ipl-logo

Holden Caulfield Loneliness

1039 Words5 Pages

Alienation In The Catcher In The Rye In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, loneliness is the main topic of the book. The main character Holden Caulfield is an outsider from the beginning, which makes it easier for him to feel lonely. In the book he talks about the things leading up to him getting expelled from Pencey Prep, a private school, and the events that occur after. Holden Caulfield desperately wants human companionship but since he isn’t mature enough and he dislikes human interaction, he ends up being alone. From the very beginning of the book Holden does not attend the football game at his private school, and that's a clear indication that he doesn't fit in. Specific events that occur throughout the book give off a very lonely …show more content…

He got caught in the rain so once he went inside he sat on a radiator to dry off. “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don't know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome.”(Salinger, 193) These few lines from the book are a clear indication of Holdens loneliness. Holden didnt have a good explanation as to why he started crying out of blue, only to say himself that he was depressed and …show more content…

Holden seems to be happy and he starts coming around “Although Holden identifies many of the novel's characters as ‘phonies,’ and although it appears at times that he hates being around people, there is evidence to suggest at the end of the book that he does come to terms with the fleeting nature of relationships and human existence, as Phoebe finally provides him with companionship and fosters some brief moments of happiness in his life.”(Pettineo, Jeff. "Isolation in The Catcher in the Rye.") It seems that once he saw his sister pheobe and got to be with her, he finally felt some happiness.In the end, In J.D Salingers The Catcher In The Rye, Loneliness is the main topic of the book.Holden Caulfield is an outsider from the beginning , which makes it easier for him to feel lonely. The author wanted his readers to somehow connect with the book by making him a young teenage boy who is in a stage in his life where his is lonely. Just like how our youth today goes through stages of loneliness in their

Open Document