the 1950s. In an obscure matter, J.D. Salinger provides examples of society’s faults; in other words the reader must assess further about the main message of the novel, the hidden message(s). For instance, in one case, a library banned Catcher in the Rye because of moral issue concerns, excessive violence and anything dealing with the occult. Furthermore, the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger portrays a philosophical criticism of society by challenging its ethics, morals, and To begin, ethical values of society ignite an internal conflict

Written by J.D. Salinger, the book “The Catcher in the Rye” was published in the year 1951, and has been the subject of constant debates and controversies. The novel has not only been the target of ridicule and criticisms, but has also sparked an intriguing discussion on its validity for use in schools across the nation. The novel centers on the life of the sixteen year old Holden Caulfield. The novel deals with issues such as profanity, irrational behavior, and teenage sex and has very vital and appropriate lessons to teenagers and youth as it teaches the benefits of tolerance, discipline, religion, and rational behavior. It in particular teaches the youth that desirable behavior is more beneficial to them than to the society and as such; it should not be banned from a high school curriculum.

Teenagers lives their life differently. However, when the time of being a adolescent arrives, they all have the same confusion and mindsets. J. D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, is about a seventeen year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who lives his life with complexes and problems of his owns. Holden lives his life according to his favor and commit unreasonable actions. Holden has a difficult time trying to understand what being a teenager is. Holden Caulfield is a typical teenager because he expresses the problems of being a teenager.

People tend to seek out literature with which they can connect to. Perhaps that is why J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in The Rye is still relevant to many readers, especially teens, today, because the experiences and feelings that Holden has resemble that of teens today.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to act mature, while Phoebe is living out a childhood that Holden was never able to experience. When Holden was only thirteen, his beloved younger brother, Allie passed away from leukemia. This tragedy was very damaging to Holden’s mental state and resulted in him breaking all the windows in the garage with his fist. The reader can see that Phoebe was able to recover from Allie’s death, as opposed to Holden, who carried his death with him. He spends the majority of his time ridiculing people for being “phony” (Salinger 3). He uses this term to describe people who are too typical and ordinary. Holden criticises and accuses adults for being phony because he believes they are fakes who try to act sophisticated. For example, he loathes the movies because he is convinced all actors are phony. He states that most actors are lousy because they do not act like people, and the actors who are actually good, are conceited. On numerous occasions