Pessimistic Nature Of Holden Caulfield In The Catcher In The Rye

Holden's younger sister Phoebe, is also in need of Holden's protection. He must protect her because he failed to protect his brother Allie from death. Holden feels that it is his responsibility to protect Phoebe from whatever may put her in danger, even himself: "I was glad. All of a sudden I wanted her to cry till her eyes practically dropped out. I almost hated her. I think I hated her most because she wouldn't be in that play any more if she went away with me." (207) He does not want Phoebe to turn out like himself. He wants

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

The goal that that Holden has to try so hard to fulfil is symbolic of his need to differentiate himself from the "phonies" around him. Holden’s image of people is pretty bad because he believes no one acts how they truly feel. Growing up scares Holden because it leads to adulthood. In his eyes once he hits adulthood, it'll eventually lead into the same phoniness as the rest of the adults. His constant avoidance and dodging of people and situations causes him to become more and more distant from normal society and social stability.

            Holden is quite skilled at citing exactly what is wrong with other people.  However he never acknowledges his own faults.  He was sure the entire world was out of step with him.  As Alan Stewart explains, ?Holden seemed to divide the world into two groups.  He was in one group, along with a few other people such as his little sister, Phoebe, and

Overall, many people around Holden influences him in a negative way by causing Holden to view the world as a shallow and cruel world leading Holden to struggle for instance the "phonies" around him and Allie. However, there are important people around him who influences Holden in a positive way by changing how his impression of the world such as

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

Even though Holden is disturbed and mentally unstable he does demonstrate healthy psychological traits such as the way that he speaks of his younger sister Phoebe. Holden cares deeply for his sister and always speaks very highly of her. Holden is able to acquire a caring, loving relationship with

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s life is composed of a great amount of contempt; he perceives society through pessimistic lenses, continuously dismissing its ways. Trying to veer off his path to adulthood, Holden often holds people accountable for their “phony” ways. He aims to “save” the children from such an outcome that he makes it his responsibility. The pivotal moment of which he transcends to maturity occurs is when he witnesses the children reach for the gold ring. Rather than blindly believing that he can save the children from sinking into the “evils” of the world and maintain their innocence, he ultimately decides to let them make their own decisions and grow up.

Holden is overwhelmed by change, and it leads him to prefer things that stay the same or do not change. We see that when Holden goes to the museum that he realizes that the only thing that ever changes is the people. At the museum the exhibits never

     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.

Holden also has several redeeming qualities that keep him from being the rouge that many censors and critics wanted to label him in the fifties. As mentioned previously, Holden feels deeply for others and spends much of his time trying to understand them. For example, he admits to being a virgin and attributes this to the concern he has for the girls he is with; "he feels he would be taking advantage of their weakness if he had relations with them. " (Lettis, 6) "They tell me to stop, so I stop. I always wish I hadn't, after I take them home, but I take them home anyway." (Salinger, 121) He is also brutally honest, a quality children possess and adults seem to lose as they age. Holden dislikes things he

Holden struggles to maintain his childhood innocence while change is constantly happening. The Natural History Museum can be seen as a reminder of Holden’s innocence and childhood that he desires. He goes in depth about how much he loves the Natural History Museum and even states that “[t]he best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

Holden’s appreciation for the museum and the way he acts with adults illustrates his unwillingness to enter the adult world and leave his comforting childhood. Holden is a teenager who is about to become an adult, but he does not want to and is not ready yet. For example, Holden demonstrates that he wants to remain a child when he visits the museum. The museum is a place of solace for Holden and appealed to him because of its unchanging state. Holden does not like change and likes when things, such as the exhibits in the museum, are unchanging. He says, “the best thing… was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move” (121). He feels comfortable with things that he already knows and has experienced; this is likewise the

In The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, is a troubled individual who is quite the Negative Nancy. Holden tends to be very critical of other people, and he tends to believe most people are phonies. He sees most situations as bad and thinks he must run away from every problem. In fact, most of the novel is about him avoiding going home because he was kicked out of school (Salinger). Holden rarely seems to recognized the good in any situation.