Category: Catcher in the Rye

It’s interesting that this book has been censored in many schools, I suppose people are scared away by all the goddamns. However, when examined by a keen eye, J.D. Salinger’s little window into the life of a certain adolescent, is an untapped well, brimming with educational merit beyond what those ignorant institutions are capable of appreciating. This fiction reveals more truth about the world than an individual’s reality can often supply. Holden’s story communicates an important perspective on idealistic world views, his evolution as a character through the happenings of every tick in a pocket watch, and how this “Catcher in the Rye” possesses a plethora of societal commentary whose relevance has not diminished.

Holden seems to view the world through a lens clouded by idealism, he is unable to see clearly because his expectations for perfection obtrude into his acceptance of reality. Throughout the novel, Holden chases an impossible dream; to be the Catcher in the Rye, saving innocent children from the corruption and “phoniness” that comes with adulthood. When Holden sees some profanity scratched into a display at the museum he is irate. He goes on to think, “If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the ‘Fuck you’ signs in the world. It’s impossible” (202). Reality may as well have spit on his idealistic illusions as he watches his dreams of the unscathed youth finally dissolve. This is when recognizes he will never achieve this utopia he has been chasing. Holdens idealistic expectations of the world are never met, and his optimism is the essential factor that leads to his perceived pessimism. Furthermore, Holden, when visiting the Museum of Natural History, finds himself getting wrapped up in the nostalgia of his past experiences exploring the institution. He claims, the best thing though, in that museum was that everything stayed right where it was” (121). Holden wishes that everything in life could be placed inside glass cages and preserved. His sentimental love of the museum is rather tragic as it symbolizes his hopeless fantasizing, and his inability to deal with the real world. Every time he returns to the museum, he is disturbed because he has changed while the displays have not and in this instance, he cannot so much as venture inside. Holden is unwilling to confront his own problems, protecting himself with a shell of cynical comments and avoidant behaviors. Later on, after Holden endures a long afternoon with Sally, he can no longer tolerate the lack of depth in their conversation. His stream of consciousness that follows may appear to be merely the jaded ramblings of a kid yearning for meaningful human interaction. However, this idealized fantasy he comes up with conveys his cockeyed optimism. He says, “Here is my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here? We could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont” (131). His attempt to convince Sally, his shallow, eager socialite, antithesis, of this idealized fantasy, shows his increasing distance from reality. He hates the world in which he resides, and though he really doesn’t care for Sally, his intruding dreams of what could be, get in the way of what is realistic. His desperate visions for an escape show that he cannot, or will not, deal with the complexity that inevitably accompanies real life, and this little cabin in the woods represents the simple, manageable version of life that Holden craves. Holden is constantly hoping his idealized reality will match up with his less-than-perfect existence, however, this merely increases his dissatisfaction with life.

Holden’s inability to accept reality would seem to ensure that his curatorial development should remain stagnant. However, Holden does encounter events that compel change. Beginning with the climax of his wandering adventures. Holden, unable to deal with the world around him, decides to leave and to meet Phoebe to return the money she lent him. When confronted by her insatiable posits to join him on his trip he is so dismayed his response is a scant, “No. Shut up” (206). Phoebe’s demands impel Holden to face the effects his actions have on those he cares for. He understands that he cannot take her away from the real world; her play; her friends; her life. He clearly sees what his idealistic fantasies could become if he allowed their continuance. He is finally forced to stare down the barrel of the gun he has loaded. Although he dreads her growing up and he now acknowledges that children have to grow up at some point, that they cannot, in fact, remain innocent. Adulthood and all the phoniness it brings is all a part of life, and being a member of society. Another important change Holden undergoes is his journey from cynic to skeptic. All through the novel, Holden’s outlook is shrouded by a jaded and sardonic attitude. This is especially apparent during many a judgemental interaction with whomever he happened to be with. This pessimistic outlook is primarily a result of his great expectations, and not until the conclusion is he finally accepting of innocence being inherently fleeting. His optimism is gone and in that, his attitude is all the more positive. Without this idealism, his predisposition for the cynical is changed to one of cautious skepticism. When discussing his putting in effort in school, Holden suggests, “I think I am, but how do I know?” (213). This deeply contradicts his past bleak and hopeless manner. Instead, holden is merely unsure and skeptical about the future. Thus, displaying his development as a character as his final words suggest that he has rid the impenetrable barrier of cynicism that he hid behind for so long. Lastly, the lecture Holden received from Mr. Antolini notes another of Holden’s shifts in ideals. Mr. Antolini states, “The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one” (188). Holden could relate this to James Castle, the boy who died so as to not compromise his beliefs. Holden admired him because of the lengths he went to in order to avoid being phony. Now Mr. Antolini impels him to think more deeply. Is that something really worth dying for it? If James had simply acquiesced to the bullies’ demands he likely would have lived, and maybe lived for a greater cause. All in all, Holden’s development throughout the novel is like the constant rushing flow of a river, in that, it stays the same only by changing. Holden is, in essence, the same person we met on page one, but he has had many a realization whether he is aware of them or not.

The Catcher in the Rye has served as a resonant expression of alienation for adolescent readers who consider themselves at odds with the norms and institutions of society, with Holden’s character being a kind of literary model for such a nonconformist. A confused teenager is any teenager, who experiences the identity struggle of being stuck in the limbo between childhood and adult life. This theme is shown through Holden’s incessant critiquing of the phony, expressing his deep-seated desire for identity and authenticity. This is shown through how Holden interacts with women and his apparent fear of sexuality, when he says, “Sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t…I can even see how it might be quite a lot of fun, in a crummy way” (131). As a rite of passage into adulthood sex is not something he is willing to follow through with. He is fighting his inborn lust, because to him, any experience that is not entirely sincere is phony and destroys any sense of identity. In addition, Holden not only wishes to escape the constricting, corrupting influence of society but also to discover some unprecedented form of community or intimacy. This is so universal a theme it should go without saying, but it is only human to want other human interaction. His N.Y.C escapades depict him chasing any company he can find, from a prostitute to Sally, to Carl Luce. Holdens talk with Mr. Antolini puts it perfectly when he instructs, “Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement” (189). This encourages Holden to continue their academic pursuits because it provides him with a promising endgame. This notion offers Holden a way of connecting to people who feel and experience the same things he does, and maybe the Catcher in the Rye is meant to be the “something” that Holden has to pass on. A final theme present is Holden’s educational apathy. Salinger does a remarkable job in depicting an extremely bright individual who, going against societal expectations, is not charmed by the listless academia found rigorous private institutions. Nonetheless, Mr. Antolini has sage council for Holden and he explains, “Educated and scholarly men if they’re brilliant and creative, to begin with, they tend to leave infinitely more valuable records behind them than men do who are merely brilliant and creative” (189). His old teacher seems to have genuine respect for learning, he does not berate Holden but speaks to him like an equal. He insinuates that sure, there is something to be said for innate brilliance, but only when combined with scholarly pursuits can real contributions take place. This gives Holden a new perspective: education is of inherent value in itself, and that may be to fight the system only serves to his disadvantage. All in all, Holden’s encounters promote global principles that many run into during their lifetime.

Holden is a highly layered character, and to make a distinction as black and white as him being good or bad diminishes his humanity. Caulfield is a stubborn idealist but does experience mind-altering changes throughout his particular human experience, and his story brings to light universally recognizable themes. It makes sense schools banned this book. It’s for the same reason most people think Holden is nothing more than an angsty little shit, it’s the same reason that the man who decided to murder John Lennon had this book in his pocket. Most are unable to look past what someone does, to why they do it. Ignorance is lazy, it’s not bliss, it’s just irresponsible.

The themes in any piece of writing is what brings readers wanting more. A strong theme leads to a strong novel, or piece of writing. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, holds three strong major themes which consist of, innocence, death and religion. These themes bring you along Holden’s journey and how he overcomes certain obstacles in his life and how he chooses to deal with others. The innocence is used to show his youth and and vulnerability. Death is used to show struggles, doubts and self-worth. Religion is used to show confusion of beliefs and life influences. Salinger brings his readers through an emotional rollercoaster leaving them desire more and pitty Holden and his struggle through life.

Envision yourself being a baby once again, constantly under the protection of your parents. Comfort is seeked from your mother and the crib you were provided with, the house is babyproffed to ensure you don’t get hurt. Slowly you start to grow older and stronger, you’re walking and the protection the baby proofed house disappears. Slowly you start to become more and more independent, no longer seeking comfort souley from your mother but within others and things you truely start to enjoy. You start to make friends and explore new and exciting things. Soon enough you’re graduating and moving away, but what you don’t realize is that the innocence you once held as a small child is slowly slipping away. Innocence is seen to be onse purity, as well as a wall that is guarding them from anything that could harm them. This sense is greatly shown within Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. In a way to protect himself holden avoids creating any dependable bonds in order to keep his innocence and avoid being hurt. Innocence can only be held on to for a period of time, often childhood, before one forgets who they truly are.

As Psychology Today states, “We return to innocence because innocence returns us to the newness of things, and we are at last old enough to receive the gifts of things, to delight in the delight of things given. Because innocence returns us to the surprise, the gift of the moment”. When Holden is forced to face society, its social norms and expectations, he battles with the urge to conform and hold onto his childhood a little while longer due to his fear of growing up. Holden’s view of life is seen as either the purity of ones childhood or the torture of ones adulthood. He greatly believes that the purity of childhood is exquisitely valuable and it should be protected from phony adults. The title of the novel is meant to represent Holden himself. He has a dream of becoming the protector of children also known as the catcher. Holden does not aspire to be a scientist or a lawyer, but to be the person who stands at the edge of the cliff making sure that the children who are running aimlessly do not fall over the edge. In the novel the cliff represents all the minor and major mistakes children would have made in their lives. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. 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. I know it’s crazy.” (Salinger 173). As Holden confides in his sister about what he truly wants to be, he lets himself go and really explains how he feels. With Holden’s dream of becoming the catcher he can become a teacher and inspiring students to explore their youth. Holden believes that adults do not understand children as much as they say they do.

The death of Holden younger brother Allie plays a role in the way he chooses to live his life. Holden was thirteen years old when his brother had passed of leukemia, leaving their mother ultimately grief-stricken. Mrs. Caulfield becomes distant and started neglecting her motherly duties by not paying much attention to Holden. She is in such a bad emotional state that she suffers from migraines, anxiety, and chain smoking. Holden has a poor relationship with both of his parents. They’re not open enough for him to confide in them, leaving him to not have anyone to discuss his grief over his brother with. To help him deal with the stress of the loss of his brother and absent parents, Holden harms himself. He uses this as a way to cope because he views physical pain easier to handle instead of having to deal with his emotional pain. Allie is extremely attentive, loving, and creative. Making his loss so much harder to carry out and mourn over.

Religion is seen to be confusing through Holden’s eyes. He comes from a family of two religions, resulting in the children to be atheist. Holden gets sudden urges to pray after certain tasks but feels as if he is incapable of doing so. He claims the Jesus is cool but that the disciples were a waist of his time, a burdon and that the rest of the bible was nonsense. In chapter 14, Holden hires a prostitute as a distraction and form of rebellion, but once she leaves him he gets one of his urges to pray which he responds to with, “I felt like praying or something, when I was in bed, but I couldn’t do it. I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care to much for the other stuff in the Bible” (99). For one to hold these types thoughts they have to have had some form of religious influence or impact in their life, but in Holden’s case of coming from a multi-religion family and having atheist siblings, much like himself, he must have found the influence somewhere else. In the novel he mentions a classmate he had a while back who had come from a religious background. The Boy and Holden would have debates over the topic, where Holden had gotten much of his religious knowledge and influences from. Holden being atheist and having the urge to pray holds a great conflict, yet brings the reader wanting to know more on his life, background and beliefs.

Salinger brings his readers through an emotional rollercoaster leaving them desire more and pitty Holden and his struggle through life.

The book Catcher in the Rye is an immensely diversified book in the sense that there are multiple aspects being involved. Everything from hate to love, compulsiveness to Holden’s feelings towards his paradoxical and complex state of mind. And that’s actually one of many recognizable things that you could notice by reading this piece of work. Depending on which chapter you are in you slowly but progressively start to understand Holdens complex state of mind, but the problem is that you can’t really precisely pinpoint one specific mental state that Holden’s constantly maintains throughout the story besides possessing a sense of confusingness and being a rebel against at the times social norms and significantly the adult world.

However Holden’s mental state and negative traits unfortunately does not dissipate throughout his journey it actually just amplifies. One of the reasons why these negative traits and emotional breakdowns amplifies and gets worse is because all of these gruesome events happening in his life, starting from him being kicked out of Pencey, Stradlater being intimate with Jane as well as his brother Allie passing away which I think is one the most important downspiral events. Because it is evidently obvious that Holden still after his brothers death grieves him in his own peculiar way as well as being spiritually damaged which is seen on multiple instances for example, in the early parts of the book where Holden describes a scene where he shatters all the windows in his garage with his bare fists, a reception to his brother passing away. Even towards the end of the novel the absence of his brother still haunts him as well as being a lifeline of some sort where he walks over the street and asks Allie in what is seen to be his subconsciousness: “Don’t let me disappear” and thanking him after actually crossing it.

Now this vigorous connection between him and his brother combined with his unique way of reasoning contributes to why Holden may possess some unambiguous negative attributes, for instance, his fractiousness which for me was one of the most irritable things about Holden’s persona. Where he constantly criticizes everything and everyone for behaving in certain ways that does not fit his mentality. And what’s the biggest issue I see with Holden’s character is that he is extremely parochial. Well what do I mean by that? If you take a glance at the “rules” that Holden has so close to his heart they certainly does not match all of his outgoing behaviour in the book. Just an example of that is when Holden starts criticizing theaters and people who attend the shows but he still visits the shows himself, or on another occasion when he talked about “necking” and that you really should feel a sense of compassion and love in order to actually do it which that rule he also broke. The funny thing is that Holden himself recognizes that he breaks his own so called rules, but still criticizes other people, which according to me is a bit hypocritical.

Speaking of Holden criticizing others and being subjectively judgmental in the novel, Holden actually systematically categorize a substantial amount of people whom he calls “phony” which may not coexist with your typical image of someone being phony. In Holden’s perspective, every individual who dwell on the social fabrics, meaning being typical and following structures, weather it is specific dress codes or behavioral traits is basically phony. And what may exasperate Holden the most about “phony” people predominantly being adults is that they oftentimes are aware themselves of being phony, but that they sort of have to play along to fit into a category and to eventually maintain/conduct their common adult lives. An obvious example of that according to himself is his brother D.B who after his successful writing stories and after moving to Hollywood have transfigured into a “prostitute”.

Don’t get me wrong after highlighting many of Holden’s negative traits it is just as important to mention a lot of his positive character traits as well because he certainly possess many even though you already may have altered a negative perception of him. One of those positive character traits I would like to articulate about is Holden’s kindness, where he sometimes is kind and respectful to people who he necessarily is not obligated to be kind to. A solid example of that could be when he sympathetically helped the children in the art museum to find where the mummies were even though he was not obligated to do so. And that’s not the only positive trait that is ostensibly discernible with Holden. I would personally say that his generosity was one of those character traits that was easier to recognize because it was one of those qualities about him that frequently appeared on multiple instances. One being his interaction with the nuns at the cafe where he gave them a lot of money even though, according to himself he was running low on “dough”.

You could parallelly see that Holden constantly have the ambition to support susceptible individuals in his environment and that’s frankly the main reason why he wants to be “The Catcher in The Rye” which inner of itself is strongly integrated with his main ideology. In

chapter 22 we actually get to know that he wants to be the catcher in the rye after his intense conversation with his sister. When talking to his sister Holden says that he wants to be the person who catches the children who may fall off the cliff or who may be directed in the wrong path, Simply “The Catcher in The Rye”. Which obviously is a metaphor which, additionally as I mentioned is deeply integrated with Holdens main ideology. Now the word rye is really profound in this sentence because it suggests that if there are small children playing in a rye field depending on how small they are, they can’t really see what’s coming in front of them because of the rye in front of their eyes, which holden sees as unclarity and misguidance and by falling off the cliff you as a child have lost your innocence and will just like him become a victim of the adult world, life and most importantly phoniness. At the end of his conversation with his sister indicates that his aim to be the catcher in the rye is minimal to none by him constantly suggesting that his goal is preposterous.

This perception of the world leads him to behave and interact differently with different individuals because you can evidently pinpoint that he certainly does not interact the same way with all the characters in the novel. If you, for instance review his interaction/relationship with his roommate Stradlater from Pencey you could clearly see that all of his character traits as well as his main ideology is meditative into their interaction. From the early parts of the novel, we get to know that Holden actually like many aspects of Stradlater but the interaction between Stradlater and Holden reveals Holdens concerns about intimacy which in this particular case is crucial for him because by reading we also get to know that according to Holden Stradlater is a hotshot which is equivalent of being phony which combined with Stradlater being sexually active obviously incensed Holden to a point where the situation progressively escalated to a physical fight after Holden gets clarified about Jane and Stradlater “repricitical action”. All because of his ideology and how he views the value of a woman as well as intimacy.

And that is not the only example where Holdens mentality and ideological rules affect an interaction and relationship. In later parts where Holden interacts with the two nuns their conversation goes by smoothly and successfully and after them getting to know each other you could really fathom the compassion from both sides were Holden as I mentioned eventually donates a big sum of money as well as asks them if they want him to purchase anything for them. The only reason we can observe such a dramatic shift in how Holden interacts with people is due to his thought processing where the nuns does not fit into the category of phoniness people were as Stradlater does which together with his actions leads to Holden’s offensive encounter.

Consequently, it is the presence of this behavioral diversity combined with his perpetual approach of events happening around him, that also leads Holden to ask himself and perhaps mother nature questions that in his subconscious mind somehow is an answer to his mysteries and unanswered questions regarding himself as well as life in general. One of those questions that Holden asks repeatedly is the so called duck question where he asks multiple cab drivers about where the ducks are during winter time when the lagoon is absolutely frozen. Now this question says a lot about Holden’s persona where you could say that the ducks resemble his own life and his direction in life in some sense because we know that Holden throughout the story struggles with coping with the reality and what to do in the future which is similar in some ways to the ducks. Therefore he desperately tries to find out how the ducks conduct themselves during this arduous period of the year so that their actions may be applicable to his situation and most importantly to battle his ideological warfare and his struggles.

You could also view the ducks in a “conservative” manner where the ducks are a metaphor that also reminds Holden how New York and therefore his past life where before Pencey which he obviously misses and may act like the only comfort zone for him and that resembles his past life the best, as he even aren’t comfortable being with his parents because of all the events that have happened. This parallel presents certain qualities of Holden’s persona. One evidently being his struggle to adaptation and a sense of loss in direction which is caused by his state of mind, the ducks also demonstrate that Holden often times desires to find an escape route to many of his obstacles which the ducks clearly does for him and ostensibly fulfills that “gap” for him.

Finally towards the end of the book it is important to mention that you could interpret if he have actually managed to fulfill these “mental gaps” or not in multiple ways. In the beginning of the book we get to know that Holden because of his mental state is put in some sort of mental facility and at the end of the book there is actually a glimpse of hope where Holden recognizes that he won’t be able to keep up with his state of mind in the long term and sort of have to give it up. Now the ending and what state of mind that Holden possesses at the end of the book could inexorably be interpreted in other ways as well but this interpretation of the scene seems the most logical approach in understanding.

The Catcher in the Rye describes the emotional struggles of a teenager in the 1950s that all of us can somewhat empathize with. Holden may be misunderstood at first because he pushes the readers away with his distancing language and confuses us with his hypocrisy. The real Holden is empathetic under his emotional mask but chooses to act independently to protect himself from being hurt again. We will begin by analyzing Holden’s mask, then his actual personality, and finally the major events that have caused him to hide behind his mask.

Holden portrays himself as an independent character, who doesn’t need to rely on anyone. When he was packing to leave Pencey to venture into New York, he recalled how his mother had misunderstood him: “She bought me the wrong kind of skates, I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey” (Salinger 52). Hockey skates represent dependence on others because hockey is a team sport that can’t be played alone. This corresponds with his mother’s wishes for Holden to bond with those around him. However, Holden wanted racing skates because racing is a solitary sport that you can compete alone. This expresses Holden’s mindset that he can go through life alone without a team or anyone to support him. Near the end of the novel, Holden again fantasies about journeying through life companionless. He decided to hitchhike out West and pretend to be a deaf-mute to gain the solitary he wanted. He planned to work at a filling station and build a little cabin to support himself (Salinger 198-199). This quote shows the extent of Holden’s obsession with being self-supporting. He yearns to pay for his own expenses and construct his own shelter. In order to farther detach himself from the world, he is even determined to surrender his ability to speak, by pretending to be a deaf-mute. The loneliness from not connecting with others would have driven him insane. The laborious work of having a low salary job that comes along with having no connections doesn’t matter to him. He is resolved on shivering in the bitter cold world alone, without the warmth of another companion. However, his plan would not only achieve independence but also make him crumble under severe isolation. Holden wants to prove that he is independent by detaching himself but it comes at his own expense.

The real Holden is empathetic, which makes him overly sensitive to the world he perceives. Holden mentioned how agitated he felt when rooming with Slagle, who had cheap suitcases: I kept wanting to throw mine out or something, or even trade with him (Salinger 108). His empathy makes him want to protect others, even as his own cost. He’d rather take the place of being embarrassed by trading suitcases. He even ended up putting his suitcase under his bed in consideration of Slagle’s feelings. Most students won’t even be aware of their roommate’s feelings, much less feel the guilt to take action. Holden again demonstrates empathy when he believed that he was going to die from pneumonia and made his last wishes:

I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river…Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery…Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody (Salinger 155).

Holden’s last wills were downright selfless. He’d rather not be remembered than to be bestowed with flowers to display his family’s yearning. He would prefer to heroically sacrifice the recognition he would receive if his body was placed in the cemetery. Holden wants his family to move on, unlike him, who is still anchored to the past because of Allie. He wishes that he won’t torment his family with the unbearable grief that he had endured each time he visited Allie in the cemetery. Whether it is to strangers or to those he cares about, Holden cannot help but reveal his empathetic self underneath his mask.

A series of traumatizing events in his past, including Allie`s death and Castle`s suicide, has scarred him deeply. July 18, 1946, the night of Allie’s death, struck Holden down. He remembers breaking all the windows in the garage with his bare fists and admits that his hand still hurts when it rains (Salinger 39). The death of his younger brother overwhelmed him with frustration, guilt, and despair, all binding together to mock how powerless Holden was. He had failed to protect Allie whom he cherished so much. His empathy made him feel survivor’s guilt, leading him to disfigure his own hand by shattering the windows. The physical pain must be incomparable with the agony he had felt. The empathetic traits of Holden, who would rather be the one to suffer, than to witness the suffering of others, tormented him the most. His hands still ache when it rains because the absence of Allie still haunts him, which is shown with Holden constantly drifting his mind to his blissful past before Allie’s death. When Phoebe asks Holden what he liked, Holden thought of James Castle, a boy who suicided: He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place (Salinger 170). The gruesome picture of a corpse is a sickening sight to a teenager, making the wrenched world he lived in even more arduous to digest. Holden may have unconsciously compared Castle to Allie because they both died at a young age in a pitiful way. He criticizes himself for not protecting the weak, leading him to care for outcasts, such as Ackley. Holden, who carries all these agonizing memories, distances himself from others with his mask to defend his fragile heart from being shattered again.

In conclusion, after examining Holden’s mask, his true personality, and his tormenting past, we can better understand this piteous character. He is an empathetic individual who wears a mask of independence as a self-defence mechanism. However, the solitary road he aspires to tread on will only repay him with loneliness. Surprisingly, we can learn from this broken-down character that faking independence is a mask that only gets us more ‘run-down’. Instead, when troubled, we should open ourselves up to those around us to lighten the load we stubbornly carry by ourselves.

Works Cited

1. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Print.

Challenges they often come and go, facing those challenges is what defines you as a person, it’s what builds your character. In the Catcher in The Rye and in The Bell Jar, both main characters had to face mentally, physically and emotionally tough challenges, in Holden’s case it was from getting kicked out of school, getting robbed and beaten up to sleeping on bench outside, in Esther’s case it was all the way from food poisoning to getting rapped, although they both had different challenges they both had 3 similar very big problems, both main characters felt that the world was against them, Esther and Holden went through loss and the center of each novel’s also both suffered academic failure.

Now both protagonists reacted in a different way, in M.Caulfields case he reacts to his challenges by either fighting back and voicing his opinion to running away and or by closing himself in, but in Esther’s case, she tries to kill herself. Now, I have never lived in either of the protagonist’s shoes but because Holden’s found a good side in each of these major problems that he had to overcome I would say he had the better reactions. Firstly, the antagonist in each novel feel isolated by their society and rebelling against them. In The Catcher in The Rye, Holden isolates himself from the society he finds himself superior to others to make him feel better about himself and to help him forget about his own problems, he distances himself from others. Holden seems to feel like he is a victim of the society throughout the book and says that he feels like he is with all the hot-shot. He says to Mr.Spencer: “Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right–I’ll admits that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game,” (Salinger, 8)

Holden also finds that a good majority of the people he meets are what he calls “phonies” but it is because he is scared to communicate with others, I think he is scared of rejection more than anything and he is only giving himself a reason not to be with others. Holden’s distance is what brings problems to him but then again he still finds a way to find a good side in a bad situation and draw “power” from it. In The Bell Jar, Esther is a model student her intelligence helped her gain many great things. Although her academics skills helped her gain many good experiences some of her classmates bullied her for it and only started to show her respect when she started dating Buddy. Everyone, expected her to marry him, she felt very pressured and started questioning what she really wanted, she wanted to write but this was against her society’s beliefs which led to, just like Holden, feeling isolated from her society. She said : I also remembered Buddy Willard saying in a sinister, knowing way that after I had children I would feel differently, I wouldn’t want to write poems any more.

So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed. (Plath, 81) Also, Esther is nervous about her future the way life is around her she doesn’t have many choices, staying a virgin and feeling accepted by society or losing her virginity and getting rejected. Being a stay at home mother or following what she loves and becoming a successful writer. The bell jar that Esther mentions many times in the book is a form of isolation from society. In Esther’s, case her distancing herself leads to her going crazy rather than like Holden finding a good side in it. Secondly, the principal figure of each book suffers loss. Losing someone is never easy to mourn and affected both characters in a terrible way how could it not right? Esther lost her father and Holden lost his sister. Esther lost her father when she was young, and it showed that she would have needed that father figure to give her everything a father would have given her, the fact that she did not lead to her being depressed, Esther stated, “ I felt happier than I had been since I was about nine and running along the hot white beaches with my father the summer before he died”. (Plath, p.70) .Her mother other than helping Esther mourn her father’s death she tried to make her forget everything about her father, she didn’t even let her cry about her father’s death. The day after she went to visit her old man’s grave she tried to commit suicide because of something her mother once said.

The loss of her father led to Esther losing her self esteem so much so that she thinks can’t do anything, depression and suicide attempts. The protagonist of The Catcher in The Rye, lost his younger brother Allie, this affected him very much, in fact, it almost felt as if a part of Holden died with Allie, he also went crazy when he learned about the passing of his brother and broke all the windows in his garage. Throughout the book, Holden admits that Allie’s death is the reason he finds it difficult to become close with anyone he is scared that if he becomes close with anyone they will die just like his younger brother did, this is actually very common when people lose someone they were close too this is an understandable reaction. The loss of Allie made Holden look at everything in a negative way compared to a positive way when his sibling was alive, he found a mission into that which was to not let anyone do what he did and this where the title of the novel comes from. When his sister Phoebe asked him what he wanted to do in his future, he said, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye4”. (Salinger, 173) Both losses from both protagonists ended up with a reaction Holden found a mission in his loss and Esther found depression and well suicide attempts so once again Holden found a good side in things rather than quitting and trying to commit suicide like Esther.

Thirdly, both main characters suffered academic failure. When Esther came home from New York, she learns of her first academic failure in her life, she had been denied from some fancy writing course “I think I should tell you right away, she said, and I could see bad news in the set of her neck, ‘you didn’t make that writing course. The air punched out of my stomach”(Plath, 110). Now what builds character is exactly that how do you face failure and overcome it? Esther wasn’t used to it so once again she fell into depressions, she couldn’t write, read, eat or sleep for twenty-one days, if you want my opinion I think it’s a bit exaggerated, I would have looked at it in a way that it gives me a chance to improve but Esther saw it in a way that she failed and that she wasn’t good enough. In Holden’s case failure in school was usual he had already been kicked out of 4 schools for failing classes or lack of discipline. Holden said, “I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all ”(Salinger, 6). He says it as if it’s nothing. Holden makes it seem like nothing happened, what is sad is that he is failing those classes not because he can’t pass them but because he doesn’t want too he has all the skills and definitely the potential to pass those classes with ease but he just doesn’t want to.

The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar have somewhat of the same challenges such as academic failure, the death of a family member and isolation from society. Holden and Esther react in different ways but I think Holden found some positive in the negative even if he didn’t want to, example Allie’s death gave him a life goal and isolation from society helped him with his self-esteem, it also broke him but in a way it saved him. In Esther’s case, she finds mental breakdown and depression in all of her life problems. I would say Holden reaction is the better ones.

The main character of Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, provides us with his experiences with coming of age. Holden finds himself in many strange situations, but how he handles the situations are normal for a teenager, especially a teenage boy, to handle the situations he goes through. By psychological standards, Holden is, in fact, a “typical adolescent”. Adolescent, by definition, means the process of developing from a child to an adult. Although the way Holden addresses his issues aren’t ideal, we soon see a shift of character as young Holden gets to the end of his story.

Holden is a “typical teenager” because the way he expresses himself is similar to an average teenage boy. He shows a dislike towards authority figures and he values freedom and independence and strives to reach attain it. In chapter 3, Holden has an encounter with his english teacher about something he had wrote. Holden didn’t want the teacher to read it, but he took it upon himself to read it anyway. Holden states that “You can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.” This shows some form of disconnect with authority figures because Holden feels that all teachers feel as if they can do what they want whenever they want with no one to stop them. He feels they have a lot of leighway when it comes to their decisions. In chapter 25, we see more that Holden wants to be free and on his own. He states, “I decided i’d go away… everybody’d think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they’d leave me alone.” While showing Holden’s aspiration for freedom, it also displays traits of maturity. Holden sets out a whole future plan to keep him maintained in life. Thinking about future plans is something that “typical teenagers” partake in occasionally, and teenagers dreams all surround room for growth.

Holden uses profane language very commonly to show the rebelliousness and toughness within him. In chapter 6, Holden and Stradlater have a minor altercation. Holden goes for a punch to Stradlater and misses and ends up on the ground. Holden narrates and says, “… get off me, ya crumby bastard… He wouldn’t do it though, He kept holding onto my wrists and I kept calling him a sonuvab*tch and all for about ten hours.” This shows Holden toughness because even in the eye of defeat he doesn’t back down and he still displays a tough image. This is typical behavior for a male teenager to not want his masculinity to be stripped away from him. In chapter 13, Holden had an experience with a prostitute named Sunny. He was told by Maurice, the elevator guy, that her services were $5 but Sunny insisted it was $10. After Holden refused to pay the extra $5, Sunny came back in the following chapter with Maurice demanding the money she claimed he owed. Holden continues to refuse and calls Maurice “a dirty moron” and tries to keep his tough guy image until ultimately Maurice punches Holden in the stomach but he waits for them to leave to really wallow in his despair.

Some of Holden’s reactions to things can seem to be a little over dramatic but Holden shows a lot of maturity in the events towards the end of the novel. To solve a lot of his problems Holden drinks and smokes excessively. In chapter 20, as Holden waits for Tina and Janine’s arrival he gets drunk. He mentions how he gave her a sort of cut eye and she pretended as if she didn’t notice him, he says “I probably wouldn’t have done it, I was getting drunk as hell.” In chapter 7, upon his leaving of Pencey Prep Holden is packing his things relieved about the fact of him “sort of needing a vacation”, as he was doing so he “lit a cigarette and got all dressed up.” Holden shows toxic behavior when it comes to substance abuse, but many teens worldwide deal with their situations the same way. This is not to say that drinking and smoking is an acceptable teenage coping mechanism, but to say it is not unusual for teens to want to use smoking and drinking as a way to relieve themselves from tough situations, even momentarily.

Many of Holden’s experiences can’t be related to by most teenagers, but how he handles them mirrors displays “typical adolescent” behavior. You don’t hear everyday about a boy getting beat up for $5 extra dollars for a service with a prostitute he never received, but we do, unfortunately, hear about how smoking and drinking are common depressants and can be abused in extreme cases. Every person does not have the same experiences, but we all do show similarities when it comes to coping with situations.

Works Cited

1. www.google.com/search?q=adolescent&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS837&oq=ado&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0j69i57j0l3.2042j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
2. “Prove That Holden Is a Normal Average Teenager.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/prove-that-holden-normal-average-teenager-333765.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is written in a first person narrative told by a teenager, Holden Caulfield. Holden reflects on the experiences he had over the course of a few days. The story begins at Pencey Prep, where he is kicked out and the rest takes place in New York. The essential question of this novel is, by looking at Holden’s development as a character through these experiences, is Catcher in the Rye a bildungsroman? First, a bildungsroman is a genre of novel that shows a young protagonist’s journey from childhood to adulthood. In order for a work to be a bildungsroman, the protagonist must have a psychological, moral or spiritual reassessment. Holden can be described as someone who is critical, not particularly ambitious, and uncertain of his future. Holden does not encounter any change because his 17-year-old self at the end is the same as the 16-year-old he was at the beginning.

The narrative style of chapters 1 and 26 are the same. In chapter 1, Holden begins saying ¨If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born…… but I don’t feel like going into it” (1). In chapter 26, Holden says “That’s all I’m going to tell about. I could probably tell you what I did after I got home…. but I don’t feel like it” (234). His choice to end the story that way shows that he is not learning from it. Furthermore, the narrative spans around only a few days, so it is unlikely that Holden went through a change. Change happens gradually, not in an instant. Also, it is possible that even if Holden did change, he would have reversed back to his old personality and continued doing the same things.

In the final chapter, Holden goes with Phoebe to the carousel. This chapter is one of the most symbolic moments in the novel and where Salinger closes on the central idea of growing up. The carousel in the final pages represents a cycle because a carousel goes round and round. The carousel will continue to do the same thing until it shuts down. Salinger is communicating that there is no real change for Holden. He will continue to be a lone wanderer. This contradicts the “glass case in a museum” symbolism which is about change. What is inside the glass stays frozen in time and what changes is the person outside the glass. Holden wishes time was frozen, so that he doesn’t have to change or grow up. He does not want to his childhood to go.

In “Traits of a Bildungsroman” by Deng Rushferd, one of the traits of a bildungsroman is that the protagonist “must come to terms with or accept, after painful soul searching, the world he lives in.” Holden is critical of the world he lives in, he views the adults around him as “phonies,” and does not change his view. Additionally, Holden does not come to terms with the death of his brother Allie. When he walks down the street of New York city, he has a fear of disappearing and imagines himself walking with Allie. “Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him, ‘Allie don’t let me disappear,’ and then … I’d thank him” (218).

Another trait of a bildungsroman is that “the protagonist is then able to reach out and help other after having reached maturity” (Rushferd). Some argue that Holden has matured enough to be able to help his sister Phoebe when she gets older. However, Holden is not fit to help others because he has not learned from his mistakes, he has not made an effort to turn himself around. Holden can’t teach Phoebe if he didn’t learn anything himself.

By looking at Holden’s development throughout the novel, Holden does not change morally or psychologically. Therefore Catcher in the Rye does not adhere to the tradition of a Bildungsroman. By the end of novel, Holden can still be identified as a critical teenager who is unambitious and uncertain of his future. He has yet to achieve maturity because he has not acknowledged his immaturity, reconciled with his brother’s death or learned from his mistakes.

In Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger Holden is characterized as a normal teenager, but throughout the book he demonstrates some behaviors that can label him more as abnormal. Although the book doesn’t not take during a long period of time the actions that Holden takes, and thoughts that he constantly has tells the reader that he isn’t mentally stable. Even though some of his experiences are not the best it does not justify how he decides to deal and react to them.

The decisions that Holden takes in order to cope with the pain that he is feeling can at times seem pretty reasonable, but is it the right way to do it ? In chapter 5, Holden speaks on the death of his brother Allie. At this point it is seen how he constantly reminisces and overthinks things that are completely out of his control. The death of his brother is something he will never be able to forget, but this only shows how he is making himself suffer more by continuously thinking about the past. Holden seems to be stuck in his thoughts which stops him from thoroughly living his life or from even bettering himself. On pages 6-7, we see how Holden over-scrutinizes situations. He specifically states “when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” which adds on to the idea that he thinks too much of things of minimum importance. Someone can think about an occurrence for a good while but after some time there is another thing that crosses their mind. No single thing should replay over and over again because it’ll cause to overfeel. This is what seems to happen with Holden due to the fact that he thinks of the same things too much. He is the cause of his own sadness and misery since he bottles up all his thoughts and feelings. It is never seen in the book that he completely opens up to anybody meaning that there is no intention to reach out to anybody for help or at least to feel better.

Not only does Holden bottle up his feelings, but also let’s used harmful substances to handle his issues. In chapter 12 and 14 we see how Holden not only drinks alcohol but also is smoking cigarettes like if it was nothing. The use of these substances does not make his situation any better. When he is either smoking or drinking he is not escaping any of the things that he is feeling. In fact, it makes it worse because it could lead to him depending on these substances to control his feelings. He isn’t emotionally stable and tries to fill those gaps in with alcohol, but it it is something that is only temporary. The absence of his parents and the death of his brother should be something that pushes him to do better and not worse. He uses these bad experiences as an excuse to make bad decisions. He feels like he has no way out and nothing in his life to completely fill him up. At this point we see how he needs help more than ever.

Despite the fact that Holden shows some behaviors that seem abnormal for a teenager, at some points through the book he does show some normality. For example, at the end of the book he plans on running away, but the moment that he sees his little sister Phoebe all of that changes. He doesn’t want to leave one of the things he most cares about. He reflects and decides to stay and try to do better. Phoebe was the only thing that made things just seems a little brighter. He admits that he felt happy with her, when he saw “the way old phoebe kept going around and around”. It is towards the end of the book when his perspective on things don’t seem so negative. He doesn’t completely go from being negative to positive, but it’s clear how Phoebe brings out the better side of Holden. Holden seems to find a way to cope with everything when he gets home next to his sibling. The relationship he has with Phoebe strongly influences his decisions due to how much he cares for her.

Overall Holden has shown to be a teenager how doesn’t know how to manage everything that he goes through. He lets his emotions and thoughts get to him which interfere with him progressing in anything type of form in life. Towards the end of the book he shows to want to do better, but in reality it is just a thought that he has, the thoughts and feelings he has throughout the whole book show his unstableness. Holden creates his own affliction.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger tells the journey from adolescence into maturity for Holden Caulfield. Adolescence is the stage in one’s life in which maturity into adulthood occurs. The story starts off with Holden getting kicked out of the fourth preparatory school he has gone to, Pencey Prep. Instead of waiting for his Christmas break to officially start, he decides to leave school early. He heads towards New York City by himself to go home. Holden’s journey turns out to be anything but ordinary. Every event is described through his point of view. The readers are able to see Holden’s character and how he changes as a person. Holden seems to be a troubled adolescent having difficulty maturing into an adult. Throughout the book, Holden is shown to be an abnormal adolescent as he replaces interaction with others with drinking and smoking and demonstrates emotional imbalance in his frequent depression. The death of a loved one only helped to develop his strange character. Holden is a unique character like none other seen before.

For Holden, drinking and smoking are regular pass times. He indulges in alcohol when he can. At one point, Holden admits that he used smoke a lot. This is abnormal for ordinary adolescents. The American Psychological Association (APA) states that adolescents are less likely to smoke and drink alcohol if they are close to their families (Developing Adolescents). The only family members that Holden was close to were his little sister, Phoebe, and his brother, Allie, but Allie happened to pass away early on in his life. Holden doesn’t get to see Phoebe that often, so he really has no friends or family he can turn towards to have a genuine conversation. He makes up for this hole in his life by drinking alcohol and smoking when he is given the opportunity. This is especially true when he went on a journey all by himself. While trying to pass the time in a hotel, Holden remarks, “I must’ve smoked around two packs since I left Pencey”(112). He is dependent on smoking to pass the time. Since he had no friends to talk to through his journey, he smoked more than we would’ve normally. When Holden reunites with Carl Luce, he talks with him while drinking. Their talk doesn’t go as planned since he says,“I was sort of afraid he’d get up and leave on me if I didn’t shut up. So all I did was, I ordered another drink. I felt like getting stinking drunk,”(160). He resorts to drinking until he was drunk because he couldn’t properly keep the conversation going. Holden doesn’t have proper healthy relationships and can’t manage to properly build any new connections.

Holden experiences an abnormal amount of depression in his journey. Throughout most of the second half of the book, Holden keeps reminding the readers that he feels depressed. Major depression can be caused by low self-esteem, difficulty while concentrating, sleep trouble, stomach aches, and headaches (Major Depression). Holden experiences trouble sleeping and difficulty concentrating on his journey. His self-esteem seems to continuously lower. At one point in the story he begins to cry randomly. The only explanation he can give is that he was feeling “so damn depressed and lonesome”(169). Nothing is going the way he wants it to go. His spirit is slowly being torn apart. The list of causes continues to build as Holden later says, “I had a headache and I felt lousy. I even had sort of a stomach-ache,”(203). He almost hits rock bottom as he struggles to escape his current way of life. No matter what happens, he just ends up feeling depressed one way or another. His constant depression shows how different he is behaviorally from normal adolescents.

Holden could be a normal grieving adolescent, but his behavior shows that he has more problems than just being bereaved. Holden demonstrates that Allie was very near and dear to him. Frightening behavior for adolescents dealing with the loss of a loved one are chronic depression, sleeping difficulties, and low self-esteem (Wolfelt). This can explain why Holden experiences many troubles as an adolescent. He went through a big loss while he was younger. Holden is just experiencing the symptoms that follow the death of a loved one. He needs help to get over Allie’s death. Although, it seems it is too late to truly help him cope. Holden states, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist,”(44). It is clear from this action that some strange behavior was beginning to manifest. His parents failed to see this and ignored him. This lead to Holden questioning the people around him and having no ability to think about his future. He develops an inability to see other people as genuine (Wendell). This is why he sees almost everyone as a phony. He thinks that anyone he reaches out for help will just let him down like his neglectful parents. As a result, he keeps his emotions to himself. Also, he has no idea about his future. Even after years since his brother’s death, Holden still feels pain in his hand from when he broke the window. It left a huge impact on him as he says, “I mean I’m not going to be a goddam surgeon or a violinist or anything anyway”(44). For adolescents his age, their level of thinking should allow them to think about their future, evaluate some alternative, and set some personal goals (Developing Adolescents). This inability to plan for the future shows his insufficient cognitive development. The trauma from his brother’s death has clouded his vision for his future. Holden was never the same since Allie’s death.

Holden Caulfield is no ordinary adolescent. Drinking and smoking are part his character. His level of depression rises throughout his trip back home. Some would say that Holden is just a normal adolescent that is still grieving his brother’s death, but his death was just the trigger for the change of Holden’s character/personality. Adolescence is a difficult time for anyone. It is not something that is set in stone. Holden’s journey is a prime example of this shift.Some may have it easier than others. At the end of the day, adolescence is the process by which people realize who they really are and how to change. Holden’s coming of age was different from the rest, a story to be remembered through the years.

Adolescence is the period of time following after puberty fully finishes developing within a teenager which a young person transitions from a child into an adult. Catcher in The Rye leads its audience through a narrated story about a teen’s weekend displaying his coming of maturity, or what he believes to be his coming of age. Is this weekend for the main character, Holden, his part in life of coming of age? Holden does not have his coming of maturity based off of the story that was described to the audience about that one specific weekend. It’s clear that it is not a bildungsroman based off the events he encountered, and how he went about handling these events.

As Holden begins to explain what his hectic weekend was like, he first starts off with him leaving his schools Pencey Prep, and he heads off firstly to reach out to one of his old teachers before he leaves. According to the Traits of Bildungsroman, bildungsroman involves “Often involves a separation from family. The protagonist desires to leave home and become “his own man.”” Eventually at the end of his narration he explains how he decided to stay home after his sister Phoebe expresses she doesn’t want him to leave. This is after he watches go around on a carousel multiple times the same way. This scene in the book is metaphorical to Holden realizing that he is in the same state of mind of how he started his weekend off. It can be contradicted that Holden expresses throughout this narration that he was seeking to go off to somewhere new, yet him decision to stay show exactly how much he had grown up. Right as he’s heading out from the school he is lying to Ernest’s mom about anything and everything just because. He evens lies to her about her own son. If someone was truly beginning to grow up lying about something that didn’t even need to be lied about would be unnecessary. He also goes to a hotel room to try, and hook up with a prostitute. He couldn’t even allow himself to get aroused for the situation. It can be argued that teens are usually the ones who are at most the ones who are sex driven, but it goes up as you are reaching adulthood.

It’s also clear that Holden is not in a clear state of mind during this weekend. He shows multiple signs of being depressed due to past situations, and news ones that are starting to occur with him. He expressed that he still has a hard time coping with his brother’s death. He even expresses how he busted out the windows once thinking about his brother, Allie. I think one thing that Holden does to keep a piece of his brother with him is he continues to wear his red hunting hat. Holden tells his character that his brother, Allie, enjoyed baseball and had a baseball glove that was important to him, page 38 describers how Allie had a left mitt with poems written all over it. A baseball glove is very protective of the hand and clutches on to your hand pretty tight. A hunting hat also does the same thing for your head. I think Holden continues to wear this hat because it is one thing that keeps his brother with him at all times. It’s not healthy to keep around too many memories of someone dead because it makes you continuously miss them even more. It’s also obvious that he doesn’t know how to coupe with all of his feelings that keep rekindling throughout his story. That’s not to say that all adults have their feelings in control, but as you are transitioning into adulthood, it’s safe to say that he should have attempted to at least seek out for professional help. He should also know the specific reasons for why he is feeling the way he is, but he does not and that’s what bothers him most.

Another thing that proves Holden has not transitioned into adulthood is his continuous reaching out to his old teachers for advice. As seen on page 10 with Old Spencer, and page 180 with Mr.Antolini. Within both of these conversations Holden is seeking advice on how to improve himself because he seems not to know how to do so.

It’s clear that Holden has not completely transitioned from childhood into adulthood. The point is even more obvious when he ends the book the exact same way he started with a he doesn’t care attitude about what is going on. The book starts and ends with with Holden saying how he doesn’t want to get into too much detail about what was going on with him he just wanted to get straight into the purpose of why he was “here.” Holden says, “but I don’t feel like going into it,” at the beginning and end of his narration. According to Developing Adolescents, someone who is “excessively shy and rarely expressing one’s own point of view,” is not normal in someone who is viewed to be in adulthood.