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Catcher In The Rye All Alone Analysis

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All Alone

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield feels alone and rejected by the world. As a result he sees phoniness in everyone and everything around him. Holden claims he is a “Terrific Liar” and enjoys lying to fill a void and to feel less self- conscious. His rebellion begins when he is kicked out of many boarding schools and does not care about how his mistakes will affect him in the future. After getting kicked out of yet another school, he starts to become depressed. Since he does not have anyone to talk to about how he really feels, he continues to lie. Holden’s feelings of deep loneliness drive his behavior throughout the novel. Holden has a negative outlook on people because people in his life continually …show more content…

Holden gets extremely lonely after he gets kicked out of his boarding school and gets rejected by people he meets along the way. On Holden’s way home he stays at a hotel because he cannot have his parents know he has been kicked out of yet another boarding school. Spending a long time alone, all Holden wants is a person to talk to. Holden hires a prostitute named Sunny that he only wants so he does not have to be alone. Holden asks Sunny, “‘ Don’t you feel like talking for a while?’ I asked her. It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar.” (106). Holden is seeking human connection and friendship, but instead Sunny tries to con Holden out of extra money. This makes him feel abandoned and rejected once again. Along with the many people he meets during his journey home, Holden goes to see a girl named Sally. He tells Sally he loves her as a lie, just to prove to himself he can be crazy. Holden is lying to someone he could have a real relationship with, but ruins it. Holden says to Sally, “Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I’m crazy. I swear to God I am” (125). Holden ends up by himself at the end of the night because he never had a good bond with Sally. Holden gets rejected by Sally, who he thinks is “stupid ”, but being abandoned again causes him more pain. Holden picks the wrong people to be around, considering he ends up alone any time he tries to connect with people. Holden does not meet any people that show much interest in him since he left

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