Similarities Between Holden Caulfield And Dorian Gray

One way that J.D. Salinger shows off a side of Holden is through the characterization. An aspect of Holden that Salinger creates is his school personality. Holden comes off as a protected person. At the very beginning of Catcher in the Rye, one of the first views of the narrator is a scene of him standing on top of a hill, looking down at one of the most important games of the season for his school’s team. In this passage, Holden is standing on top of a hill, next to a cannon, watching the school game below. This shows how Holden is protecting himself. His school is playing in one of the biggest games of the season, yet Holden is standing in a place where he can’t even view his side. When Holden refers to Pencey, he always uses third person phrases, like “them all” almost as if he doesn’t go to the school at all. He also refers to them in a very grouped way, instead of saying ‘them,’ he refers to the rest of the school as “all.” This kind of language excludes himself as a part of

These instances made Holden have to grow up sooner than he should’ve. To start, when Phoebe, Holden’s little sister, asks what Holden enjoys and would want to do in his future Holden exclaims, “I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be” (Salinger 175). Holden explains the “catcher in the rye,” as catching children that are falling out of their childhood purity, proving his motive to protect children from what he believes is corruption. In addition, when Holden wants to deliver his goodbye note to Phoebe he spots a vulgar statement on her school wall and claims, “I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddamn dead and bloody” (201). Without a doubt, Holden has a strong distaste about the children at the school reading it, proving his desire to protect the innocent. Lastly, as Holden waits to meet up with his old friend Sally his thoughts drift to an old museum that he used to go to as a kid, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells a story of a young boy, Holden, who never quite understood his stance on life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles to adapt to the inevitable transition into adulthood, often worrying more about others than himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses connotative diction, repetition, and specific diction to convey Holden’s struggle of accepting life changes that led him to becoming mentally unstable.            To start off, Salinger illustrates Holden’s nature by using connotative diction.

In view of the fact that Holden does not wish to listen to important warnings, his childish mindset is displayed. Furthermore, Salinger builds tension between two characters, Holden and Mr. Antolini, by utilizing hypothetical diction as Holden is depicted as immature. While the two characters have a conversation, Mr.Antolini is rather confrontational with Holden regarding his lack of effort and failing grades; he warns him about the path he is

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

The author has put in plenty of themes, messages, ideas, issues, and motifs. The character, Holden Caulfield is alienated from society, is experiencing the painfulness of growing up, thinks that the adult world is full of phoniness, and is sick of hearing about the American Dream from his teachers. JD Salinger has created a book that has raised plenty of questions and controversy towards the readers. The Catcher in the Rye shows how a teenage mind works. JD Salinger has used a stream of consciousness writing style where the character (Holden Caulfield) talks in first person as he presents his thoughts and feelings to the readers. The setting has taken place in the early fifties and the book uses a lot of profane words. The New York

When he sees an adult Holden thinks, “It’s a phony, I could puke every time I hear it. ”(Salinger 9). Here it becomes clear that Holden automatically judges adults and as

The main irreverent terms that Salinger incorporates throughout the novel are “sonuvabitch,” “goddam,” and “chrissake” (Salinger 47). These words are negatively thought provoking, especially for teenagers coming of age. Parents and guardians pensively send their children to a school to receive a valuable education and to learn life applicable topics, but by reading this novel containing such unwarranted language is merely the opposite of what parents desire their children to assimilate. Not only does Catcher include a great quantity of vulgar language, but an overabundance of English inaccuracies related to colloquialism and grammar. Salinger creates the main character, Holden, as an incompetent person by stating early on in the story that “I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot,” (Salinger 18).

The author of The Catcher In The Rye also uses Holden's speech and language as a method of characterization. Holden narrates the entire plot in a colloquial teenage language filled with profanity which is nothing like what a matured

The diction used in the book could best be described as colloquial. Through the use of swearing like “bastard”, and “damn” it is obvious to the reader that the language is coming form a young teenager. Holden’s swearing is also a sign of his low education. Holden’s constant use of swearing draws the reader in to the conclusion that Holden is trying to be very honest with his audience, and this is seen in the quote, “I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.” (Salinger 114).

“England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong” (Wilde, 145). The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Ernest are both ingenious literary works by the witty Oscar Wilde. The lead roles Dorian Gray and Jack Worthing are the perfect examples of how the Victorian society was phony. Although one is tragic and the other comedic both works by Oscar Wilde offer a social comment on the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era. Through the protagonist’s superficiality, deception and consequence of living a double life such comments are presented. While their superficiality and ability to deceive people are quite similar their consequences for their actions differ a great deal.

The Catcher in the Rye, like many other great works, was met by scornful criticism and unyielding admiration. However, many literary critics also marveled at Salinger's use of language, which was used to make Holden Caulfield, the main character, extremely realistic. Such language includes both repetition of phrases and blatant cursing, in order to capture the informal speech of the average, northeastern American adolescent. Through Holden's thoughts and dialogues, Salinger successfully created a teenage boy.

The book was, in part, a reflection of Oscar’s life. Filled with scandal, pain, love, and despair, it could be a mirror. What Wilde wrote was never just a story, but instead a reflection of his soul. It reflects what you think and feels, as was the case with Dorian Gray. The book has had a lasting influence for this reason and several more. The subtext is one of these. Everything Wilde Wrote had another story inside of it. Dorian Gray was no exception, and that is part of what makes it so influential and so very fascinating. It starts with the title. It was the first clue into the story behind the book. Wilde excelled in Greek and Roman studies, and it was no accident that the main character was to be named Dorian. The Dorians were a part of the Greek people long

Basil begins to notice this corruption in Dorian's face right after Dorian meets Henry. When Basil is painting Dorian, he notices a change. Basil "...deep in his work, and conscious only that a look had come into the lad's face that he had never seen there before" (Wilde 13). Dorian is loosing his innocence and purity due to Henry's influence and Basil can detect

The self-narration of Holden’s life is what gives the reader an insight into the way he thinks and feels. It helps you understand why Holden is the way he is. Without this explanation from him, you wouldn’t empathise with him, or like him very much at all. It’s the little stories he tells, like the story about Allies baseball mitt, “…Allie had this left-handed fielders mitt… he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink.” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) or about how he knows Jane Gallagher, “You were never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.72) that make you see the softer side to him.