J.D Salinger: The Catcher In The Rye The Catcher and the Rye starts out with the main character named Holden Caulfield. He is 16 years old and live in New York City. The story takes place in the time of the 1940’s. He goes to a boarding school but he is having problems staying in school. Just like a lot of kids at Fishburne Military School some get kicked out and other have problems with motivating. Holden has a hard time motivating him self to get things done. It causes him problems and the biggest problem it causes is getting him kicked out of school. One of his other big problems is that he can’t make friends easily. Whenever he tries to make a friend he always seems to fail. He was traveling home after he got kicked out of the …show more content…
He tells her to leave, she says to pay her 10$ he only gives her 5$. The hooker gets the doorman he is mad and goes up to the room punches him and takes the extra 5$. The next day he leaves the hotel and is on a search for his sister Fee bee. He goes to the park where he thinks she will be. He doesn’t see her and goes to ask one of her friends. He finds her in the museum. Holden always talks about people being phony, and how he doesn’t like people for a reason. Holden is actually a phony person him self believe it or not. Holden is a liar he lies about most things that he doesn’t like or things he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about. When something goes wrong Holden immediately blames someone else for his mistakes, it’s never his fault. He hasn’t really decided what to do with his life. He wants to find out how things work and why things happen. At the same time he is insecure and also feels like he is never good enough. He thinks the adult world is phony. He wants to be an adult just like a lot of all the other people in the world but when he gets mad or they upset him he treats them as a child and runs away. He really wants to be friends with everyone; he has a hard time making them. He wants to grow up by him self with no people around. Holden doesn’t really like his parents and his parents doesn’t like him that much either. The one big thing that contributed to his emotional and a downfall to his life was the death of his brother Allie
Holden isolates himself from the surrounding world. Due to him isolating himself he now views society as phony mass where people have fake personalities and fake emotions. In this world he only views a minute group of people as not phony, people like Jane and his sibling’s Allie and Phoebe. In fact, even Holden finds himself as phony, “I’m the most terrific liar,” (Salinger 19). Due to that viewpoint he pushes away people and opportunities with his pessimistic. “People never notice anything,” he loses hope in a human’s capability to listen and care, this idea prompts his lies (Salinger 12). He frequently lies about his friends, his feelings, and most of all his identity. “Rudolph Schmidt” I told her,” he tells Ernest’s mother assuming she
Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I
Holden Caulfield values his brother, Allie. When Allie died of Leukemia on July 19, 1946, Holden was left devastated. However, Holden always thought that Allie was the most interesting person that he has ever met. Allie was one person that
Holden's brother, Allie, contributes to Holden's difficulty to the idea of change, and takes part in his mental breakdown that impacts his life for the worse.
Holden continuously isolates himself from people, hence he refrains from forming social bonds. For instance, Holden is constantly conflicted on whether he should go visit Jane Gallagher, a childhood friend. This is evident as Holden states “I oughta go down and say hello to her [Jane]…[but] I’m not in the mood right now.” (Salinger 32-33). This quote evidently reveals that Holden is unable to form social bonds with individuals. Holden’s inability to form social relationships has transpired from his relationship with Allie. Moreover, Allie’s passing has changed Holden’s approach on forming social bonds with others, as he is not in the mood to talk to anyone, as he states “You have to be in the mood for those things” (Salinger 42). Holden’s inability ultimately leads him to fear from forming social relationships. Another key thing to remember is Holden is not receiving emotional support from his parents, as they are continually sending him away to several different boarding schools. Attending different schools, and not being close to his parents has led to his inability to form social bonds evolve into a fear. Therefore, Holden fears have led him to become incapable of trusting those whom he loves. For instance, Holden has lost trust in Mr. Antolini, his teacher at Elkton Hills. This is evident as he stated “But what did worry me was the part about how I’d woke up and found him patting me…the more I
He lies to others on the outside, and never attempts to make nice with the people around him, yet he claims that people don't recognize him when he's lonely. He leaves his boarding school and goes running around New York irresponsibly instead of fessing up to himself about his real problems. At least by the end of the story, Holden has somewhat matured and understand that this side of him as a hypocrite and a self pitier is present and a
Holden is also very lonely. He thinks that almost everyone is a phony so he never has close relationships with people. It’s not until the end that he begins to miss the people that were a part of their life. He also knows he can’t stay a child forever. He doesn’t want to enter into the adult world.
Although Holden is extremely cynical and struggles with relationships, he is not all bad. Inside he is moral and generous. He was very charitable when he gave a considerable donation of twenty dollars to the nuns. Holden has a strange way of loving people.
In the beginning, Holden is seen as a troubled 16 year old who has just failed out of Pencey Prep boarding school. Holden has the tendency to negatively criticize things, which he most famously does by labeling them as “phony”. He associates the term “phony” with things that seem artificial or shallow to him, mostly within adult society. “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's
Holden's phony addiction gets him into trouble at school. Holden looks for the flaws in everyone and tries to eliminate that person he sees as a threat, such as when Holden decides to face off against the phony Stradlater after Stradlater's date with Jane. Holden also thinks every teacher is a phony who pretends to be helpful to students. If Holden has trouble in school he does not seek help from his peers because he believes that they are phonies. Hence this point is tied into one of the reasons he is kicked out of Pencey, failing four out of five courses. Holden's avoidance of things phony is very strong and he has a one-track mind. It is either his way or the highway, this is another example of how Holden's phony problem hinders his chance at full maturity. Holden is so scared
Holden likes to isolate himself. His isolation is what causes most of his pain. He isolates himself so he can protect himself from all the phonies in the world. Holden doesn’t really like phonies. He calls everyone phonies so he won’t feel bad when they reject them. He desperately wants love and attention like other teens but everyone gets rejected. Holden relates to most teens because they all want someone to love them.
The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger is a book written in 1951. IT is considered to be one of the greatest books, it has also become very controversial all throughout the world. We begin the book Narrated by Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old boy (by the end of the novel). Holden is speaking to us from a mental war inside of southern California. He begins the novel by telling us about events that happened during the previous December. The novel begins the Saturday after the end of classes at the Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. The rest of the story is a long flashback constructed by Holden. Pencey is Holden’s fourth school; he has already been kicked out of three others.In Pencey he has failed 4 out of 5 classes. Holden is on the way to his teachers Spencer’s house. He has been expelled from Pencey Prep and is not to return the following Wednesday once Christmas break is over. He is not
The theme of The Catcher And The Rye by J.D Salinger is you can not stay a child forever because of experiencing new events like seeing that you have changed, experiencing the bad part of the adult world, and experiencing a tremendous loss in your life. Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old. Holden went to a private school called Pencey, but he was kicked out of the school for failing three out of four of his classes. Holden now roams New York. First of all, people change each time they go to the museum.
The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has just flunked out of his third private boarding school. Unwilling to remain at school until the end of the term, Holden runs away to New York City. He does not contact his parents, who live there, but instead drifts around the city for two days. The bulk of the novel is an account, at once hilariously funny and tragically moving, of Holden's adventures in Manhattan. These include disillusioning encounters with two nuns, a suave ex-schoolmate, a prostitute named Sunny, and a sympathetic former teacher who may be homosexual. Finally, drawn by his affection for his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, Holden abandons his spree and returns home.
The Catcher in the Rye is a book about a guy named Holden Caulfield. He narrates the whole story to the readers. He starts off by telling the story about being at Pencey Prep school, which is a private school located in Pennsylvania. It is the day of the game and he misses it saying everyone is a bunch of “phonies.” He ends up getting expelled because he is failing four out of five classes and goes to say goodbye to his teacher Mr. Spencer. Before he leaves he goes back to his dorm to find his roommate, Stradlater, getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden used to date Jane and he is very angry at Stradlater. When Stradlater returns from the date with Jane, Holden questions Stradlater immensely and Holden attacks Stradlater because he is in such a rage. Holden then realizes he has had enough of the prep school and leaves a couple days earlier to go back to Manhattan.