Holden Caulfield Argument And Analysis
The argument that throughout Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden Caulfield is portrayed as an abused adolescent, who is trying to protect the virtue of innocence while he ironically needs saving himself. Throughout Baumbach’s argument and analysis, it is clear that he believes Holden is struggling to hold on to his innocence when he states “This is his paradox: he must leave innocence to protect innocence” (paragraph 5, line 5). In this quote, Baumbach explains to the readers that Holden struggles to be himself due to the fact that he can not let go of his innocence. This is due to the fact Holden’s main concern about letting go of his innocence is that he will become fake or ‘phony’ like everyone else. Baumbach stated this when he
Holden Caulfield's Journey
1899 Words | 8 PagesBoth Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are the main protagonists of their respective texts. Both Caulfield and Huck undertake a journey in their text, in which the character learns from their experiences and meet new people, who alter their outlook on life. Both these characters are still not mature, and this is shown throughout the two books, but the boys have to mature soon, as they are becoming adults.
Holden Caulfield Unreliable Narrator
471 Words | 2 Pages(Salinger, 173). His obsession with being the catcher in the rye shows that he didn't want children to get caught up in the corrupt and complex world of adulthood, so he desired them to stay kids and preserve their innocence. Thus, proving Holden is naïve to the idea of losing his childhood innocence, since he’s being “forced” into
Holden Caulfield Criticism
1114 Words | 5 PagesKeeping these things in mind, Holden Caulfield is presented much like the author. Caulfield has a very immature attitude that fall under the category of Ego-Defensive. The Ego-Defensive category has four subcategories within itself called; denial, repression, projective, and rationalization, that are labeled as defense mechanisms through psychological lenses. According to McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of Modern Medicine, denial is the “primitive–ego defense–mechanism by which a person unconsciously negates the existence of a disease or other stress-producing reality in his environment, by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” Holden presents his state of denial in the way he tries to maintain his relationship with his deceased brother, Allie.
How Does Holden Caulfield Contradiction
138 Words | 1 PagesWhile doing Stradlater’s assignment, Holden mentions his younger brother, Allie. Recalling Allie and his baseball mitt, Holden said, “he’s dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You’d have liked him” (Salinger 49). Holden showed a contrast and contradiction with this quote.
Examples Of Obsession In The Great Gatsby
718 Words | 3 PagesIn more depth, this quotes shows his need to save children like his sister phoebe or his dead brother Allie from losing their childhood innocence and becoming adults which he believes are all phonies. In reality, Holden is one person so he can not be the catcher in the rye; despite that he keeps trying to be till he reaches a loin where he is truly lost in touch with reality and blinded. He does however realize that in the back of his mind, which is what leads him on such a destructive path of competing with himself constantly on meeting the idea he believes he is. He does this by drinking, smoking, becoming involved in fights and even attempting to have meaninglessness sexual encounters. However in the end he comes to the realization that he can not be the catcher in the rye despite what he’s done, and what triggers this realization for him is when he sees the word “Fuck you” on the walls of phoebe’s school.
Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence Quotes
727 Words | 3 PagesBecause the loss of innocence reveals society’s realities, recognizing innocence is to value ignorance. Holden is afraid that if he loses his innocence, he wouldn’t be any different from all the “phony” adults in the world. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Salinger shows the thematic idea of how the desire to protect innocence can result from one’s own loss of innocence. Holden uses his red hunting hat as a protective shield around him, the idea of having sexual intercourse with a prostitute, and the graffiti written on the walls of the elementary school. Starting off, Holden has a very strong bond with his red hunting hat because he finds the hat as a sense of comfort and innocence.
Examples Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye
1794 Words | 8 PagesHolden Caulfield is the protagonist in J.D. Salengers, The Catcher in the Rye. Due to his lack of maturity, he fears adulthood. He believes it to be superficial, however he simply does not understand it. Early in the novel we witness Holden’s attempts to protect his innocence and individuality, by running away or isolating himself. However this approach throws Holden into a deep depression and his only way out is to accept life for what it is.
Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye
715 Words | 3 Pages“Innocence is always unsuspicious”- Joseph Joubert The loss of innocence isn’t some big celebration when you hit a certain age, or have a certain experience, it is something that comes when you aren’t looking. J.D. Salinger was a man who kept to himself, didn’t offer many interviews, and wanted to make a difference. In this novel, he has woven the story of Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old, who has an adventure in New York City before going home and taking responsibility for his actions that fall. Throughout his time in the city, he matures and learns to look at the big picture.
Holden Caulfield Attitude
546 Words | 3 PagesThe idea that Caulfield has this trouble lead us to the theme of the story. The theme of the story that The Catcher in the Rye is Caulfield and he protects the innocence of children. Inside your novel it is clearly portrayed that Caulfield gradually begins to lose his childhood innocence to adulthood. The thing Caulfield experiences throughout the book is something we can both agree would definitely rid us of any innocence. For example, the time Caulfield found a woman to spend some “quality time” with.
Holden Caulfield Mental Analysis
934 Words | 4 PagesHolden Caulfield Is Mental Roughly three percent of the United States population, approximately 314,341,830 people, suffers from bipolar disorder. Holden Caulfield, from Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, has bipolar II disorder. This particular disorder is when an individual displays two extreme demeanors, yet not at persistent levels as shown in bipolar I disorders. This novel was written during an era that did not acknowledge mental illness very often; therefore Holden did not have the tools at his disposal to learn healthy coping mechanisms.
Holden's Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye
1230 Words | 5 PagesHolden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.
How Does Holden Lose Innocence
1145 Words | 5 PagesHolden’s dream of wanting to be the catcher in the rye proves that he wants to keep every child innocent and pure. He says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around―nobody big, I mean―except me” (Salinger 224). Holden wants no adults except for him in the field because he believes that the adults are the ones who change children and break their innocence. Similar to his dream of being the catcher in the rye, his fantasy about the glass cases and the cabin camps also proves that Holden wants to protect others and himself from losing innocence by isolation.
Catcher In The Rye Holden's Journey Analysis
656 Words | 3 PagesThe novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.
Theme Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye
837 Words | 4 PagesIn The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, introduces the protagonist; Holden Caulfield. Holden feels the sense that he cannot choose between the two worlds. For example, he makes it seem as both of them are complete opposites from each other. In the book, Holden wants to keep his innocence, but he also wants to grow up and toss that innocence away. He still keeps his childhood personality by constantly obsessing over things that shouldn’t matter.
Catcher In The Rye Internal Conflict
1032 Words | 5 PagesThis connects to the theme of the story, which is that people should not force themselves to grow up when they are not ready yet. Throughout the novel, this theme is emphasized by Holden's love for the innocence of children. Overall, The Catcher in the Rye is an amazing novel to read, and very much deserves its position as a classic of American
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