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Holden Caulfield Misfit Analysis

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In Tthe ‘Catcher In The Rye’, J.D. Salinger portrays a fascinating and intriguing adolescent misfit character with great depth named Holden Caulfield. What is a misfit exactly? A misfit is a person that is not suited or is unable to adjust to the circumstances of his or her particular situation. Holden is a misfit because of his alienation problem, his conflict with ‘phoniness’ and his struggle growing up.

Throughout the novel, you can clearly feel Holden’s alienation from the rest of the novel. From Hholden’s multiple attempts of trying to interact with other people, in the novel, it is understood that he wants to connect with other people, especially adults. For example on the train to New York, Holden stated that he “enjoys taking late-night trains” because of the aloneness. In contrast, once he arrives in New York City, he starts to look for people who he can get in contact with. Holden desire for interaction suddenly becomes more drastic than before. The first person he thinks of is Jane, the girl Stradlater is dating with, who happens to be Holden’s secret crush. Although he claims that he “doesn’t feel like” to contact her, but apparently he is too nervous to contact her since he likes to switch the topic really fast and comes up with a long …show more content…

In the hotel,he does not do anything to Sunny. He is too nervous to have sex at that moment and having sex with a prostitute does not seem right to him. Similar scenario happens to him when he is dating with Sally in Radio City. He proposes a “run-away” plan which Sally refuses to follow along. Holden lost his control and starts yelling and swearing at Sally. He said “ I do not get hardly anything out of anything. I am in a bad shape. I am in a lousy shape.” These reveal his lack of ability to handle adult relationships and human interaction which makes him a

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