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Holden Caulfield Struggles

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The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a story about a boy named Holden Caulfield, a socially awkward 16 year old that has too many problems that he just cannot cope with, like getting kicked out of Pencey Prep, the third school he has been expelled from. He does not tell his parents about getting kicked out of Pencey so he wanders aimlessly around New York, cheap hotels, and clubs for a few days, trying not to face his academic problems, doing a lot of ridiculous things during that period of time. Holden is a teenager who is extremely quick to judge people as phony, but he doesn’t realize that he is the phony one. He likes to act like an adult, a suave player who is good with the older ladies, to distract himself from his mess of a life. …show more content…

Jane is a girl who Holden became very close to when she used to live nearby to him, and he has always had very strong feelings for her. When Ward Stradlater, Holden’s roommate at Pencey, has a date with her, he becomes very worried and nervous that they would like each other and that the date would go a little too well. However, when Stradlater says Holden can go out to see her too if he really wants to, he makes an excuse. He is too shy to confront her, and he is also too shy to tell Stradlater how he feels about Jane. Holden even gets in a physical fight with Stradlater after his date with Jane. Although Holden tried to act like he was just angry because of what a moron Stradlater was, he is mad because he is jealous, but of course, he does not say this. After Holden left Pencey Prep, every time he came across a phone he would always debate whether or not to call up Jane. He would always end up make an excuse such as ‘I didn’t feel like it’ or ‘I just wasn’t in the mood’, anything to avoid facing his real feelings for this girl. However, it was clear that he was just too shy to talk to her, and he distracted himself from his relationship problems with Jane by constantly unsuccessfully trying to hook up with other girls. Holden has many reflections on their past together, like when they used to play games together and watch movies with each other. When Jane was …show more content…

He tries his best to avoid his feelings and complications in his life and act like none of these problems were happening. He does not say much about his problems and his real self because he wants to pretend to be confident and carefree. He is unable to cope with all the terrible things happening and he has no idea how he can deal with them, so he tries to act like he is someone he is not, the version of himself he wants to be. Sometimes, his problems put so much pressure on him that he cannot handle them, which is why he suddenly decides wants to run away and start a new life somewhere else towards end of the book. Holden acts like he does not know where this is coming from, but he really just wants to run away from all of the issues he is facing and how much they are depressing him. He realizes in the end that he cannot run away from it all. There are still so many people and things he knows he would miss, like his little sister Phoebe or even Stradlater, no matter how phony Holden describes him as. There any significant examples of Holden being unable to deal with his problems, like the advice from Mr. Spencer, Allie’s death, and his fondness of Jane Gallagher. Although Holden desperately tries to hide his problems and act unbothered by them, there is still no way he can avoid dealing with his issues

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