Boy gone crazy or depressed? Holden is in a deep depression but, does he stay depressed or go crazy? After Holden’s brother (Allie) dies he gets very depressed. Holden wasn 't even able to attend the funeral.
Holden’s Modern Day Mission The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is a story about Holden. Who relates the story of what happened the previous December when he was still sixteen and a student at Pencey Prep. He tries to save the innocence of children and he does not want kids to go into their adulthood. He wants to protect them. In modern society Holden’s mission would be to stop young people from losing their innocence even though he would face many obstacles in achieving his mission and would ultimately find that his crusade was not worthwhile.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger we read about a young man, Holden Caulfield, freshly kicked out of yet another high school and highly opinionated about his views of society. We learn about his views as he walks around New York around Christmas time, not wanting to face his parents so soon after being kicked out of school. Some of Holden's views on society include; phony people are bad, and there needs to be more protection of the innocence in the world, Holden has the right to worry and want change for each of these topics, yet he worries about them in a level that is completely unhealthy. Holden's views include that phoniness should be eradicated from society. Holden is happy when people don't try to glorify phony people:
The Catcher in the Rye is one of the many novels that is banned from schools reading lists. This fact sparked interest in why this brilliant novel even deserves to be put on this list. We must dive deeper in the meaning behind the words and why the author created the characters the way he created them. J.D. Salinger introduces protagonist, Holden Caulfield as a pessimistic teenager who is essentially having a midlife crisis. Holden believes he lives in a world full of phonies and that this fact of the matter makes it impossible for him to grow into who he is destined to be.
Nandan Shastry In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield struggles with many internal and external conflicts that change his attitude on life and how he approaches and confronts various situations. Throughout the novel Holden is always labeling people and situations that he disagrees with as phony instead of respecting that someone may have different opinion than him and it might be right. At the conclusion of the novel Holden is faced with the questions of whether he will apply himself when he goes to school that coming fall. He replies that he wants to but will never know until that time has come.
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye displays a true moral that though your actions may seem those of a developed character, the inspiration behind those actions might not be mature. Throughout the novel, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, defies his youthful innocence by being expelled from school, smoking cigarettes, and being exposed to adultery like female escorts. Salinger includes a quote (originally by Wilhelm Stekel) said by Mr. Antolini, stating, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the ongoing tension between maturity and innocence helps show the simultaneous presence of youth’s purity and adulthood’s corruption in Holden’s mind. In his bildungsroman, Salinger illustrates the all necessary struggle of adolescence that strives to balance purity and corruption as Holden comes to terms with the indefinite nature growing up. In Holden 's eyes, very few people in his life are “worthy” of his respect. One example of the innocent and pure and those who receive respect from Holden are nuns.
Rick Riordan once said, “It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.” The difficulties of life mostly revolve around the battle of what people want to believe versus what is actually there. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, Holden Caulfield and Waverly Jong become puppets of their own illusions and fall to their realities which creates new internal struggles.
The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, is the story of an angst-ridden sixteen year old Holden Caulfield as he learns to deal with growing up. The story follows Holden through his three day experience through New York as he learns about the truth about innocence, sex, and mortality, making The Catcher in the Rye one of America’s most notable coming-of-age stories. One of the largest influences on Holden’s life was his younger brother Allie who died from leukemia at age eleven when Holden was thirteen. The death of Holden’s brother had a profound effect on Holden emotional state, which eventually caused his complete mental breakdown by the end of the novel.
The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood exists as a complex path, which often uncovers questions that cannot be answered. J.D. Salinger explores Holden’s transition into adult life and how he copes with modern society’s cruel and unforgiving face. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s traumatic experiences directly explains his immaturity and unhealthy obsession over the preservation of the fragile childhood state; although some instances highlighting Holden’s maturity may suggest otherwise, flashes of these instances do not outweigh his immature ideology and opinions. Holden’s dysfunctional family life stemming from the death of his brother Allie and his inferiority complex clearly explains Holden’s unhealthy obsession
Elizabeth Ross, a Swiss-American author wrote, “The most beautiful we've known are those who have known defeat, struggles, loss, and have found their way out of the depths.” In order to survive in the world we must realize that growing up comes with having to face your fears. The protagonists in John Knowles, Elie Wiesel, and J.D. Salinger books either fear losing their identity to cruelty, change, or their best friend. These fears tend to be the evil that the characters live with and shape their lives. What they do not get is that every adolescent endures evil; how they handle this will cause them to mature.
Society is simple. One does not get to choose when he/she grows up. Society tells him/her when to grow up. Society reveals to its children, when the proper time is to grow up. Usually, it is too soon before a child is ready.
In JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy, struggles with the idea of maturity and growing up. The novel chronicles Holden’s journey to find what he should do with his life after being kicked out of school. Being both confused and lost, Holden encounters many moments where he doesn’t know where to go or what to do next. To help him make the right decision, Holden considers the ducks he sees in Central Park.
J.D Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye, follows the main character, Holden Caulfield, and his experiences that lead him to be talking to a mental therapist. Told through Holden’s eyes, his profane and blunt explanations of major moments in his life allow readers to see that Holden is not crazy but is actually struggling with transitioning from child to adult. Throughout the story, he fondly remembers his early childhood and is trying the best he can to run from adulthood. He fears that he, like so many around him, may become phony when he becomes an adult. This fear drives his actions and gives him a feeling of hatred toward phony adults and a feeling of obligation to shield children from the harsh adult world.