Questions On The Catcher In The Rye

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

At the lavender room, Marty, Laverne, and Bernice ostracize Holden when he speaks to them; they ignore him as he attempts to converse with them.

Holden seems to struggle with depression. In many places throughout the novel, Holden describes to us his deep sadness. A lot of times his depression is unpredictable and triggered by tense situations. In one situation while he was explaining his feelings about the Elkton Hills headmaster’s phony and rather boring conversations with well-built and

At this point, Holden is losing his mind, he is talking about going away and he is worried about dying. After crossing the street, he said “Every time I got to the end of the block, I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. Allie is no longer alive, and the fact that Holden pretended he was talking to him just proves that he is slowly losing his mind.

him some type of emotional security. Holden is not comfortable showing a vulnerable side to others and sometimes goes to extreme measures, like alienating himself, to avoid becoming hurt. This idea becomes apparent when Holden decides to hire a prostitute. When Sunny first arrives, Holden lies to her about his name and age, building up Holden’s disguise that he creates with his , sex. In “the scene with sunny [it] reveals that Holden is not ready for sexual relationships-- he is a “sex maniac” only in his head…” (Miller).

In chapter thirteen, Holden admits his cowardice and “yellowness” after staging an imaginary showdown with the thief who stole his gloves at Pencey. Holden believes that if he was more assertive, then maybe he would have gotten a girl already. Juxtaposed to Holden, Maurice holds all the strength and assertiveness that Holden wishes for. Maurice strikes fear into Holden and is Sunny’s boss. Sunny on the other hand is a much worse off version of Holden. Holden describes her as close to his age and notices her nervousness. Contrary to her name, Sunny works a night job and comments that she spends the day sleeping. Holden tries to buy a conversation from her, but Sunny is impersonal and insists on just doing her job. While Holden still retains a sense of innocent morality, Sunny is already infused with the seediness of her lifestyle. Their interactions show that though both aren’t living the goodlife, at least Holden isn’t as far gone as

He refused to go with Sunny because after hearing just a little about her life he could not stomach it, but then she and the man came back to extort more money. Sunny, however, showed some remorse, apologizing and pleading with the mab not to hurt him so

Holden’s attitude toward life in general is perplexed. He pretends to be an adult by drinking heavily, yet he complains like a child. Holden's thoughts aren't what an average sixteen year old boy would think about. He describes death in a peculiar way and he pretends to be injured often yet he hasn’t been in that position before. He is a bit violent and sexual for a kid his age. He lies about his age to certain people he meets. He tries to lose his virginity to a prostitute but he doesn’t go through with it. Holden isn’t a straightforward guy because he shys away with his lies. In other words, Holden tries to act like an adult at times, but he is actually extremely terrified of the adult life.

Holden feels that he must really make a meaningful connection with a girl or else he will lose desire for her. An example of Holden's sensitivity in action comes in the form of his reaction to Sunny, the prostitute, removing her dress before him:

A lot of change can happen over the course of a book. During a normal life a lot of problems can occur. It is necessary for the person to develop or change somehow, so that the problems can be fixed. If the problem is with a person, then it is necessary to dissolve any and all physical or emotional bonds with that individual. At the beginning of the story, Holden is very judgmental, and does not pay attention to the consequences of his actions. However, at the end of the story, Holden has emotions and finally sees the complexity of the world around him. He is experiencing loss of innocence because he is turning into an adult. There are major changes to an individual when they are changing from an

His time spent with the prostitute Sunny, Sunny is the Prostitute that was solicited from the Elevator boy Maurice at the hotel he is staying at. Before she arrives Holds makes an attempt to justify his actions to us, the readers quoting a man named Monsieur Blanchard saying that a “woman’s body is like a violin and all, and that it takes a terrific musician to play it right. … In a way, that’s why I sort of wanted to get some practice in, in case I ever get married or anything. “(92) this is another big moment in the book as Holden again is trying to adjust to the idea of adult hood and the prospect of marriage however eventually we can see the desperate fight for innocence win over the perversion of sexuality and adult hood as Holden never actually has sex with Sunny, even as she attempts to seduce him by removing her clothes Holden shows no interest in her. This is not however because Holden is not interested in sex all together, in fact Holden often refers to sex throughout his adventures saying that Jane Gallagher, “had this terrific figure” (79) as well as Sally’s “little blue butt-twitcher of a dress” and how “cute her little ass looked” in it (129), Motivation for not having sex with sunny stems from a whole other place, he is mostly concerned with how innocent sunny seems and how young she seems as well as his own conceptions that as remaining a virgin allows him to hold on to a part

     This is shown when Holden meets Sunny, a prostitute at a hotel. He pays her, but sends her back without having sex with her. He feels depressed and sorry for her. The next morning Holden has a date with an old girlfriend, Sally Hayes.

In the story he says “ When somebody says please to you that’s depressing as hell”Also in the story he said “Boy, did she hit the ceiling when I said that. I know I shouldn't've said it, and I probably wouldn't've ordinarily, but she was depressing the hell out of me.” when things didn’t go as planned with Sally hayes. One of the major things that depress Holden is the death of his little brother Allie. Holden introduced us to his younger brother allie in the fifth chapter of the book. Holden says, “ He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You'd have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent.” this was an unusual way to introduce a loved one that past, at this point we can infer this upsets Holden. The same chapter also states, “ I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken”. At this point we know allie played a big part in Holden’s life and holden loves him a lot. Holden brings up Allie because he still has Allie’s baseball glove from

Holden’s innocence overrules his desire to experience sexual pleasures, he wants to satisfy his sexual desires by calling in a prostitute, Sunny but he doesn’t draw in into any sexual activities with her due to several reasons, primarily because his expectations, out of shear innocence, didn’t hold up to the present situation. He felt that she was excessively young and nervous for a prostitute. His assumption that she is young and hence nervous is another naïve as well as hasty conclusion that Holden has run into without considering that Sunny could possibly have others that await her presence. Holden was initially in an analytical state of mind when the prostitute walked in, maybe even a bit unsure of how the following events were to play

Holden is not willing to give up his virginity to someone he does not know. That is one of the reasons why he tried to spark up a conversation with her : “‘Don’t you feel like talking for a while?’ I asked her.” (95). Not only does Holden want to waste time by trying to make small talk with Sunny, but he did not want to be