A discovery is rarely the endpoint, rather it catalyses an inevitable chain reaction of subsequent discoveries. It is through this domino effect of discovering, that allows us to gain new perceptions of the world, new values and understanding of ourselves and others. The importance of morality, growth and loss of innocence, each precursors to discovering new ideas, which extrapolated in William Shakespeare 's 1661 tragicomedy of ‘The Tempest, ‘Sky High’ by Hannah Roberts and J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ (1951). This notion is shown in William Shakespeare’s 1661 tragicomedy of ‘The Tempest’ (1611), in which it elucidates the transformative power of meaningful discoveries that manifest an individual 's desire to re-evaluate …show more content…
Discoveries are often significant as they challenge the individual to reconsider what they previously believed in order to theorise about their world and make new connections surrounding themselves and others, such reevaluation can often lead to the development of a greater understanding regarding morality. This concept is exemplified through J.D Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’, were a young teenager, Holden Caulfield is constantly reaffirming his passion for preserving the innocence of the youth from “phonies”. The value that he places on morality is illustrated by his persistent quest to stop transgression. However, Holden does not realise he is a phony himself, “Her son was doubtless the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey... "May I ask your name, dear?" "Rudolf Schmidt," I told her.” Through the utilisation of dialogue and an derisive tone, it highlights Holden’s phoniness of indulging Mrs. Morrow with lies, even though he strongly stated that he despised phony people. Despite, his hypocrisy of being phony, the novel evidently emphasises Holden paradigm of morality an an important concept that protects the young, innocent children from the corrupt adults. “Somebody‟d written “F*** you” on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy.” The utilisation of an aggressive tone and informal language, suggests Holden’s anger towards the attitudes and values of society due to his ideal visualised in innocent children. Hence, illuminates how Holden despises immoral, vulgar …show more content…
This is illustrated within Robert’s ‘Sky High’, which effectively conveys the idea that discoveries can have unexpected impacts on sense of self at they cause a reconsideration of values. Robert journeys from a youthful sense of innocent to the sense of knowledge and wisdom that comes with age. Nevertheless, with wisdom it is accompanied by regret and melancholy, as the individual recognises that their past discoveries will inevitably provide them a new perception. Hannah Roberts comes to the realisation that childhood is to be valued in its innocence and purity. Through the cumulative effect of imagery the composer expresses their idea of change. The compose reminisces of the simple joys of life experienced as a child and the magical significance in a child’s eye of inanimate object. “The best climbing tree stood proud on a small mould of concrete, festooned with socks and knickers” suggest she is imaging the tree as a place of happy thoughts, where she could reminisce her childhood memories. However, is juxtaposed by the “sagging wires” and “spitted metallic arms”, the use of personification, illustrates the change in the individual and thus realising that there is more to her known world of childhood and innocence and enhancing her understanding of her reality of adulthood. Hence, providing the audience the idea that Roberts travel to her past in attempt to reignite a desire for her loss of innocence. Ultimately, causing a permanent change in self as individuals must
Holden perceives men as phonies, boring annoyances, or perverts. He believes men should not be trusted around females. “You figured most of them (girls at the Radio City Music Hall) would probably marry dopey guys. Guys that always talk about how many miles they get to a gallon in their goddam cars. Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf,...
Holden's hypocrisy towards this way of acting is unbelievable to the reader. Proving to the audience that he's a sick, unreliable narrator to trust. Another Secondary source coming from Susan K. Mitchell explains how in-depth she is into Holdens hypocrisy in the novel. She states “Holden will not tell much about his parents beyond his veiled opinion that they both are phony hypocrites. The reader is not even told their first names.
Instead of telling her the truth, he says he has to go home because he has a tumor in his brain. Holden calls whoever lies to look better in public a phony, but he performs similar actions. Salinger does not portray Holden’s expectations as reasonable because he portrays Holden’s character as not living up to the same expectations. Holden holds a lot of expectations for who is phony and who is not but he is often found contradicting the same expectations. He calls people that lie to look good in front of others phonies, but he finds it okay to repeatedly lie to Ernest Morrow’s mother.
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 beginning of Holden’s journey starts with the innocence and naivety of childhood. Childhood is the stage that ignorance is bliss with no care in the world. Holden goes to a prestigious boarding school for boys and he believes that everyone in that school is a phony in some way. Holden is an observant character as he stays in the background, but he can also cause the most trouble. Like a child, he asks many questions and he is very curious to the point that he can be annoying.
Cruelty is a vice of many motives. A cruel act is one that inflicts pain, suffering, and difficulty on others. Some of the motives that create cruelty are explored in the novels The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Ender’s Game, and The Catcher in the Rye. Although the characters are in these novels are in different situations, they each experience cruelty in a variety of forms. People use to cruelty to express their fear of change, manipulate others to go beyond their limits, and create new images.
In every novel around the globe you can find carefully constructed paragraphs, written by the author to send a specific message to the readers. In The catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, one particular section overflows with symbolism, metaphors, and hidden messages. By analyzing the passage’s diction, setting, and selection of detail it is possible discern the less overt statements hidden in the text and reveal the turbulent nature of the main character, Holden Caulfield. The diction of this passage appears to be the key in unraveling Holden’s mood swings.
Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.
As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a peculiar character portrayed as a skeptic living in “a world of phonies” in circa 1950. These personality traits can be seen through his doubts of society as well as his way of thinking and acting toward others. He also demonstrates a lack of responsibility adding to his role as a slacker. Holden flunks out of school repeatedly and has no desire to confront his parents. He mopes around the city for days, delaying the inevitable punishments he’s sure to get.
The book, The Catcher in the Rye, takes place in the years of the 1940s-1950s of New York City. Author J.D. Salinger expresses in the book about the struggles and the countless amount of stereotypes and establishments of the American society. Holden Caulfield, J.D Salinger’s protagonist, gives perspectives of society’s conflicts and facets of society. Holden addresses that would should not change, but should be preserved within a glass case at a museum. Now explore the varieties of encounters and how the give an example of the theme of conflict between control and independence that the protagonist confronts in the book, The Catcher in the Rye.
In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, the protagonist Holden Caulfield demonstrates his unusual behaviour. The narrator introduces the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose suspicions and personal issues prevent him from being “normal” in a society full of phonies that he does not seem to get along with. It becomes clear that Holden has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood swings with the people he likes, and dislikes. Therefore, it becomes obvious that some of his personal flaws include his distrust, depression, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are based on his underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has a variety psychological problems, such as his skepticism, depressive behaviour, and
While visiting Phoebe’s school, he notices profanity written on the wall. Trying to remove them, he comes to the realization that “If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the “f**k you” signs in the world. It's impossible” (Salinger 202). Holden knows a child’s innocence is gone when exposed to such obscenities. He finally accepts that he is not capable of preventing the corruption of others.
Many people harbour a desire to accomplish something specific in life. Sometimes this desire stems from the background of a person, and sometimes desires are developed over time and with age. “The Catcher in the Rye” narrated by Holden Caulfield, who is an overly disturbed teenager, is about the change from childhood to adulthood. Holden, like many, has a burning desire to protect the innocence of children; this desire is tied to the themes of relationships, intimacy and sexuality which are carried throughout the novel. In a stroke of genius, the author, J.D. Salinger, sums up this desire in the title, which is taken from a poem by Robert Burns: Comin ' thro ' the Rye ( 1796).
The narrator begins to change as Robert taught him to see beyond the surface of looking. The narrator feels enlightened and opens up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience has a long lasting effect on the narrator. Being able to shut out everything around us allows an individual the ability to become focused on their relationships, intrapersonal well-being, and