What did you want to be when you grow up? Holden Caulfield, from Catcher in the Rye did know what he was going to do. The Catcher in the Rye is about the 16 year old boy I mentioned earlier, recalling the events that took place after he was expelled from Pencey Prep. He then decides to roam New York, after he gets into a fight with his roommate, Stradlater. Then, the rising action builds from there. But, what changed Holden throughout the book? What was his “illuminating moment”? Well, I couldn’t decide on one specific moment. It's kind of debated in my head which one of the last couple chapters really changed Holden. There was the chapter when he sneaks into his own house and talks to Phoebe for the first time in forever. Or, the last chapter,
Throughout the novel, Holden progresses to become more aware of his actions. Holden’s process is slowed an adolescent state of mind where his self-absorption doesn’t allows for him to fully see how his actions affect the outcomes he receives. Holden’s pathology consistently brings negative outcomes. Holden occasionally learns to take responsibility of his actions and realizes he must live in the present instead of the past. Holden is able to form meaningful connections with a limited few and use these as a hopeful path for his future.
The Real Holden What is the real Holden? In the short novel “Catcher in the Rye” By J.D Salinger is about Holden is in the mental hospital telling the story about himself at Pencey Prep, New york and with Phoebe. As the story goes on, it shows Holden’s characteristic in three different ways. He is a typical teenager, he behaves different from a normal teenager and he is lonely. As most teenager’s characteristic, include Holden, would be the desire of independent.
About 15 million children suffer from mental illness disorder nationwide, but only about 7% of those children actually get the help they need from health professionals. (https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/anxiety-and-depression) Throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger, the main character, Holden, has to face many scarring challenges at an extremely young age, such as the death of his younger brother Allie. Holden feels extremely lonely, and doesn’t have anybody to turn to, causing him to seek out attention from strangers. His parents have been absent throughout his life and have sent him off anywhere but home. Because Holden faces difficulties with Allie’s death due to a lack of parental support he finds it challenging developing strong personal relationships, causing him
Throughout the book The Catcher In The Rye Holden life is tragic and full of disappointments but he tend to somewhat grow up. Holden grow up in a harsh way and tend to realize how people view things differently than him. Since Holden tend to always drift off his own thoughts lot , it like he’s taking three steps forward and then five steps back. In my opinion he doesn’t really grow up, maybe a little but tend to still make childish moves.
Holden passes strict judgement on everyone, as he struggles to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Holden appears to be stunned when he sees how different the life of an adult is comparison to that of children. His views on topics such as, life, his future, and sex. Holden
The Catcher in the Rye portrays Holden Caulfield’s struggle to accommodate the adult world. Caulfield, ashamed of his inadequacy, resorts to deception to alter others’ perceptions of him. Through lying, he creates an ideal persona, masking his ineptitude at school and intimacy. Although Caulfield’s deception inflicts others in addition to himself, it enables him to exploit others and rebel against his own shortcomings.
Holden on Phonies Holden Caulfield constantly contradicts himself in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, this is best seen on his views towards phonies and he himself unknowingly being a phony. Throughout the book Holden mentions the phrase phonies several times as a way to describe someone who is fake, hypocritical, or pretentious. For instance, Holden thinks that Mr. Haas, the headmaster at Pency, was the most “phoniest bastard” he has ever met; Mr. Haas always puts on a act when he’s meeting parents (21). When people are phony it “drives [him] crazy” because he just wants people to be real (21).
These two struggles are what causes Holden to realise his purpose is being a catcher in the rye. His struggle to adulthood is quite evident. Holden states that the adult world is a nasty and horrible place, he thinks that the adult world is very phony, fake, and corrupt. These are words he uses quite often to describe the adult world, proving that he despises the thought of being an adult.
Based on the way Holden describes himself, and the way he portrays himself, seems as if he was a mature grown up man. According to Holden, half of his head is occupied by white hairs, while on the other half was his natural hair color. He states that he has a deep voice and is quite tall for his age. To add on, the attitude that Holden has towards life, is very negative as if he was a grumpy old man, that gave up before he had started anything. Despite the way he looks, and how he acts for his age,Holden is told he, “... still act sometimes like I was only about twelve.
Have you ever felt like you are frozen, frozen to the point that you are asking people what to do and where to go using ducks as an example? In the book “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, Holden, the main character, is stuck in one place where he doesn't want to grow up and what to do in the future. He is getting kicked out of multiple schools over and over again. He doesn't know what to do and where to go, he is frozen in one place. He tries figuring out what to do by asking people what to do, he refers to ducks, and what do they do and where do they go when it gets frozen all over.
While this novel does have profanity and sexual references, it still deserves to be taught in high school because Holden shows how having a negative attitude towards life does not get a person far. In the beginning of the novel Holden tells the reader that "[Pencey] kick[s] [him] out [of their school]" (6) because he "was [failing] four subjects and not applying [himself]" (6). However, he does not just notify the reader, he notifies them in a way of forgetting to mention that he is no longer going to be attending Pencey. Holden passes this off as some minor detail when in reality it is not just a minor detail. Later on, Holden reveals to the reader that this is not the first school where he has gotten expelled.
Although most of the time, Holden demonstrates his rebellious side, he actually still has fragile side. “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by”(7). “Good-by” is a word can brings a sense of sadness. Holden’s thoughts about “good-by” demonstrate he is a fragile boy who is like a piece of glass, easy to be broken. This shows that Holden is a person who has desire to love and care from others.
When Holden enters the Lavender club, his lust and immaturity towards the opposite sex becomes prominent. After a failed attempt at trying to buy an alcoholic drink underage, he begins giving 3 women “the old eye”, a colloquial expression meaning looking admiringly at them. Holden gives the women a few more lewd glances before abruptly deciding that he wants to “marry them”, contextualizing an image of immaturity towards both the opposite sex and the feeling of love. Holden goes over to the girls in hopes of dancing with them, managing to get Bernice-the most beautiful of the 3 to join him. While he dances with her he reflects on why he asked the two less attractive girls to dance, concluding that he was very “hard up”, colloquially alluding
After reading the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, there is one connection between Holden and I. Holden mentions his sister Phoebe in a few times and whenever he talks to her, he is happy and grateful that his sister always understand him. It shows that he has a close sibling bonding with her. I have a brother that is four years older than me, he is the one who spent most of his time to listen my nonsense complain of everything that I can’t deal with and patiently solve my problems. I’m really glad that I have him to be my old brother and in the novel, Holden shows his loves to his little sister. Reading him, I found that it is easy to forget that he is just a sixteen-year-old boy.
He refuses to give up his childhood and he is anxious to see what the future hold for him. Towards the end of the book, the reader is able to catch glimpses of Holden’s new found maturity. He is starting to understand that growing up is a big responsibility and is finally ready to take on that challenge. Although he has not completely matured, one distinct moment at the end of the book lets the reader know he will reach complete maturity in the near future. In J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye, the author