Holden Caulfield’s story begins on a December Saturday at Pencey Prep School in Pennsylvania, where he 's just been given the ax for failing all his classes except English. As it turns out, getting the ax is a frequent theme in Holden 's past. Before he leaves the school Holden runs to his favorite teacher’s house to say goodbye to him. Back in the dorm, Holden goofs around with Robert Ackley, a pimply and annoying kid. We 're introduced to Holden 's red hunting hat, and we meet his roommate, Stradlater, who is getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher, an old friend and sort-of romantic interest of Holden 's. Holden is not happy about this impending date, but agrees anyway to write an English composition for Stradlater.
Holden 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.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses the main character Holden Caulfield to portray the loss of innocence. Holden is a teenage boy who struggles with adulthood and the innocence of being a child. Through Holden's experiences, Salinger shows that the loss of innocence can be painful and difficult, but it is also necessary for personal growth and maturity. Holden's journey towards loss of innocence is shown by several events, such as his expulsion from Pencey Prep School and his roams in New York City. Holden's expulsion from Pencey is a turning point in the novel, as it marks the beginning of his realization that he can no longer hold on to the innocence of childhood.
Holden’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.
Keeping 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.
The 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.
“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’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.
In 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.
This 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
Because 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.
In 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.
Holden 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.
The 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.
As Edward Morrow says, “To be persuasive we must be believable, to be believable we must be credible, to be credible we must be truthful.” This quote perfectly presents how a person has to be believable in order for people to trust and relate to him/her. This person is someone that has weaknesses, is not a stereotype, expresses his opinions, and has hopes, fears and disappointments. Usually, authors try to write about believable characters in their stories, allowing the readers to connect with them. Holden Claufield is a quintessence of this type of character, since he has the exact same qualities as a believable person.
