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.
Throughout a child 's life, sooner or later they get thrown into the teenage experience which starts their transition from childhood to adulthood. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is stuck in his childhood and does not want to grow up. He is a very complex character and has an odd way of dealing with his emotions; he doesn 't. When Holden is faced with a problem, instead of facing it and slowly working his way through it, he tries to get rid of it entirely.
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a young man who seeks the acceptance of others. When Holden reaches out for acceptance from the most disgusting boy in the whole dorm, Ackley, he is rejected, which triggers him to leave Pencey early. He also receives rejection from a prostitute named Sunny, who thinks she is getting paid to give him a good time, when in reality, all he wants is some company and someone to talk to. He is rejected in this scenario when Sunny and her pimp barge into Holden’s hotel room, steal five dollars, beat him up, and leave him lying on the ground. However, Holden meets the nuns and feels as though they see him for who he is.
Holden uses the ducks in the lake as a metaphor as himself and where he should go. In Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger uses ducks in order to show growing up is a confusing time for adolescents. Holden is having a tough time coming up with a plan for his future. When Holden is in the taxi cab and is asking the driver about where the Central park ducks go in the winter time. “By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?
Will you catch me when I fall? J.D Salinger’s book, The Catcher in the Rye, is about a vagrant and rebellious smoker/drinker 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield. This teenager is kicked out of Pencey, an exclusive school he attends, for failing all of his classes (Except english). He is going through many problems and insecurities that are “commonly” associated to teenagers, when he decides to leave his school a couple of days earlier to his deadline and decides to take a three-day escapade in New York before having to go home and face his parents. Holden, hasn’t had an easy life even though he is privileged; throughout his teenage years he has dealt with depression created by his insecurities and the hardships he has had to face (his brother dying of leukemia, possibly being molested as a child, switching school very often, etc.).
Catching a baseball may seem hard, but catching a person is even harder. J.D Salinger 's A Catcher in the Rye depicts the story of Holden Caulfield, a high school dropout who wanders the streets of New York City aimlessly looking for his purpose. A major theme of the novel is preserving the innocence of children. This theme persists throughout the book as Holden erasing profanity, in conversations and other symbols. Throughout the novel, Holden is seen troubled by the thought of the adult world mixing with the innocent world of children.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger explores the mind of a mentally ill teenager as the audience views the world through his eyes. Salinger’s novel presents a past account of events that lead up to an ending that leaves the readers mystified. Throughout the narrative, the author displays his use of tone and symbolism to hint at the true meaning of his work. First, the book begins with Holden Caulfield, a delusional seventeen-year-old, recalling his thoughts on what had happened after he is expelled from his school.
In J.D Salinger’s novel the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is affected by his two brothers Allie, and D.B. At the beginning of the story Holden mentions his brother D.B and explains how he moved to Hollywood to write and make productions. D.B visits Holden all the time, almost every week, and owns a jaguar that cost “damn near four thousand bucks.” D.B also wrote a “terrific book” that contained many short stories and had Holden’s favorite story, the Secret Goldfish. Holden is affected by his brother D.B because he was the first person that was mentioned in the story out of his family members. This means that he’s one of the most important persons of his life if he took the time to explain who he was and what he did.
Holden has a very different way of showing his depression in the novel. His depression is present when he tries to keep his innocence and stray away from adult hood all while trying to keep his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye “. He wants to be that person who catches those kids who are falling off the cliff into adulthood. Holden wants to protect those who are close to him and those that he loves.
In "Catcher in the Rye" the idea of being a catcher is based upon Holden’s complete misreading of a line in the poem "Comin ' Thro ' the Rye," by Robert Burns, of which Holden hears a young boy singing. The young boy instead substitutes the line "When a body catch a body, comin ' thro ' the rye" for "When a body meet a body, comin ' thro ' the rye." Holden has a dream in which children play a game in a field of rye near a cliff, it being his role to protect the children by catching anyone who gets close to going over the edge. Symbolically a rescuer of children, a catcher is such a job he says would make him truly happy. As Holden receives guidance, and direction from various characters throughout the novel, one may argue that multiple characters could fit Holden’s description of a catcher.