...Holden Caulfield, the protagonist from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, consistently struggles throughout the novel. He lost his younger brother, Allie, and his parents sent him away to boarding school. Now, Holden is sick and writes the novel from a type of hospital though it is unclear his full diagnosis. J.D. Salinger’s personality is seen periodically in Holden and the people he meets. Salinger and Caulfield have many similarities seen during Salinger’s life and the novel. J.D. Salinger’s experience coping with World War II is reflected through the PTSD Holden developed due to the lack of attention he received from his parents after the death of his brother Allie. Holden Caulfield shows signs of PTSD throughout the entirety of the...
Words: 1675 - Pages: 7
...Jared Odom 4th Mr. Fish 9 December 2016 The Life Of Holden Caulfield “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. Born on January 1, 1919, in New York, J.D. Salinger was a huge writer. His novel, The Catcher in the Rye, set a new course for writing during World War One America and made Salinger famous in the literature world. What inspired J.D. to write Catcher in the rye was the sights and sounds of a guy named Devon in the town of Tiverton where J.D. Salinger spent three months during World War 2. Salinger Served in the U.S Army and was one of the soldiers that landed on Utah Beach on D-Day while serving in the army Salinger wrote this well known novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. The main theme of the novel is the protection of innocence the story follows the life of Holden Caulfield and shows how he develops and comes of age. Holden starts out as a 17 year old boy that goes to school at a school named Pency High School which is a more formal and rich high school. In a result of not applying himself in school he was kicked out of the high school....
Words: 727 - Pages: 3
...4141- 4141--- Cherished and Cursed:Towarda Social History of The Catcher in the Rye STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD THE plot is brief:in 1949 or perhaps 1950, over the course of three days during the Christmas season, a sixteen-yearold takes a picaresque journey to his New YorkCity home from the third private school to expel him. The narratorrecounts his experiences and opinions from a sanitarium in California. A heavy smoker, Holden Caulfield claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version...
Words: 12326 - Pages: 50
...definition ties into the main character in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, who is suffering from a depression problem. Some people believe he is not suffering from the mental illness of depression. While others believe he is suffering from the mental illness of depression. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield is suffering from the mental illness of depression, which began when he lost his younger brother Allie at a young age. The death of Allie began the mental illness of depression for Holden. “I was only thirteen, and they were gonna have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the...
Words: 1002 - Pages: 5
...In the 1950s, many books were written that conveyed ideas controversial to popular belief. However, of the all the books written, two books stood out more than any others. Catcher in the Rye and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were read more among anyone ranging from teenager to senior. Even though both began arguments, these two both books were mostly popular because of their rebellious influence. Over time, they have shaped and formed today’s society. From the 1950s to the 2010s, Catcher in the Rye and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof have spurred both controversial and rebellious altercations. Published by J.D. Salinger on July 16th, 1951, the Catcher in the Rye has been popular among people of all ages and races. Meant to be a controversial novel originally...
Words: 882 - Pages: 4
...Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost...
Words: 1343 - Pages: 6
...THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. SALINGER I. Content of the Book Holden Caulfield is a very weird and interesting young man who likes to do things on impulse or because as he said 'he got such a bang out of it'. He has a brother, D.B. who is a writer in Hollywood, a little sister named Phoebe and another brother Allie, who has already died before the story even began. In the beginning of the story Holden narrates that he'll be leaving his school, Pencey Prep (a school full of Phonies from Holden’s point of view), because he flunked out in the four out of five subjects he was taking, the only subject he didn't fail was English. Holden tells the readers that he had come back to Agerstown, Pennsylvania though he was traveling with his team for a fencing contest, he lost all of the foils in a New York Subway, and so the match was cancelled instead. Holden even mentioned that on the way home his mates treated him to silence and he found this very amusing. Though there was a football game going on, Holden didn't go down and watch it, instead he went to visit his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is a very old man who wants to help Caulfield in his studies (since Holden has also been expelled in a few other schools as well) and at some point Mr. Spencer even read out Holden's examination paper and the little note that Holden had written in the end saying that if Mr. Spencer would like to flunk him then he'd be all right with it, Holden explained to the readers that the...
Words: 4662 - Pages: 19
...Holden’s deep depression is rooted in his traumatic experiences one of which cause such distorting behavior that it shows the readers how on the brink of his great fall Holden really is. And that is his brother Allie's death. Alies death brings us something that is seen in most depressed people and that is to self inflict any harm.Meaning Holden hurts himself. On the eve of his brothers death Holden ends up smashing the windows of everything in his house with his bare hands stating that “They were going to have me psychoanalyzed…..I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by the time, and I...
Words: 990 - Pages: 4
...Growing up can be a very easy process or a very difficult process, it all matters on how the person looks at it. Holden Caulfield from the book The Catcher in the Rye, takes growing up as a difficult process. He likes to make things a burden to do. Holden makes becoming an adult more difficult by being self-centered, using vulgar language, and wanting the responsibilities of a child but being able to do what anything an adult could. Holden Caulfield struggles with growing up throughout the book as kid’s today struggle with similar social problems. Holden across the span of book worries about himself and no one else. He tends to push things away and fend for his own self, because he feels people are phonies, or just to fake to be with. Salinger writes “You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were” (Salinger126). Here holden quickly jumps to conclusion that everyone in the building are phonies, when he doesn’t even know anyone. Because Holden cannot place himself into other people shoes to consider their point of view or to hear what they have to say, he struggles connecting with anyone that isn’t already in relation with him. So instead he labels them as phonies. This is one of the many social issues that keep Holden from maturing and growing up to be an adult. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a cognitive neuroscientist from University College London, UK, found in...
Words: 1374 - Pages: 6
...Stefani Arcadi C. Centorame ENG 2D March 24, 2015 The Catcher in the Rye The transition from childhood to adulthood is a huge journey. In the novel the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is on his own journey and cannot accept the fact that his childhood is slipping away and that he has to grow up and face reality. Holden is having a difficult time doing so because he is afraid that if he grows up he will become a phony and will not be himself. Holden is poised between two worlds; one he fears to enter and one he cannot return to. Holden's refusal to face the adult world leads him to isolation and the realization that he has to mature. The museum of natural history displays how Holden is stuck between childhood and...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
...Depression within Holden Caulfield Depression is a mental illness that is very common among teens. Depression is a mental illness that is a feeling of intense of hopelessness and sadness. In the book, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Saligner, a high school student named Holden Caulfield loses his younger brother Allie to Leukemia. This leads to his depression and grief. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger uses multiple symbols to show Holden’s depression. In the following examples:the red hunting hat, a record called “Little Shirley Beans”, and the ducks from the Central Park It becomes clear to us that Holden Caulfied suffers from depression. Depression can emerge from a death of a loved one. The death of Holden’s little brother Allie took a big toll on him, causing him to drop out of school, feeling depressed as well as isolating himself from everyone. A symptom of depression is to be isolate one’s self...
Words: 755 - Pages: 4
...Catcher in the Rye: FLE In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield expresses his love of innocence as he sees it in others, in numerous ways. He demonstrates this through the way he talks about others and the way he acts around them. We learn that Holden lost his own innocence at an early age after his “perverty” (193) encounter with Mr. Antolini. Because of this, he cherishes, and wants to protect innocence in others. This is really a reflection of his desire to be innocent himself. Allie is a paragon of innocence to Holden. I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can’t I? Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake–especially if they were a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all (171). Innocence is lost in adulthood. Since Allie never becomes an adult, he is for Holden the epitome of innocence, consequently, Holden’s love for him is very deep. Holden’s memories of Allie will always be of an innocent Allie. Holden says that he will not stop liking Allie just because he is dead. The other people he talks about are the adults that Holden sees around him. He does not like any of them because they are phony, and have lost their innocence. Mr. Spencer is one person in the book who definitely has lost his innocence, but Holden does not dislike him. Although Holden says he likes Mr. Spencer, he does imply that Mr. Spencer is a phony. There are other...
Words: 1095 - Pages: 5
...dictionary definition of the word individuality is: total character peculiar to and distinguishing an individual from others. The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, play The Crucible by Arthur Miller and the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy all have underlying themes of the society influencing a character’s individuality. In each text, each character struggles with the difficulty of the society’s impact on their lives. Through each text we see the struggles and stress “the society” puts upon people. In “Barbie Doll,” the main character struggles with her self image, whereas in Catcher, Holden struggles with the society’s pressure to become materialistic. In The Crucible, every character is under the microscope and pressured to stay in order and not to step out of perfection. If they do not do as told or what is thought to be the correct way to act they will be accused of witchcraft even if innocent. The society has such a large impact on each and every one of these characters, that without a doubt each character has been influenced one way or another. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden faces the pressure of the society alone and struggles with the ability of keeping his individuality from slipping out of his grips. The society in this novel brings upon the pressure of having everything, even if it means really having nothing at all. Holden feels he cannot be himself in the society surrounding him, his school tries to change him, his parent’s values aren’t the same as his...
Words: 1955 - Pages: 8
...Stelmach ENG4U Stelmach: 1 October 30th, 2015 Struggles With Change in The Catcher in the Rye: New Literary Criticism Approach Time and time again it has been proven that resisting change is impossible. The famous saying of “the only constant in life is change” is true in society and is shown in The Catcher in the Rye. For instance, in the novel the protagonist (Holden Caulfield) is clinging onto childhood, but despite his fears, change is inevitable . After reading the novel through a new literary criticism lens it is argued that author J.D. Salinger is informing his readers to avoid being overly attached to childhood because growing up is natural. Salinger engraves this message in his audience’s minds through the use of stylistic devices such as hyperbole, symbolism as well as indirect characterization. Salinger’s message of clinging onto childhood and resisting change is enforced on many occasions throughout the novel. Using hyperbole, in the first chapter of the novel, Holden emphasizes how tall he is and how he has gray hair, yet he admits that he still acts young for his age. “It’s really ironical, because I’m six foot two and half and have gray hair...The one side of my head...is full of millions of gray hairs...And yet I still act sometimes like I was only twelve.” (Salinger, 9) Salinger uses this hyperbole to really highlight to his readers that even though Holden might look like he is getting older on the outside, on the inside he still acts...
Words: 1257 - Pages: 6
...Tyler Ryan Professor Wheeler English 101 April 22, 2015 Catcher in the Rye Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger was born on New Year’s Day in the year 1919, in New York City, “the second and last child of Sol and Marie (Miriam) Jillich Salinger” (Alexander 1). As a young boy, Salinger was interested in theatre and dramatics. Growing up, he attended a public school on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. He was always a very quiet and polite young man. His parents, Sol and Marie, thought he would fit in perfectly in a private school – seeing how well-mannered that young Salinger was – they “enrolled him in McBurney School in Manhattan in 1932” (Alexander 2), but, just as one of his most famous characters, Holden Caufield, he did not fit in very well in the private school, struggling to keep his grades satisfactory. Concerned, Salinger’s parents sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy when he was just 15 years old. “There he was active in drama and singing clubs. He sometimes wrote fiction by flashlight under his blankets at night and contributed to the school’s magazine” (Alexander 3). Salinger graduated in June of 1936 from Valley Forge, and then went on to pursue a brief, but significant college career. He began his education at New York University, but quickly dropped out “to try performing as an entertainer on a Caribbean cruise ship” (Alexander 4). When he was 20 years old, he worked toward his college career once again. He enrolled in a class at Columbia University to learn...
Words: 2078 - Pages: 9
