Jealousy In 'Catcher In The Rye'

This quote shows how Holden thinks very low of himself compared to his older brother just because he is more successful than him. When Holden makes himself believe those things that he feels as if he was unwanted in the family or as if he didn’t belong in the

A concept Holden had observed from the start of the novel was the materialism and egotism of people around him. There are numerous situations where this is displayed and he detests these ideas. For instance, Holden exclaims that almost everyone he encounters

Although he is reasonably cynical towards people who are conspicuously phony, such as Marty who overtly lies about catching a glimpse of a movie star, his negativity and scathing criticism of others often extends beyond the realm of reason. When discussing fighting, he says, “I can’t stand looking at the other guy’s face, is my trouble. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could be blindfolded or something” (117). Holden’s negativity is so extensive that it even drives him to irrationally resent the face of another man who is challenging him. This testifies to Holden’s struggle with an unusually cynical outlook. Moreover, he resists the formation of intimate relationships with others, finding flaws too great to ignore in every acquaintance. His history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand Holden’s refusal to do schoolwork. He is sorry that he has to fail Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him on a personal level and influence him for the better. However, Holden dismisses him as senile, phony and pathetic and refuses to engage Mr. Spencer. When he wakes up to Mr. Antolini creepily patting him on the forehead, Holden reveals that similar “perverty” stuff happened to him as a child several times. Thus, he clearly struggles with a natural trust deficit with everyone he meets, which explains his insecurity and the brash cynicism he utilizes to justify his alienation from others. Another example of this is Holden’s relationship with D.B. Although he suggests that they were once close, he now considers D.B. a phony because of his work in the film industry. Thus, he sabotages a potential genial relationship and justifies doing so with his prejudices against his brother’s field of work. Holden’s cynicism and alienation from others reveals emotional damage and psychological problems relating to

Holden, unlike most people his age, can already see the phoniness and corruptness of the adult world, causing him to have trouble mentally. At a young age, he feels the responsibility of protecting others from ever having to find out and ending up like him, corrupt. Along the way, he finds out that this task he has taken on is not necessarily possible because everyone is susceptible to their own loss of innocence. This is true for many people because they feel the need to protect the youth from the world they already know so well. The reality of the situation is that life will take its own course and no one can necessarily protect anyone from everything.

He doesnt want to accept the reality and prefers to live in his own world where adults arent superficial and hypocritical. He can not come up with anything better to live by than his fantasy of being the catcher in the rye and reflects his innocence in the uncorupted youth, and all he wishes to do is protect that spirit. I see where he comes from though because its hard to accept the real world and have to grow up leaving behind that purness. Its something holden didnt want to loose and protet others who might be in danger of loosing it

Because of this, Holden doesn’t attain a strong, healthy relationship with his parents, causing him to go on a path of self-destruction. He has little control over his actions, which has caused him to get expelled from his school, and is now roaming the New York streets by his

Holden says “I felt so lonely, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.” (J.D Salinger) Holden is so desperate for connection but the adults in his life seem unable to provide and understand him, and he does not receive the support he desperately needs. His resistance to conformity is a rejection of the phoniness and hypocrisy that he associates with the real world.

He is not intensely preoccupied with academic achievement like many more modern teenagers, having failed out of several prestigious preparatory schools, but he is clearly intelligent and tends to dwell on“heavy” topics like death and loss of innocence. His cynicism and sensitivity, in addition to the trauma he experiences from losing his brother Allie, suggest that he has depression or another untreated mental illness, an interpretation which is common among readers and supported by Holden’s visit with a psychotherapist at the end of the novel. Despite the risks he faces through having an untreated mental illness, shown when he is warned that he is “riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall” through self-destructive behavior, the conformist culture and social niceties of the 1950s prevented him from being able to discuss his thoughts for a large portion of the novel. (186) This culture, specifically the “phony” prep schools, is clearly toxic for Holden and likely contributed heavily towards his negative mental state, and therefore the negative image he often has of

     One of the first relationships that is mentioned in the story, is Holden’s relationship with D.B., his brother. Throughout his childhood, it is obvious that Holden has idolized his older brother. Now that D.B. is a writer for Hollywood, Holden considers him a phony, and accuses him of prostituting himself by agreeing to work for the film industry.

This passage proves that Holden is dissatisfied with the boys at his school, he believes they are fake and he does not social well with them. Although Holden doesn’t want to interact much, when he does end up interacting with people, he usually gets the short end of the stick. For instance he invites Ackley, a boy he meets at Pency Prep, along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. ‘“I’m not worried about it. Only, I’d hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and found some guy-”’ (Salinger 49). Another instance is when Holden pays Sunny even though they don’t have sex, and ends up getting scammed. At a young age, Holden lost his younger brother, Allie. This had a huge traumatizing effect on him; Holden felt useless because he was unable to help his brother. Holden turns his emotions into anger; stating that he punched out all the windows in the garage. Another time Holden felt unable to help was when his peer, James Castle, was harassed and bullied, leading to James’s suicide. Holden says, “... and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him”’ (Salinger 170). Holden feels that society had

“I don’t like any shows very much, if you want to know the truth. They’re not as bad as movies, but they’re certainly nothing to rave about. In the first place, I hate actors. They never act like people. They just think they do. Some of the good ones do, in a very slight way, but not in a way that’s fun to watch. And if any actor’s good, you can always tell he knows he’s good, and that spoils it…If an actor acts it out, I hardly listen. I keep worrying about whether he’s going to do something phony every minute.” He finds the theater phony because instead of demonstrating reality as it is, the emphasis is placed on polishing it theatrically. Holden feels anger towards his brother because “he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute.” He considered that D.B. was selling himself to Hollywood, which is why he called D.B. a prostitute. He considers the movies phony and hates them so much that “… I don’t think I could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long” when Sunny the prostitute was in his room. When he dances with Bernice Crabs/Krebs, he considers her a moron partially because she was on the lookout for actors at the bar because she had seen an actor the previous night. Also, it depressed him that they were planning on waking up early the next day to see the first show at Radio City Music Hall. Holden’s criticism towards the phony things in society is the most important part of his personality because it shows that

This character is going to tell it like it is, and he does. The most powerful emotional standpoint in the story is when Holden goes to his sister’s elementary school to deliver her a note. While he is there, he discovers two words scribbled on the wall. “Fuck you.” Most people would look at that and think nothing of it. Some would bow their heads in shame at the person who thought it was funny. Others might laugh. Not Holden. He did not think about the normal persons response to the note. He thought about the child’s response. About how a little kid is going to see that seemingly meaningless phrase and wonder what it means; about how some dirty kid would explain what it meant; and about the person who wrote it and how they are destroying the childhood of everyone who reads the ‘harmless’ graffiti. This section takes the reader to the door of Holden’s mind. It is at this point that one truly understands his emotions.

Holden is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

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,

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