Title- The title refers to the misinterpretation by Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story, of the poem “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye”. Holden Caulfield mistakes the line “if a body meet a body” to his understanding as “if a body catch a body”. Caulfield pictures children playing in a rye field near a cliff and his dream job would be catching them before they fall off.
Holden Caulfield, The main character of "The Catcher in the Rye" written by J.D. Salinger Often finds that he secludes himself from society. The 17 year old teenage boy is from a family that has "quite some dough" who lives in the wealthy side of New York. Although Holden has plenty of luxuries in life the poor soul just is not satisfied with any thing especially the gruesome society which he lives in. Through all the high's and low's the young man has endured Holden always had one special companion by his side, the red hunting hat. Ironically, Holden has access to the finer paraphernalia in life, but a red hat that only cost a dollar purchased near the subway station provides more comfort and indulgence to Holden than anything. The red hunting
Holden Caulfield, in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is an ideal transcendental hero. Though the question here is to what extent is Holden a transcendental hero. Holden’s way of being can be hard to understand, he has those “soft” moments where he seeks for his sister for comfort, or his red hunting hat, but most of all, a baseball glove that belonged to his younger brother, Allie who passed away. Other time, it’s the complete opposite, he goes for cigarettes, or alcohol. Another way that helps him with his moments, is going out into nature and relaxing. There is so much things that lead Holden to have a long extent of transcendentalism, but there is also things that pull him away from being a long extent in transcendentalism.
How would you feel if you were outcasted by society, looked down upon by everyone else around you, never to fit in. This is the life that Holden Caulfield has to live. Holden Caulfield is a character in the book, The Catcher In the Rye, that is viewed as a misfit but assigned this label by society around him. Holden just has a different perspective on the world than everyone else, causing him to be seen as lower than everyone else. Holden doesn't believe in how materialistic things make you happy, he doesn't agree with people pretending to be someone that they truly are not, and he wants to protect children from the world and keep their innocence for as long as he can. It is not Holden Caulfield who is a misfit in our society, but society
The red hunting is seen as a symbol of protection towards Holden.’’I was sort of crying. I don’t know why. I put on my red hunting hat on and turned the peak around the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top my goddamn lungs,’’ is a quote from chapter seven and it shows how the hat protects him from the darkness and phonies of the real-life world. Holden feels as if the hat is a sort of armor and he becomes indomitable when he wears it. People today have a special item that makes them feel strong and invulnerable so that is how many people will feel a connection towards Holden.
Allie, Holden 's younger brother who dies as just a child, is a major symbol throughout the story, which represents the innocence in childhood that Holden strives to save. Allie’s death creates a lot of turbulence in Holden’s life especially because Holden looks up to Allie as a role model. When Holden remembers incidents from his past involving Allie, his attitude changes, such as when he writes the composition about Allie 's baseball glove or when Holden breaks his hand after punching all of the windows after Allie dies. This change in attitude is basically going from happiness to upright anger because the one person that Holden likes, dies and there is nothing he can do to bring him back. Allie makes Holden a better person, and when
Catcher in the rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger about boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden over the course of days He goes from completely unethical person to downright unbearable. He starts out at Pencey the school that he was currently frequenting until they gave him the axe. He then left Pencey”sleep tight, ya morons!” with about three days left of down time (he left Pencey early.). In those three days he frequently talks about his dead brother Allie and how he misses him, off the wall subjects, supposed friendships and sex talk. Because of Allies death Holden's grief has made him became a loner who is as immature as a thirteen year old and needs to say goodbye.
The Catcher in the Rye is a fictional novel written by S.D Salinger. Sixteen year old Holden Caulfield has flunked out of the prestigious, all-boys Pencey Prep boarding school in Connecticut. But, Holden did not fail every class, except for English, for nothing. Holden wants to leave Pencey. He is tired of feeling rejected by the phonies and the fakes at Pencey, so Holden leaves and goes to New York. In an emotional hast to find where he belongs, Holden encounters multiple characters both negative and positive that guide him in the direction as to “where”, or rather how to find a place, in society. The Catcher in the Rye focuses on identity from both personal and public perspectives. Catcher in the Rye explores Holden’s personal identity through his symbolic red hunting hat.
According to DBSA, the major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older. The major depressive disorder can develop at any age. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is a teenage boy who goes through depression and refuses to lose his innocence. Throughout the novel, Holden experiences several difficulties and doesn’t accept the reality that he can’t be the catcher in the rye. Holden’s way of organizing his thoughts, his behaviors, and mannerism reinforce one of the novel’s theme, depression.
Grief is something that most humans may encounter sometime in their lives however contrary to general consensus, grieving is not a short process. In fact on average the grieving process takes 5-8 years. According to Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross there are 5 phases of the grieving process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. This process is extremely relevant with the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield, since Holden’s younger brother Allie’s died 6 years before the start of the novel therefore leaving Holden in said grieving process. Holden bounces in between the phases, specifically anger, bargaining and depression.At the end of “The Catcher in the Rye” most readers can agree that there was something
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is known for calling most adults “phony.” He struggles with the idea of change and adolescence; and in order to for him to stay a child, he devises a world where he must protect the children’s innocence by shielding them away from the hypocrisy and phoniness of adults. He fervently believes that children are the only genuine people in the world. While Holden visits the Museum of Natural History, he immediately feels a compelling connection. He starts to remember his childhood and his happiness when he was young. The museum depicts Holden as a person, as it represents his fleeting happiness, his hate for change, and his pure innocence.
While 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. At the beginning of the novel, Holden made it clear that he did not want to talk about his past, and told the readers that he was only going to tell the story of what happened to him at Pencey Prep. While doing the description of the glove, Holden recounts events from his life that included Allie, showing parts of his past. Holden may have acted in this manner because he admired Allie, and was close to him before he died and Holden
Every human being in this world will go through challenges at some point in their lives. The novel, Catcher in the Rye authored by J.D. Salinger depicts the life of a young high school dropout student named Holden Caulfield, grieving from the death of his brother. Holden’s character demonstrates several stages of grief such as anger, denial of his brother’s death, depression, and some social problems for instance failing to form a stable connection with people. From the beginning of the story Holden suffers from confusion and makes continuous mistakes as a consequence of being mentally stuck in his brother’s death.Throughout the story Holden goes through the different stages of grief including anger and depression,
In J.D Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, the speaker of this quotation is Old Spencer and he is speaking to Holden. This quotation suggests Holden's dislike about growing up into the adulthood and taking one step into maturity. During this conversation, Holden is receiving advice from his old teacher after explaining that he is getting kicked out from Pencey Prep. The word life is repeated twice to emphasize Old Spencer's wittiness and how he is experienced on what life really is about. It's significant to know that Holden deems Old Spencer's advice as phony because he doesn't agree with the rules of life. This quotation helps readers understand Holden's motives on much of his dislikes in things because he believes that he is on the unfair side of the game. In the end Old Spencer wants Holden to conform to the rest of society, but of course Holden's unique perspective on life causes him to disregard what Old Spencer says.
How come a tragic event in life can cause a person to have a psychological trouble? Well in the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, we read about a character Holden Caulfield who has a clear psychological problem. I concluded that he has a post traumatic stress disorder also called PTSD. PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder, that can occur when gone through a extreme emotional trauma. Holden often refers to his dead brother, who is probably what causes this psychological trouble. This event caused Holden to have ambivalent thoughts, moods, and unreasonable behavior .