The Catcher in the Rye

His belief of being superior causes him to view other classmates as “crooks” (pg.6) and “phonies” (pg.17). When sharing stories about his dorm roommates, Holden highlights their negative aspects. During the football game, one of the only other people to stay in the dorm is Ackley, Holden’s neighbour. Although Holden knew “[Ackley] hardly went anywhere” (pg.22) since the other classmates did not like him, he remains annoyed by Ackley’s behaviour and primarily describes his poor hygiene habits such as “never … using [a] handkerchief” (pg.40) to showcase him in a dehumanizing manner. Furthermore, Holden’s jealousy of roommate Stradlater’s relationship with former love interest Jane Gallagher causes the boys to get into a physical brawl. After the fight, Holden receives little to no attention from Ackley and fed up with feeling “sad and lonesome” (pg.58) at school, decides to act upon his frustration. As an outsider, Holden’s is unable to gain acceptance from his peers and find comfort at school, therefore to escape his peer’s negative behaviour towards him, Holden decides to run away from

Sometimes you get tired of riding in taxicabs the same way you get tired riding in elevators” (88). During the walk back to the hotel, Holden was having a mental conversation with himself. He was planning what to say to the person who had stolen his gloves. In the morning, Holden decided to call Sally Hayes and made a date with her. When it came to their date, Holden described Sally as, “ She had one of those very loud, embarrassing voices when you met her somewhere” (124). When their date was over, Holden was sort of hungry, so he went to the drugstore. When he ate some food he bought at the drugstore, he got some drinks and got drunk. “I was too drunk, I guess. So what I did, I gave old Sally Hayes a buzz” (150). They talked for awhile, but Sally hung up on him after awhile. When Holden isn’t drunk anymore, he decided to visit his younger sister Phoebe at home. When Phoebe saw Holden, she was super excited to see her brother again. “She’s very affectionate. I mean she’s quite affectionate, for a child.Sometimes she’s even too affectionate” (161). After talking for awhile, Holden left and called up Mr. Antolini. “He was about the best teacher I ever had, Mr.

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye features a complex narrative surrounding a troubled young student, Holden Caulfield. Difficulties he faces throughout the story force Holden to confront his fears of adulthood and maturation and the responsibilities therein through the difficulties he faces throughout the story. Academic controversy surrounds whether Holden learns from these confrontations and adjust accordingly, maturing throughout the story. While initially this seems rather subjective, a thorough analysis of Holden’s actions throughout the story as well as of the symbolism injected by Salinger makes it quite clear that Holden does undergo a significant maturity arc as the story progresses. Holden’s social development and maturation

His loneliness makes him feel depressed and willing to die. At his hotel, Holden decides to hire a prostitute: “She didn’t care what the hell my name was, naturally” (105). Normally one would go to a prostitute for sex, but Holden is solely focused on finding company. He is looking for any kind of connection or relationship between him and this stranger, but she is only willing to talk business. He is feeling so deserted that his best prospect for company is a prostitute who does not even care about him. He knows prostitutes are considered among the worst of people, and they are also illegal. However, Holden loses perspective in terms of the way he sees himself in comparison to others. Now thinking that he is now on the same level as prostitutes in society. Holden grasps onto relationships with people like prostitutes (and later taxi drivers) because no one is there for him like Allie was. It is almost as if Holden is trying to recreate his relationship with Allie. Although he can not find anyone nearly as special or satisfying, so therefore he reverts towards ending his life. He describes the lobby of the hotel that he is staying at as empty and full of dead cigars, leaving him feeling lonely and frustrated as he says: “I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead” (101). When his emotions start to

JD. Salinger’s 1951 book, The Catcher in the Rye, shows us how society treated their confused and changing teenagers during their transition into adulthood. The book’s main character Holden Caulfield is being pressured into growing up even though he doesn’t feel ready, to lead an adult life. He is still struggling socially and mourning for his deceased brother whose death turned Holden upside down and into a negative, hopeless person from a young age, which causes him to be distracted, indifferent and to flunk every school he goes to.

The novel The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, contains many complex symbols, many of the symbols in the book are interconnected. A symbol is an object represents an idea that is important to the novel. I believe the most important symbol in this novel is Holden 's idea of being the "catcher in the rye".

J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye is widely recognized as one of the most self-destructive novels ever written. The novel’s protagonist Holden Caulfield is known for his anti-social behavior and his self-loathing, self-isolating character in the book. Holden’s traits could widely be compared to Napoleon Dynamite the protagonist of the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite directed by Jared Hess. Napoleon is characterized by his clichéd “school nerd” behavior and of course his own self-isolating habit just like Holden. Like Holden, Napoleon tries to put down people to isolate him from others. But even though Holden and Napoleon are alike on how they assume the traits of the people they meet,

William Butler Yeats a writer and irish poet once said, “The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” In the book, “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger, a boy named “Holden” is dealing with the consequences of growing up and losing innocence. The story details the importance of being a kid and going through maturity. It also shares the knowledge of learning from mistakes and growing up. Holden experiences all of these elements through loneliness and innocence throughout the book.

Holden’s date with Sally Hayes exhibited his difficulty at cooperating with others. At first he gives us a dire impression of Sally, “I wasn’t too crazy about her, but I’d known her for years.” (p. 105) Later, he wants to marry Sally and says he is in love with her. The biggest mystery of all when it comes to women is with Jane Gallagher. Constantly mentioning Jane, Holden recalls playing checkers with her before he got sent to boarding school. When his roommate, Stradlater, has a date with Jane, Holden asks him a peculiar question, “Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?” (p. 42) Holden, jealous of Stradlater’s date with Jane, longs to see Jane but never has the courage to call her. Interactions with other people especially women perplex and overwhelm Holden. He therefore resorts to isolation, illustrating a characteristic of his mental state.

Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel in Manhattan, where he hired a young prostitute named Sunny, but didn’t sleep with her. The scene depicts Holden’s struggle of coming to adulthood. Holden thought that by sleeping with a prostitute would make him a man. However, when he was confronted in the burgeoning sexual situation, he yielded. After all he is still just a kid. “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than

In the hotel lobby, Holden thinks about Jane and their childhood together.Their families had summer homes next to each other. Holden remembers a time where Jane’s alcoholic stepdad asked her for some cigs’ and she began to cry. Holden and Jane used to hold hands, he states that when this happened he was truly happy. Also, Jane was the first person Holden showed Allie baseball glove too. These thoughts depress Holden and he heads out and takes a cab out to a nightclub in Greenwich Village.

3. Who is the first person Holden calls? Why do you suppose he doesn’t arrange to meet her the next day as she suggests? A prostitute and not to sure doesn’t want to wait that long perhaps

Holden hates those magazines that the steward sells on the train. Holden cites, "I can usually even read one of those dumb stories in a magazine without puking. You know. One of those stories with a lot of phony, lean-jawed guys named David in it, and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia that are always lighting all the goddam Davids' pipes for them" (53). Holden cannot stand that all the stupid same old stories. The ones where there is always a hero and saves someone that is in trouble. After that Holden felt a little down so he decided to pass the time. Holden knows this girl named Sally Hayes. They used to send a lot of time together when they were younger. Holden is bored and decides to give her a call. He calls her and her father answers and then gives the phone to Sally. Sally Hayes picked up the phone and asks, "yes--who is this?" Holden goes on to state, "she was quite a little phony. I'd already told her father who it was" (106). Holden cannot believe that she knows who is calling but asks for no reason. Sally is just trying to play a stupid game that Holden would rather not want to play at any time.

Here, Holden desperately wants to escape the phony, corrupt world, so he proclaims his love to her, and asks her to runaway with him. She tells him that he is crazy and leaves him.

“Is The Catcher in the Rye, as a work of literature still relevant for today’s youth?”