Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield’s recounting of the weekend after he gets expelled from the umpteeth time form another private school. His name can be broken down to reveal his struggle to retain his happier childhood memories and innocence, to grow up, and to protect others from the difficulties of life. His first name, Holden, can be interpreted for how he wants to hold onto better times.“I can't remember exactly what I was doing when I heard his goddam stupid footsteps coming down the corridor… When I really worry about something, I don't just fool around… If you knew Stradlater, you'd have been worried, too… He was unscrupulous...” (Ch. 6, p. 22) With the knowledge of how sexual Stradlater can be, Holden wrangles with his own mind …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, when Holden goes to see Mr. Spencer before he leaves, Mr. Spencer tells him that, "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." (Ch. 2, p. 5) Although Holden completely disagrees with Mr. Spencer, this quote remains true to struggle he faces during the rest of the book, especially so when he looks for the ducks in the lagoon, in order to study how they know to leave the lagoon when winter comes. “I thought maybe if there were any around, they might be asleep or something... But I couldn't find any.” (Ch. 20, p. 83) To anyone else, it is obvious a duck would not stay at a semi-frozen lagoon, in the middle the night, because of the sheer cold because that is just a rule of nature. Holden, however, has no clue to what the rules are, as revealed when he suggests that maybe, “some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something.” (ch. 2, p. 22) To field means to send out a player into a game. But a person can not play a game without knowing the instructions. Holden does not know the rules to life, so he is constantly struggling with questions that most people do not even think about. This is why Holden tries to find out how the ducks know how to leave for the winter. To Holden, the ducks seems instructional-less, yet they still know when to leave, or at least more-so …show more content…
During the narrative, Holden is irrealistic with what he wants out of life. “I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.” (ch. 22 p. 93) A caul, an amniotic membrane, is akin to the catcher in the rye that Hold wants to be in the way they are both meant to protect children. However, if a baby is born with the caul around itself, it can not breathe and will either grow up with a deficiency if the it is not removed in time, or die if it is not removed at all. This is a one-to-one parallel to how Holden does not let the children fall, make mistakes, and learn from them and how that will led to the children to be horrible unprepared for reality when they inevitably grow up. But when Holden is watching Phoebe reach of the golden ring as she rides the carousel, he accepts the reality as a fact. “...I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse... if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them.” (ch. 25, pg. 113) He realizes that he has to remove the caul, the shield from life, so that children can reach for the golden ring and experience life for what is truly
Holden being sent out in an unfamiliar world, without help, is like having to play a board game without knowing how to play. His name relates to him being a player in this game called life because to field means to send a player out into the game. IN this case, Holden is the player, and life is the game. When Holden arrives home to talk with Phoebe, he brings up how he wants to be the “catcher in the rye,” and do nothing but that all day (p. 93).Through this entire story, Holden has been struggling to transitions from a child to an adult and wonders how ducks know to leave the lagoon in the winter and fly south.
Holden thinks about the ducks in Central Park because he wants to be free, he does not want to stay in Pencey and live with phonies. He wants to move out and live on his own, to be independent and free. This allows Holden to change dramatically throughout his adventure. He sees the world more closely than he ever did before, he sees the behaviors of phonies and people who are actually honest. These are the changes Holden makes while traveling into the adult world and it allows him to become a mature teenager.
This contradictory statement is one of many shown throughout the novel, which reveals Holden’s true self as a complete phony. Holden preforms many tasks throughout the novel that depict him as completely
In CATCHER IN THE RYE by J. D. Salinger, Holden reflects on his thoughts about religion, exposing his distaste especially for the disciples. Holden thinks about Allie's death in this instance, too, as he reflects on Christianity. This quotation is styled in the form of Holden's opinion, which is spoken in vernacular diction. The Disciples of the Bible seem to be trustworthy, ideal citizens. However, Holden believes that they cannot be trusted, even though they are from the Bible and have been with Jesus.
In Holden’s mind becoming “the catcher in the rye “means that he can still catch Allie from falling off the cliff. This is relevant to Holden’s depression because everything around him is telling him to grow up but instead he runs away from it in fear that is will pull him farther apart from his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden is on the edge of becoming an adult which creates more pressure and leads him to
He has trouble growing up and accepting life as it is. Holden thinks adults are "phony" which makes him hate the fact of growing up and staying innocent as much as he can while he is old enough to become an adult. He is frustrated with the world and people which makes him act with anger. His innocent childish dream is to be the Catcher in the Rye, to catch the kids before they become phonies like Holden says about adults. The moment he realizes that he cannot keep kids from falling or in other words, from growing up and becoming adults, he, reaches adulthood, and takes a big step towards it at the end of the novel.
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.
The Catcher in the Rye In the novel The Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger writes about a teenager struggling to find his place within the existence of the reality of others. Salinger creates shocking events that lay out the foundation of the the main character Holden Caulfield’s life in the novel. Salinger uses Holden’s characteristics throughout the novel such as Holden’s stubbornness to establish a much bigger theme in the book along with many other symbols.
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.
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.
This scene is exceptionally important, as it sets the entire tone for how Holden perceives adults and their attitude towards death, as something insignificant that doesn’t deserve closer inspection. Holden feels that death is being cheapened by who he deems to be the “phonies”. Another allusion to death is Holden’s frequent thoughts about the ducks in central park. He wants to know what happens to them during winter, asking the cab drivers in chapters 9 and 12. When Holden locates the lagoon and realizes that the ducks aren’t there, he starts thinking about suicide.
This connects to the theme of the story, which is that people should not force themselves to grow up when they are not ready yet. Throughout the novel, this theme is emphasized by Holden's love for the innocence of children. Overall, The Catcher in the Rye is an amazing novel to read, and very much deserves its position as a classic of American
Jessica Casimiro October 30, 2015 English 3/PayLea Short Story Essay Patrick Rothfuss once claimed, “The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” The novel Catcher in the Rye focuses on Holden Caulfield, an angst-ridden teen conflicted between remaining in a state of prolonged innocence or transitioning into the world of adulthood, thus facing the corruption and phoniness that it correlates with. Through Holden’s dynamic character, J.D Salinger depicts how innocence is slowly lost when exposed to adulthood. Reluctant to the idea of growing up, Holden strives to protect the innocence of himself and the ones’ around him. Holden reminisces about the Natural Museum of History, a place he enjoyed going
Catcher in the Rye At the end of the novel, Holden Caulfield notes, “.. D.B. asked me what I thought about all this stuff I just finished telling you about. I didn 't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don 't know what I think about it” (234). Three major episodes that Holden mentions throughout the novel shows a little of who he is as a narrator; the ducks at central park, the lunatic, and the fight with Stradlater.
Purpose: To show how a small change in choice could affect holden’s life The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from New York. The novel starts with Holden, writing in his book, hinting that he is in some sort of mental facility .Even though he comes from a wealthy family,because of his loss of interest in studies,and low grades, he gets expelled from all schools he has studied in .Holden leaves his final school, Pency Prep and decides that he will stay in New York City until his parents learn of his expulsion and “cool down” .Most of the novel is dedicated to Holden’s time in the city, Holden lives in a hotel room for a few days during his stay .Holden then starts meeting with people that he used know, some strangers and goes to places with. From his conversations, he