[The Jolly Roger][Kill Devil Hill][Western Canon University]
[Starbuck.com Literary Pirates Cove][Shakespearean Greetings]
[Western Canon University Commons] [Western Canon University Lecture Halls]
[The Crow's Nest] [J.D. Salinger Commons]
Posted by dankstaganksta on May 16, 19100 at 23:38:02:
In Reply to: Re: Need Essay soon posted by LAURA on April 12, 19100 at 21:12:45:
: : I need any kid of info on a character sketch on holden caufield, and a summary of the book.
HERE ARE A FEW ESSAYS BROTHAMAN, YOU ARE WELCOME
THANK ME IN MY E-MAIL BOX, I HAVE DONE YOU A GREAT SERVICE, I HAVE PAPERS ON ANYTHING YOU NEED MAN
In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the first person narration is critical in helping the reader to know and understand the main character, Holden Caulfield. Holden, in his narration, relates a flashback of a significant period of his life, three days and nights on his own in New York City. Through his narration, Holden discloses to the reader his innermost thoughts and feelings. He thus provides the reader not only with information of what occurred, but also how he felt about what happened. Holden's thoughts and ideas reveal many of his character traits. One late Saturday night, four days before the beginning of school vacation, Holden is alone, bored and restless, wondering what to do. He decides to leave Pencey, his school, at once and travels to New York by train. He decides that, once in New York, he will stay in a cheap motel until Wednesday, when he is to return home. His plan shows the reader how very impetuous he is and how he acts on a whim. He is unrealistic, thinking that he has a foolproof plan, even though the extent of his plans are to "take a room in a hotel.., and just take it easy till Wednesday." Holden's excessive thoughts on death are not typical of most adolescents. His near obsession with death might come from having experienced two deaths in his early life. He constantly dwells on Allie, his brother's, death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, on the baseball mitt. Holden's preoccupation with death can be seen in his contemplation of a dead clmate, James Castle. It tells the reader something about Holden that he lends his turtleneck sweater to this clmate, with whom he is not at all close. Holden's feelings about people reveal more of his positive traits. He constantly calls people phonies, even his brother, D.B., who " has sold out to Hollywood." Although insulting, his seemingly negative feelings show that Holden is a thinking and yzing, outspoken individual who values honesty and sincerity. He is unimpressed with people who try to look good in other's eyes. Therefore, since it is obvious that Holden is bright, the reason for his flunking out of school would seem to be from a lack of interest. Holden has strong feelings of love towards children as evidenced through his caring for Phoebe, his little sister. He is protective of her, erasing bad words from the walls in her school and in a museum, in order that she not learn from the graffiti. His fondness for children can be inferred when he tells her that, at some time in the future, he wants to be the only grown-up with "all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all." He'll stand on the edge of a cliff and catch anybody who starts to fall off the edge of the cliff. He got this image from his misinterpretation of a line from the Robert Burns poem, " if a body catch a body comin' through the rye." When situations are described, in person or in a book, they are influenced by the one who describes them, and by his or her perceptions and experiences. Through Holden's expressions of his thoughts and feelings, the reader sees a youth, sensitive to his surroundings, who chooses to deal with life in unique ways. Holden is candid, spontaneous, ytical, thoughtful, and sensitive, as evidenced by his narration. Like most adolescents, feelings about people and relationships are often on his mind. Unfortunately, in Holden's case, he seems to expect the worst, believing that the result of getting close to people is pain. Pain when others reject you or pain when they leave you, such as when a friend walks off or a beloved brother dies. It would not have been possible to feel Holden's feelings or understand his thoughts nearly as well had the book been written in third person.
Catcher in the Rye Holden and His "Phony" Family The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of his family give the reader a direct view of Holden's philosophy surrounding each member. How do Holden's different opinions of his family compare and do his views constitute enough merit to be deemed truth? Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he clifies each family member. From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently throughout his chronicle. One example is: "…my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all – I'm not saying that – but they're also touchy as hell" (Salinger 1). Holden's father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him "phony" because he views his father's occupation unswervingly as a parallel of his father's personality. For example, when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wants to be when he grows up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion about their father's occupation.. 'Lawyers are all right, I guess – but it doesn't appeal to me,' I said. 'I mean they're all right if they go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't' (Salinger 172). When Holden describes his mom, he always seems to do so with a sense of compion yet also with a jeering tone. Holden makes his mom sound predictable and insincere. These phony qualities are shown in two different examples when Holden is hiding in the closet of D.B.'s room as his mom walks in to tuck in Phoebe: 'Hello!' I heard old Phoebe say. 'I couldn't sleep. Did you have a good time?' 'Marvelous,' my mother said, but you could tell she didn't mean it. She doesn't enjoy herself much when she goes out. …'Good night. Go to sleep now. I have a splitting headache,' my mother said. She gets headaches quite frequently. She really does (Salinger 177-178). The first two examples are excellent illustrations of how Holden clifies people as phonies. However, when it comes to Holden's older brother, D.B., more ysis is needed to derive Holden's true feelings about his brother. Holden seems to respect his older brother somewhat but cannot tolerate the imposed false image brought on by D.B.'s career choice as a screen-play writer. For example, this sense of respect is shown when D.B. takes Holden and Phoebe to see Hamlet: "He treated us to lunch first, and then he took us. He'd already seen it, and the way he talked about it at lunch, I was anxious as hell to see it, too" (Salinger 117). Holden feels that all movies and shows are false, absurdly exaggerated portrayals of reality and subsequently because his brother takes part in these perversions of realism, he is a "phony." He's in Hollywood. That's isn't too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end…He's got a lot of dough, now. He didn't use to. He used to be just a regular writer, when he was home (Salinger 1). Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me (Salinger 2). The way that Holden interacts with his sister, Phoebe, and the way Allie's death still affects Holden are two direct examples of the effects sibling relationships create. The relationships people share with siblings are often the longest-lasting they will ever have (Crispell 1). This idea, multiplied with the fact that Allie and Phoebe are young and innocent, is perhaps why Holden has respect for his younger siblings and considers them the only wholesome members of his family. Whenever Holden seems depressed (which is quite often) he tends to turn to his younger siblings for comfort and support. Even though Allie is no longer available for actual physical comfort, thinking of him makes Holden feel better. These ideas are shown in numerous examples throughout the novel. When Holden checks into the hotel and, while starting to feel depressed, the first person he wants to call is Phoebe but he decides not to because it is so late. "But I certainly wouldn't have minded shooting the old crap with Phoebe for a while" (Salinger 67). Holden's thoughts of Allie are shown with the fact that Holden wrote Stradlater's composition on "Old Allie's baseball mitt" (Salinger 38-39). When Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he likes is a third example of his close younger sibling relations. 'You can't even think of one thing.' 'Yes, I can. Yes, I can.' 'Well, do it, then.' 'I like Allie,' I said. 'And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff' (Salinger 171). From Holden's account, it is obvious that he views the older members of his family as phonies and the younger members as icons of truth and innocence. Yet trying to completely yze how Holden truly thinks and feels about each member of his family is a task that may not even be entirely possible. Holden is the storyteller in Salinger's novel. Therefore, to what extent can his version be trusted or deemed as fact? This idea is addressed through Corbett's elucidation: "Holden is himself a phony. He is an inveterate liar; he frequently masquerades as someone he is not; he fulminates against foibles of which he himself is guilty; he frequently vents his spleen about his friends, despite the fact that he seems to be advocating the need for charity" (71). If Holden is a liar and a phony, perhaps his portrayal of each family member is totally false. However, his consistent and repetitive accounts at least give the reader some idea of how an adolescent boy, facing the common experiences and troubles of daily life, views each member of his family. Works Cited Corbett, Edward P.J. "Raise High the Barriers, Censors." America, the National Catholic Weekly Review 7 Jan. 1961. Rpt. in If You Really Want to Know: A "Catcher" Casebook. Ed. Malcolm M. Marsden. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1963. 68-73. Crispell, Diane. "The Sibling Syndrome." American Demographics. Aug. 1996. Online. 7 Oct. 1996. Available http://www.marketingtools.com/Publications/AD/96_AD/9608_AD/9608AF01.htm Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1991.
Catcher in the Rye Holden and His "Phony" Family
The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of his family give the reader a direct view of Holden's philosophy surrounding each member. How do Holden's different opinions of his family compare and do his views constitute enough merit to be deemed truth?
Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he clifies each family member.
From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently throughout his chronicle. One example is: "…my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all – I'm not saying that – but they're also touchy as hell" (Salinger 1). Holden's father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him "phony" because he views his father's occupation unswervingly as a parallel of his father's personality. For example, when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wants to be when he grows up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion about their father's occupation..
'Lawyers are all right, I guess - but it doesn't appeal to me,' I said. 'I mean they're all right if they go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't' (Salinger 172).
When Holden describes his mom, he always seems to do so with a sense of compion yet also with a jeering tone. Holden makes his mom sound predictable and insincere. These phony qualities are shown in two different examples when Holden is hiding in the closet of D.B.'s room as his mom walks in to tuck in Phoebe:
'Hello!' I heard old Phoebe say. 'I couldn't sleep. Did you have a good time?'
'Marvelous,' my mother said, but you could tell she didn't mean it. She doesn't enjoy herself much when she goes out. …'
Good night. Go to sleep now. I have a splitting headache,' my mother said. She gets headaches quite frequently. She really does (Salinger 177-178).
The first two examples are excellent illustrations of how Holden clifies people as phonies. However, when it comes to Holden's older brother, D.B., more ysis is needed to derive Holden's true feelings about his brother. Holden seems to respect his older brother somewhat but cannot tolerate the imposed false image brought on by D.B.'s career choice as a screen-play writer. For example, this sense of respect is shown when D.B. takes Holden and Phoebe to see Hamlet: "He treated us to lunch first, and then he took us. He'd already seen it, and the way he talked about it at lunch, I was anxious as hell to see it, too" (Salinger 117). Holden feels that all movies and shows are false, absurdly exaggerated portrayals of reality and subsequently because his brother takes part in these perversions of realism, he is a "phony." He's in Hollywood. That's isn't too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end…He's got a lot of dough, now. He didn't use to. He used to be just a regular writer, when he was home (Salinger 1). Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me (Salinger 2).
The way that Holden interacts with his sister, Phoebe, and the way Allie's death still affects Holden are two direct examples of the effects sibling relationships create. The relationships people share with siblings are often the longest-lasting they will ever have (Crispell 1). This idea, multiplied with the fact that Allie and Phoebe are young and innocent, is perhaps why Holden has respect for his younger siblings and considers them the only wholesome members of his family. Whenever Holden seems depressed (which is quite often) he tends to turn to his younger siblings for comfort and support. Even though Allie is no longer available for actual physical comfort, thinking of him makes Holden feel better. These ideas are shown in numerous examples throughout the novel. When Holden checks into the hotel and, while starting to feel depressed, the first person he wants to call is Phoebe but he decides not to because it is so late. "But I certainly wouldn't have minded shooting the old crap with Phoebe for a while" (Salinger 67). Holden's thoughts of Allie are shown with the fact that Holden wrote Stradlater's composition on "Old Allie's baseball mitt" (Salinger 38-39). When Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he likes is a third example of his close younger sibling relations.
'You can't even think of one thing.' 'Yes, I can. Yes, I can.' 'Well, do it, then.' 'I like Allie,' I said. 'And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff' (Salinger 171).
From Holden's account, it is obvious that he views the older members of his family as phonies and the younger members as icons of truth and innocence. Yet trying to completely yze how Holden truly thinks and feels about each member of his family is a task that may not even be entirely possible. Holden is the storyteller in Salinger's novel. Therefore, to what extent can his version be trusted or deemed as fact? This idea is addressed through Corbett's elucidation: "Holden is himself a phony. He is an inveterate liar; he frequently masquerades as someone he is not; he fulminates against foibles of which he himself is guilty; he frequently vents his spleen about his friends, despite the fact that he seems to be advocating the need for charity" (71).
If Holden is a liar and a phony, perhaps his portrayal of each family member is totally false. However, his consistent and repetitive accounts at least give the reader some idea of how an adolescent boy, facing the common experiences and troubles of daily life, views each member of his family.
Works Cited
Corbett, Edward P.J. "Raise High the Barriers, Censors." America, the
National Catholic Weekly Review 7 Jan. 1961. Rpt. in If You Really Want
to Know: A "Catcher" Casebook. Ed. Malcolm M. Marsden. Chicago: Scott,
Foresman, 1963. 68-73.
Crispell, Diane. "The Sibling Syndrome." American Demographics. Aug.
1996. Online. 7 Oct. 1996. Available
http://www.marketingtools.com/Publications/AD/96_AD/9608_AD/9608AF01.htm
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1991.
The Catcher in the Rye In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the first person narration is critical in helping the reader to know and understand the main character, Holden Caulfield. Holden, in his narration, relates a flashback of a significant period of his life, three days and nights on his own in New York City. Through his narration, Holden discloses to the reader his innermost thoughts and feelings. He thus provides the reader not only with information of what occurred, but also how he felt about what happened. Holden's thoughts and ideas reveal many of his character traits. One late Saturday night, four days before the beginning of school vacation, Holden is alone, bored and restless, wondering what to do. He decides to leave Pencey, his school, at once and travels to New York by train. He decides that, once in New York, he will stay in a cheap motel until Wednesday, when he is to return home. His plan shows the reader how very impetuous he is and how he acts on a whim. He is unrealistic, thinking that he has a foolproof plan, even though the extent of his plans are to "take a room in a hotel.., and just take it easy till Wednesday." Holden's excessive thoughts on death are not typical of most adolescents. His near obsession with death might come from having experienced two deaths in his early life. He constantly dwells on Allie, his brother's, death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, on the baseball mitt. Holden's preoccupation with death can be seen in his contemplation of a dead clmate, James Castle. It tells the reader something about Holden that he lends his turtleneck sweater to this clmate, with whom he is not at all close. Holden's feelings about people reveal more of his positive traits. He constantly calls people phonies, even his brother, D.B., who " has sold out to Hollywood." Although insulting, his seemingly negative feelings show that Holden is a thinking and yzing, outspoken individual who values honesty and sincerity. He is unimpressed with people who try to look good in other's eyes. Therefore, since it is obvious that Holden is bright, the reason for his flunking out of school would seem to be from a lack of interest. Holden has strong feelings of love towards children as evidenced through his caring for Phoebe, his little sister. He is protective of her, erasing bad words from the walls in her school and in a museum, in order that she not learn from the graffiti. His fondness for children can be inferred when he tells her that, at some time in the future, he wants to be the only grown-up with "all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all." He'll stand on the edge of a cliff and catch anybody who starts to fall off the edge of the cliff. He got this image from his misinterpretation of a line from the Robert Burns poem, " if a body catch a body comin' through the rye." When situations are described, in person or in a book, they are influenced by the one who describes them, and by his or her perceptions and experiences. Through Holden's expressions of his thoughts and feelings, the reader sees a youth, sensitive to his surroundings, who chooses to deal with life in unique ways. Holden is candid, spontaneous, ytical, thoughtful, and sensitive, as evidenced by his narration. Like most adolescents, feelings about people and relationships are often on his mind. Unfortunately, in Holden's case, he seems to expect the worst, believing that the result of getting close to people is pain. Pain when others reject you or pain when they leave you, such as when a friend walks off or a beloved brother dies. It would not have been possible to feel Holden's feelings or understand his thoughts nearly as well had the book been written in third person.
The Catcher in the Rye: Holden's View In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. This perception of the world does not change significantly through the novel. However as the novel progresses, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change this. During the short period of Holden's life covered in this book, "Holden does succeed in making us perceive that the world is crazy".1 Shortly after Holden leaves Pencey Prep he checks in to the Edmont Hotel. This is where Holden's turmoil begins. Holden spends the following evening in this hotel which was "full of perverts and morons. (There were) screwballs all over the place."2 His situation only deteriorates from this point on as the more he looks around this world, the more depressing life seems. Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world which appears completely immoral and unscrupulous. The three days we learn of from the novel place a distressed Holden in the vicinity of Manhattan. The city is decked with decorations and holiday splendor, yet, much to Holden's despair "seldom yields any occasions of peace, charity or even genuine merriment."3 Holden is surrounded by what he views as drunks, perverts, morons and screwballs. These convictions which Holden holds waver very momentarily during only one particular scene in the book. The scene is that with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone as a pervert. After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally concludes that maybe he wasn't making a "flitty" p at him. Maybe he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is really the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side. This event does not constitute a significant change. As Holden himself says, "It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out."4 The sun of course is a reference to decency through the common ociation of light and goodness. His perception of the world remains the same. The one conviction that does change during the novel is Holden's belief that he can change the world. On his date with Sally, Holden reveals his feelings. "Did you ever get fed up?... I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something..."5 Holden goes through several plans. Holden at one point contemplates heading out west where he will pretend to be a deaf-mute and live a quiet life. At another point Holden proposes to Sally to escape this world with him. It is finally to his younger sister Phoebe that Holden reveals his ultimate plan. Although Holden describes the situation in a very picturesque and symbolic manner he essentially tells Phoebe that he wants to prevent children from growing up. He blames the world's corruption on adults and believes that when he stops the children from growing up he will preserve their innocence and save the world. It takes most of the book before Holden begins to realize that he is helpless to stop this corruption. Finally, he realizes that not only is there nothing that he can do, but there is nowhere he can go to hide from it. Holden takes awhile to comprehend these concepts. One good example is when Holden is delivering the note to his sister. He encounters a "fu##-you" written on the wall. Holden careful rubs this off with his hand so as to protect the innocent children from reading it. Later on he finds "fu##-you" scratched into the surface with a knife. He discovers that he can't efface this one. Even in the timeless peace of the Egyptian tomb room at the museum there is an un-erasable "fu##-you." This incident is the beginning of Holden's realization that his dreams are infeasible.6 Ironically enough, it is one of the "innocent" children that he is trying to protect who helps him come to terms with this realization. It is Phoebe who challenges his plan to escape out west. As he is telling Phoebe that she can not run away, he discovers that he too can not run away. "You can't ever find a place that is nice and peaceful, because there isn't any."7 The final break-down comes near the end of the book when he is watching Phoebe on the carousel. All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for 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.8 In the above page from the novel, Holden hits the final breakdown. Being "the catcher" becomes obviously unrealistic. The gold rings are ironically not gold but really br-plated iron. The gold rings are symbols of the corrupted world which always "wears" a shiny surface to hide its evil. It is at this point that Holden sees that he can not stop children from growing up and therefore losing their innocence. They will fall if they fall, there is nothing that can be done. Shortly after this point Holden has his nervous breakdown. His breakdown is due to this depressing realization that the world is corrupt and filled with evil. He knows now with a sickening certainty that he is powerless to stop both evil and maturation. As a matter of fact, it is "bad" to do so.
Book Review December 14, 1996 The Catcher In The Rye The Catcher In The Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is a fictional novel that was first published in 1965. The novel takes place in New York City and in Pennsylvania over a duration of four days. This novel tells the story of an emotionally disturbed r who has been kicked out of a boarding school. The story is told from the point of view of a r who is the narrator of the story. The main character in this novel is Holden Caulfield. He is sixteen years old and serves as the narrator of this novel. Holden does not like anybody or anything around him. He is an emotionally troubled kid and has many problems with his life. Phoebe is Holden's little sister. She is ten years old and lives at home with their parents. Phoebe really admires and loves her big brother, Holden. This novel begins when Holden is in a mental hospital in California. The novel is a flashback of the events over a time period of four days. The flashback starts off when Holden gets kicked out of his boarding school, Pency Prep, because he is failing most of his cles. Holden decides to go into New York City for a couple of days until his parents will be expecting him home for Christmas vacation. Holden goes to bars and meets with friends during this time. On the third night, Holden decides to go and visit his sister, Phoebe. Phoebe is one of the only people that Holden actually loves. Holden talks LaRoche 2 to Phoebe about his life being a failure. He is trying to understand life and his place in the world. Holden decides that he wants to go see Mr. Antolini, an old teacher, to help him get a better understanding of his life. At Mr. Antolini's home, Holden discusses many of the problems that he is facing. Mr. Antolini tells Holden that he has to learn not to hate everyone around him. He has to learn to love people. Holden is told that he has to think about his future. He has to decide when he is going to start to take life seriously and apply himself in school. Holden's conversation with Mr. Antolini is the climax of the novel. This is the point of the novel when Holden starts to listen and understand his problems. He realizes that it is time he put his life back on the right track. The next day, Holden returns home to his family. Holden is taken directly to a mental hospital in California. The hospital is where Holden is before the flashback. Holden was a very true-to-life character. Holden's problems are similar to many rs of today. A lot of rs do not know what they want in life just like Holden. Holden has many problems in school similar to the probelms other kids have in school. Mr. Antolini says to Holden, "Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now." (189). His statement is an example that shows that Holden is not the only person in the world with these problems. Their problems might not be as severe as Holden's, but they are similar. Many rs don't know what they want to do in the future just like Holden. Holden is a very true-to-life character, because his problems relate to the problems of many young people today. LaRoche 3 The reader of this novel might dislike some of the actions and find them to be unrealistic. It is unrealistic that a sixteen year old kid would go to New York City for four days by himself with no one worrying about where he is. In real life, most kids would not have the money to go into New York City for four days. A normal school would contact the parents if the child was expelled. Therefore, the parents will know that the kid is coming home and the kid will not be able to go off on his own for four days without supervision. This novel had some actions in it that just would not happen in real life. In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this novel. I can relate a lot of the problems that Holden was facing to people that I know. This novel kept my attention, because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Holden. The author probably wrote this novel to relate some of the problems that he had in life with the problems of people reading this book. The author was attempting to impress upon his readers that it is okay to not know what you want in life when you are young. I believe that he was successful, because he made me believe that it is okay for me not to know what I want to do in life. This novel was very well written, and I would give it an eight on a ten point scale. --------------------------------------------------------------
Post a comment on this essay Read other users' comments Print this essay New Essays | Popular Essays | Request an Essay Index: Literature: The Catcher In The Rye
Catcher in the Rye
Essay submitted by Unknown
Jerome David Salinger, born in New York City on January 1, 1919, may not have written many novels in which he is recognized for. Although, he did write one novel, which brought him fame. In many of Salinger's short stories and especially his most well-known novel he writes about how the main character falls from his or her own innocence then rises to face their challenges. In J.D. Salinger's , Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through a fall from his innocence throughout his journey to his safe haven, home.
One example of when Holden fell from his own innocence is when he is in the room with Phoebe and he can't name anything he likes. Holden reacts to this question by saying, "Boy, she was depressing me"(Salinger 169). The only three things he can name that he liked were Allie, James Castle, and sitting there chewing the fat with Phoebe. The reason this is a time when Holden falls is because he gets really depressed when he can barely think of anything he liked. The reason I think Holden gets so depressed is because two of the people he names are dead. That's why he is so lonely all the time. Holden finds things in common with Allie and James Castle and since they're both dead he feels, in the back of his mind, that he should also be dead which makes him depressed.
Another example of a fall for Holden is when he realizes he can't erase even half the "fu## you's" in the world. This doesn't sound very important, but it is symbolic because he realizes that he can not be the catcher in the rye. His dream of shielding all the innocent children from society's harsh elements has been ruined by this one statement. Now because of this realization he comes to the conclusion that he can not shield everybody, not even half of everybody. An example of Holden trying to be the catcher in the rye is when Holden first sees the "fu## you" on the wall. Holden said, "It drove me darn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them- all eyed, naturally what it meant, and how they'd think about it even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it".(Salinger 201)
Holden's final fall comes when he is in the Egyptian Tomb in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Holden is deep within the Egyptian Tomb he feels he is in a safe and sanitary place free from society's cruel components until he sees the "fu## you" on the wall. When he sees this he starts to think about committing suicide because he feels like living is just a waste. During this time he spent in the tomb he decides on life or death. After going unconscious for a couple of minutes he decides to live because, "Death thus becomes not a gesture of defiance but of surrender"(Miller 17). Once Holden wakes up he feels better and symbolically chooses life. This is when Holden begins to rise. When Phoebe is on the carousel Holden wants to protect her but restrains himself, "The thing is with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad to say anything to them"(Miller 17-18)When Holden says this his dreams of being catcher in the rye vanish. He realizes that all children must fall, like he himself did.
In conclusion, The Catcher in the Rye is a story of a boy falling from innocence to enter adulthood. An example of J.D. Salinger using symbolism to show Holden's Holding on to his childhood is in his name, Holden(Hold On). This is referring to Holden not wanting to enter society and all it's phonies. Today, when somebody holds on to their innocence they are often considered outcasts; and in the persons mind everyone who considers him this, is a phony, like how Holden saw everyone.
After Holden Caulfield returns to his native New York and rents a room in a sleazy hotel, he makes a date with Sally Hayes. Before this date, Holden finds himself wandering the streets of the city. He is feeling depressed and finds himself on Broadway trying to purchase a record for his sister.
After making this purchase, Holden notices a poor family walking in front of him. This unit is composed of a father, mother, and "little kid." Holden notices the child who is walking in a straight line in the street and humming a tune to himself. Holden approaches him to determine the tune he is singing. This tune is "If a Body Catch a Body Coming Through the Rye."Holden finds it amusing that the child is strutting quite literally on Broadway and is so care-free. He notices cars screeching and honking all over the place, and yet the child proceeds. The child's happy disposition seems to encourage Holden's on vitality. It gripped Holden that the child was singing with "a pretty little voice...just for the hell of it" and brightened him up. A deeper interpretation of this scene would dictate that the child represents Holden's own personality and life. Holden is defiantly singing his own tune just for the hell of it and like the child, seems to have no regard for his own well-being. At this point, Holden may see a side in himself that is care-free and this lightens his depression.
Catcher in the Rye
Essay submitted by Beatriz deBenito
In JD Salingers' Catcher in the Rye, a troubled r named Holden Caufield struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. The book gets its title from Holden's constant concern with the loss of innocence. He did not want children to grow up because he felt that adults are corrupt. This is seen when Holden tries to erase words from the walls of an elementary school where his younger sister Phoebe attended. "While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written 'Fu## you' on the wall. It drove me darn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them- all eyed, naturally- what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it. I figured it was some perverty bum that'd sneaked in the school late at night to take a leak or something and then wrote it on the wall. I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I'd smash his head on the stone steps till hew as good and goddam dead and bloody." (201) His deep concern with impeccability caused him to create stereotypes of a hooligan that would try to corrupt the children of an elementary school. Holden believed that children were innocent because they viewed the world and society without any bias. When Phoebe asked him to name something that he would like to be when he grew up, the only thing he would have liked to be was a "catcher in the rye." He invented an illusion for himself of a strange fantasy. He stated that he would like to follow a poem by Robert Burns: "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye." He kept "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. Thatˇ¦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." (173) Holden wants to stop children from "falling" into losing their innocence and becoming an adult, and he takes pleasure in the attempted thwarting of maturation.
In the beginning of Catcher in the Rye, his initial character is one of a child. Throughout the book, he takes steps and the forces of change take a toll on his childish ways. In the end, he seems to be changed into a man. Holden is definitely extremely immature in the beginning of the book. He characterizes almost every person he meets as a "phony". He feels that he is surrounded by hypocrites in a school filled with fakery. Principal Thurmer, the principal of Holden's high school, Pencey, was the leader of the whole charade. During a teacher/parent day, Principal Thurmer would only say hello to the wealthy parents of students. He would not ociate himself with those that were not financially stable, because he was a phony.
Holden also maintains a lack of responsibility throughout the whole book. He was the equipment manager of the fencing team at Pencey, but he lost the equipment on the subway. He also failed out of two schools for lack of effort and absences from cles. Holden also had a daydream about two children who never grew up, main in a perfect world forever. This daydream is a result of his younger brother Allie's death. Allie represents the unchangeable youth of which Holden must let go if he ever expects to maintain sanity. Holden has a fixation on childhood, which shows itself in many forms. His glorification of children, inordinate admiration of Phoebe, idealization of his dead younger brother, and the joy he gets from reminiscing about his own childhood all contribute to his obsession with innocence and youth.
Throughout the middle of the book, forces of change unfold on Holden. While waiting for an old friend of his, he had the sudden urge to go into a museum that he had visited while still a child in school in order to bring back memories of his childhood. However, when he finally reached the museum, he decided not to. "Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me..." (122) This shows that Holden is becoming an adult. He did not want to enter the museum because he realized that he was too old to take part in such an activity. When he takes Phoebe to a carousel later in the book, he decided not to ride on it, or even stand on it during a rain storm, because he felt "too old" to get on. Holden also had another one of his childish fantasies for his future. He wanted to go and be a deaf mute somewhere in the west, so he wouldn't have to deal with all the phonies and hypocrites of every day life. Phoebe told him that she wanted to go along with him, but he denies her of this because of his growing responsibility and metamorphosis as an adult. He told her, "I'm not going away anywhere. I changed my mind." (207)
At the end of the book, Holden seems to be much more mature. His key step was when he did not ride with Phoebe on the carrousel. Holden only watched his sister ride along. In the center of the carousel, there was a gold ring. The children riding on the carousel would reach for the gold ring in order to win a prize. "All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for 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."(211) This carousel symbolizes life, and the constant journey of childhood into adulthood. Children would sometimes fall when striving to reach the gold ring in the center of life, or their complete success or adulthood. Holden would have yelled out to the children that it was dangerous to try to achieve this goal, but he realized in this anagnoresis that the children should go along the path of life by themselves.
Throughout the book, Holden tried to save all children from growing up and losing their innocence. When he realized that he could not achieve this goal, he had a nervous breakdown and could not deal with it. However, it is an inevitable fact that everyone has to grow up.
The Catcher in the Rye
Essay submitted by missymail@yahoo.com
Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, is what I believe to be one of the most well-developed characters which I have read about. He has many characteristics that are all his own, such as the way he views the world, his friends and his family. One of the main things that characterizes Holden, is that way that he thinks the entire world is "phony."
Holden's view of the world as "phony" is a very strong one, and in most cases, is correct. Holden thinks that the majority of the people in the world are putting on some sort of an act to impress or befriend people. In a way, Holden is probably correct in thinking that most of the people he came in contact with are "phony," such as his roommate at Pencey, Ward Stradlater. In one instance, Holden refers to Stradlater as a "secret slob." He describes how Stradlater always tries to be neat and tidy on the outside so as to impress people, but how he is not when you get to know him. In the scene where Holden and Stradlater are in the "can," and Stradlater is getting ready for a date, Holden describes Stradlater's razor as "rusty as hell and full of lather and hair and crap."
Another of Holden's run-ins with "phonies," came to him while he was in New York City. He was lonely and looking for someone to keep him company, so he calls a girl named Faith Cavendish. He was told about Faith by a friend of his who went to Princeton, Eddie Birdsell. When he calls Faith, she has no desire to talk to him whatsoever, and she makes that quite clear, until Holden drops the name of Eddie, and she instantly perks up at the thought that Holden might be an important person. She asks Holden where he's calling from, and he replies "a phone booth," and he tells her that he has no money, and she then tells Holden that she has no time. The way that Faith changes her mind so quickly when she finds that Holden has no money is a prime example of the "phonies" Holden encounters.
Another general example of what Holden thinks is "phony" is actors. He talks about how D.B. took Phoebe and him to see "Hamlet," and he talks about Sir Laurence Olivier, and how the play would have been good, except that Olivier "knew he was good, and that spoils it." Holden says how he can't go to a play and pay attention to what the actor is saying because he "has to keep worrying about whether he's going to do something phony every minute."
Holden has another incident with phonies when he invites Sally Hayes on a date. Holden takes her to a play, which he considers phony as it is, but then at intermission, Sally meets a man who she hasn't seen for years, and they began a big phony act. Holden says, "You've though that they hadn't seen each other for twenty years they probably even hugged and kissed checks and all." This is the kind of behavior that Holden obviously never grew up with, isn't used to, and doesn't like.
Through his experiences in New York City, and his many flings with phony women, Holden grows to believe that everyone in phony in some way. He thinks that the whole world is phony, and it's not likely that everyone in the world is corrupted or "phony," so is it possible that all the characters in the novel are all really normal and Holden is really the only "phony" one?