Relationships In Catcher In The Rye

The reason behind his loneliness other than his lack of friends is the loss of his brother. Allie’s death caused Holden physical harm to himself so he acted physically. As a result, he broke his hand punching the windows out of his garage. Also, because Allie died at such

To begin with, Holden has isolated himself from the world, much like many adolescents who have created their own alienation from society to deal with their dilemmas. Social alienation is a condition reflected by low common values when one feels, isolation from a human is the end result they believe they need. “I felt like giving someone a buzz. My brother, My sister, Jane Gallagher's mother, Sally Hayes, Carl Luce. So I ended up not calling anybody.” (Salinger, 77) These are the words of Holden which reflected his current state. Here, one can see, Holden has options to talk to someone and interact but refuses. For many people, alienation can be both a good and bad state, It prevents one from getting hurt or losing people because

Yet another issue Holden endures throughout this novel is loneliness . There are many reasons that he is very lonely all throughout the novel. The biggest reason he doesn't talk to anybody is because he is afraid he is going to get hurt emotionally. For example he is scared to call Jane and is scared to let her in his heart because he doesn't want to loose another person he loves, like his deceased brother Allie. Another example of his loneliness is when he meets the prostitute in the hotel. Holden knows that he can have the comfort of another human for a little while, but he doesn't want to do anything with her because he knows she will just leave after they are done having sex. In a way he is looking for something that will last longer, like a relationship, but he is too scared of being hurt . Although, “loneliness is difficult to fess up

By Holden using this generalization of people he ends up alienating himself from the world. In the novel, Holden ends the book by saying, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you’ll start missing everybody” (234). Holden meant by this statement means that once a person becomes emotionally attached for emotional support, it is inevitable that the person will leave, die, and make the ones they left behind will miss them. Holden wants to avoid the feeling of loss that he felt after Allie’s death to happen ever again so he avoids emotionally attaching to others so that it is impossible to miss them like he misses Allie.

Although he doesn’t have any friends in this place, he stills wants to have a feeling of leaving and saying goodbye. This is shown when he says “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of goodbye. I mean I’ve left schools and places before and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. When I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (7). Holden doesn’t have any connections to people in this place, and this makes him sad. Constantly feeling abandoned and alone contributes to his feelings of depression. Immediately after leaving his school in the middle of the night without waiting for his brother to pick him up at a later date, Holden asks the cab driver to take him to a bar in New York city. Although he

It is obvious that Holden is alienated from the beginning of the novel however, it isn’t that others alienate him, he isolates himself. Holden detaches himself from others to protect him from the potential harm of getting close to someone. However, his separation proves to be harmful to himself as any human needs companionship. Ultimately, his coping mechanism is what led to his depression and loneliness as it put him on “the other side of life.” While he subconsciously longs for companionship, he instinctively cuts himself off from the world.

"Then I went over and lay down on Ely's bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome." (48) Clearly in that quote Holden has became depressed because he feels alone and isolated from the rest of the world. When he feels like that he often talks to people who he has annoyed him or is phony to him. He does not seem to care who they are, whether it be Ackley or his sister Phoebe he really just needs somebody's company when he feels lonely and depressed. Now you can tell that Holden is depressed.

As Holden begins his journey, he meets many possible companions in hope to fulfill the empty space in his heart, but is let down when he realizes it is not possible. While Holden is having a conversation with Mr. Spencer he thinks about how sometimes he is mature, but “people never notice anything” (Salinger 13). He wants to get close to others, but he feels as though everyone rejects him for who he is. This causes him to isolate himself from society and never take any chances. When he at the Ernie’s, he meets Lillian Simmons and the Navy guy, and has a conversation in which turns to be bad in the end. He then talks about how “people are always ruining things for you” (114). The idea of him generalizing society is the main reason

Maybe Holden’s alienation is the cause of most of his pains. Just like the character in the movie,” The Good Girl”, wherein Tom Worther is a loner like Holden.

He does not have many friends because he chooses not to make any. He also has a total lack of interest for his studies and for his school. Holden feels that school work is unnecessary and he doesn’t even try to succeed. In the beginning of our session, Holden mentions his old teacher Mr. Spencer. He then talks about a letter he wrote to Mr. Spencer and it said, “It is alright with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything else except English anyway. Respectfully yours, Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye).” From that point, I can already observe that he doesn’t care about any of his studies. In addition to this, Holden doesn’t seem to want to grow up. The fact that he’s failing every school he attends, drinks underage, and rebelling against every grown up, shows this detachment. Everyone just wants Holden to grow up and live a decent adult

Holden is always talking about how he doesn’t fit in at his school. Holden wanted to leave his school because he felt like he belonged there. He would always talk about how lonely he is and he never seems to be happy about anything. Holden had a room mate he was very jealous of and he had a friend named ackley

Throughout the novel Holden is rejected and exploited by the society around him. As he is conflicted with himself to find a purpose in life he constantly tries to connect with a superficial society. The ongoing failure and fake personas he meets adds to his depression and cynicism. But instead of facing the problems by growing up and to move on Holden uses this negativity and isolation to protect him. Holden tries show that he is better than everybody else as this is the little stability he has left. When in reality Holden is just scared of the interaction of people because they just submerge him with complications he doesn 't know not yet how to deal with. Holden not being be able to cope with the idea of growing up adds to his loneliness which is the core of his pain. When his encounters first interaction in the novel, Holden Caulfield is an uncaring outcast who sees no motivation in life. As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side of life” (Salinger). Holden constant attempt to fit into society is hidden because of his detachment to people. His only stability right now is to search for his own individuality and to face adulthood himself. That is why

Holden doesn't have many friends nor does he connect with a lot of people throughout the whole book he tries to talk to

J.D. Salinger uses the motif of loneliness to show how Holden’s struggles affected him negatively and demonstrate what made Holden lonely in this book. For example, the motif of loneliness describes Holden because after his brother Allie died he kept having flashbacks about him he couldn’t believe his brother is dead, for example he says, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist” (pg.39). This shows how when Holden feels lonely or sad or upset he gets really triggered which causes him to have a negative reaction to the world. Another example of Holden demonstrating the motif of loneliness in the book is when he was thinking about Jane Gallagher, he says “Jane Gallagher. Jesus ... I couldn't get her off my mind. I really couldn't” (pg.32). This shows us that just like Holden’s case with Allie he feels like he misses most of the people he hasn’t seen for a long time and that once he gets flashbacks of the important people in his life it is hard for him to move on. He does not feel safe alone. For instance, at the end of the book, Holden says “Don't ever tell anybody

Holden is the biggest hater of phonies, and at the same time, he is the biggest phony in the novel. In this novel, being phony is somewhat equivalent to being an adult. Holden wants to be seen like an adult. For this reason, he smokes and drinks heavily, and goes as far as being involved with prostitution. For people like Stradlater and adults, these are rather normal from their perspective. However, for Holden, they become paradoxes, as he absolutely loathes phoniness. Nearly all aspects of society, including movies, matinees, people’s behaviors, and even simple social interactions like conversations, are criticized by Holden for being phony. For example, during his date with Sally, Sally’s conversation with a guy they met at the matinee “killed [Holden]…it was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life” (Salinger 127). In a hope to make Sally understand his views on phonies, Holden says, “‘Take cars,’… ‘I don’t even like old cars. I mean they don’t even interest me. I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake’” (Salinger 130). Then again, Holden becomes the phoniest person shortly after. He asks Carl Luce,