Catcher And The Rye Character Analysis

In order to reach this last phase, Holden needs to come to terms with the loss of his brother. As the book progresses, he uses Allie as his anchor to reality. This is shown when Holden repeatedly mumbles, “Allie, don't let me disappear” (198) while crossing the streets. This connection only dies after Holden talks to Phoebe during her lunch break. Because of her insisting that she come with him, he realizes that his ideas of fleeing home are absurd and will never work, finalizing his decision of staying in New York. These events represent Holden’s transition in letting go, but the true moment that symbolizes the end of his journey of grief is when he is watching Phoebe ride the carousel. "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" (211). Not only is Holden’s realizing that he is unable to save every single person, but also that he himself will have rough times. These obstacles are unavoidable and are a natural part throughout the path of grieving.

The lost of innocence can totally change the way people view the world. A person who illustrates this can be found in J.D. Salinger’s novel, the Catcher in the Rye. The story happened during the 1950s, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Agerstown. A teenage boy named Holden, who witnesses the death of his older brother Allie when he was only 13 years old. Then consequently, he blames himself all his life for the death of Allie. As time went by he starts to search for a sense of innocence that was lost in the beginning of the novel. Throughout the course of the novel, the author conveys that Holden is continually stuck in between childhood and adulthood. The author uses Holden’s struggle to convey that in reality often times people who

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

It is often said that the people one surrounds themselves with can reflect things about themselves, such as their beliefs and ideals. One’s friends and acquaintances can reveal subconscious attractions to people that fulfill their ideals or agree with the things they say, but these relationships can also help one discover their personal philosophies by reinforcing opposing views. Indeed, in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the way Holden reacts to and interacts with secondary characters reveal his established philosophies and the values he holds most dear to him.

In Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, had many opportunities to learn life lessons but every time his faulty thinking caused him to focus on the problem and not the solution. Whenever Holden looks at situations he negatively overgeneralizes them with a bad attitude rather than learning from it.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger that occurs around the 1950s. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old white male, who journeys to various places as he mourns over the death of his little brother, Allie. As a white male in a capitalist society, he has tremendous amounts of privileges that allow him to get. However, as the novel progresses, Holden describes his society as a place where honored human qualities are suppressed and capitalist ideals are embraced. Throughout the novel, we see that capitalism, “the social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, destroys the overall society for Holden and his generation (Rand).

He experiences several moments of panic during his weekend in the city, and these can be traced back to the trauma he felt after Allie’s death. When Holden takes Sally Hayes ice-skating, he goes into a nervous rant, asking her if she ever got “fed up” as in did she ever “get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless she did something” (Salinger 130). Sally doesn’t respond in the way Holden wants, so eventually he loses his temper and upsets her. This anxiety attack was rage induced, and made him erupt at Sally. He reacts differently to his anxiety when he visits Phoebe. Phoebe offers to give him her Christmas money, and Holden “all of a sudden” starts to cry (Salinger 179). He feels overcome with emotions towards Phoebe and himself. Holden’s breakdown in this moving scene signals his growing, frightening awareness of the other sort of intimacy (Bryan 46). Holden comes to the realization that his relationship with Phoebe is the most intimate that he has with anyone. He leaves the house immediately after his breakdown. The anxiety attacks that Holden experiences come at emotional times and make him unable to control his actions. His emotions always bring him back to Allie, and the trauma surrounding Allie causes him to

Through a quote from the novel, Holden states, “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street...Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie,” (198). From this quote, Allie reflects a guardian angel for that his presence is keeping Holden attached to the world. In a way, Allie is rather acting similar to the catcher in the rye keeping and preventing Holden from feeling like he has nobody anymore to turn to which Holden eventually starts to feel like he is on the edge of the cliff. By talking to Allie, Holden feels secured in a world he has lost faith in and this further illustrates how Holden feels protected by the thought of having his brother around reassuring him that not all innocence and hope is

Holden is deeply disturbed by the death of his brother Allie. This becomes evident when he gets irritated at his friend Stradlater for criticizing the paper he wrote about Allie's baseball glove, which was obviously very important to Holden. As a result of Allie's death, Holden later becomes isolated from society. He does not allow himself to get too close to anyone, such as Jane Gallagher, because he wants to protect himself from change, which, to him, comes to signify growing up. This event also alters Holden's mental state, as it leads Holden to becoming a sociopath, and we know this because of him being antisocial with everyone and because of his rebellious behavior. His isolation also expresses depression, which also contributes to his

In chapter ten of J.D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, there are three important concepts: loneliness, depression, and idealism. Holden evinces these concepts when he talks about his younger sister, goes to the Lavender room, and mentions Radio City Music Hall. Each of these concepts builds upon each other, especially the idea that Holden is lonely.

A way Holden that separated himself from was by insulting adults and never making friends with teens because he viewed innocence as sacred. Throughout the book, he struggles with the idea of growing up because he views an adult’s world as cruel and fake. Holden fights against time because of his view of the adult world and fear of death. The death of Allie and his classmate showed him that he too will disappear one day and everything will change. In order to reject growing up, Holden surrounds himself with people who embody innocence, such as Phoebe and Jane Gallagher. His goal in life is to protect the innocence of children by being “the catcher in the rye” because his innocence was taken away at a young age and no one protected him due to the death of Allie. Although Holden’s innocence was taken from him, he continually searches for it by epitomizing childish behavior such as obsessing over where the ducks go in the winter. The day after Allie died, Holden broke every window in his garbage and his hand in doing his, this act is representative of his innocence also breaking and not being able to ever be fully fixed. Holden also witnessed the suicide of his classmate which provoke his already damaged emotional state. The viewing of these two deaths made Holden realize that innocent children and he couldn’t figure out why.

After Holden arrives in New York and takes a cab to his hotel, he "damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz, though. I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all," (66). Holden wants to talk to Phoebe as he has been isolated from her and feels because she is someone who he has a strong connection with, that she will make him less depressed shown by him saying that she had sense. Also while Holden is in his hotel room in New York, after his prostitute leaves, he "felt depressed," then he began "talking, sort of out loud, to Allie," (98). Allie's death made Holden isolated form someone who was close to him. Him attempting to talk to Allie shows how his loneliness and depression was caused by his isolation because he wants to try to reconnect with Allie to end his loneliness. While on his way to a bar from the hotel, Holden describes New York as making him feel "lonesome and depressed" and how he wished "[he] could go home and shoot the bull with old Phoebe," (81). Holden feels lonely and depressed in New York because of his isolation from Phoebe, someone he loves. This is proved by how he describes that he wishes he could go home and talk with her for a while. After getting to New York, Holden's feelings still follow him as he feels lonely and depressed thinking about Phoebe and wanting to see

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel written by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It is a great book for teenagers to read, as it allows teenagers to realize their emotional complexity due to puberty, as well as how to deal with the adult world. In “The Catcher in the Rye”, readers observe Holden’s emotional development into an adult through his analysis of his surroundings as well as the expression of his thoughts, feelings, and actions. By reading this book, I have learnt about myself because I could relate to some of Holden’s situations. Just like Holden, I have experienced depression and emotional shifts, which were very painful. However, this book taught me how these problems are common, and how each person can overcome these problems one day in

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of

At first, when reminiscing about the past Holden associates rain with his brother’s death, emphasizing his survivor's guilt and internalized misery. Holden's incapability to see the world without Allie causes him to sink further into his depression. With Allie suddenly gone, Holden smashed all the windows in his garage, blinded by anger. Later he reveals that his “hand still hurts [him] once in a while when it rains and all” but it does not matter because