The Catcher in the Rye, Guilt

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

Although he is reasonably cynical towards people who are conspicuously phony, such as Marty who overtly lies about catching a glimpse of a movie star, his negativity and scathing criticism of others often extends beyond the realm of reason. When discussing fighting, he says, “I can’t stand looking at the other guy’s face, is my trouble. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could be blindfolded or something” (117). Holden’s negativity is so extensive that it even drives him to irrationally resent the face of another man who is challenging him. This testifies to Holden’s struggle with an unusually cynical outlook. Moreover, he resists the formation of intimate relationships with others, finding flaws too great to ignore in every acquaintance. His history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand Holden’s refusal to do schoolwork. He is sorry that he has to fail Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him on a personal level and influence him for the better. However, Holden dismisses him as senile, phony and pathetic and refuses to engage Mr. Spencer. When he wakes up to Mr. Antolini creepily patting him on the forehead, Holden reveals that similar “perverty” stuff happened to him as a child several times. Thus, he clearly struggles with a natural trust deficit with everyone he meets, which explains his insecurity and the brash cynicism he utilizes to justify his alienation from others. Another example of this is Holden’s relationship with D.B. Although he suggests that they were once close, he now considers D.B. a phony because of his work in the film industry. Thus, he sabotages a potential genial relationship and justifies doing so with his prejudices against his brother’s field of work. Holden’s cynicism and alienation from others reveals emotional damage and psychological problems relating to

Holden’s attitude toward life in general is perplexed. He pretends to be an adult by drinking heavily, yet he complains like a child. Holden's thoughts aren't what an average sixteen year old boy would think about. He describes death in a peculiar way and he pretends to be injured often yet he hasn’t been in that position before. He is a bit violent and sexual for a kid his age. He lies about his age to certain people he meets. He tries to lose his virginity to a prostitute but he doesn’t go through with it. Holden isn’t a straightforward guy because he shys away with his lies. In other words, Holden tries to act like an adult at times, but he is actually extremely terrified of the adult life.

Each adolescent faces their own struggles before reaching the stage of adulthood. In, The Catcher In The Rye, a meaningful novel written by J.D Salinger, Salinger exploits the use of a protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who is extremely difficult to understand, to relay an important message involving adolescents. Salinger uses vague writing to portray Holden as someone who does not fit into society's expectations. Furthermore, after the death of Holden's brother, Allie, Holden goes into a downward spiral of depression and tries to venture into adulthood faster than he should have. The first time the reader interacts with Holden is when he is at, Pencey, a private school in which he is failing all of his classes, except English. As a result, Holden got kicked out of Pencey. To beat the letter, that the school sent home, Holden left Pencey early and headed into New York City. From there Holden spends his days in New York City reminiscing and interacting with some interesting characters. Based on the novel one can say that Salinger's main message in The Catcher In The Rye is to illustrate the struggle of identity crisis, which is a moment of time when a person's individuality is lost, in adolescents. Salinger does this using Holden’s sexual confusion and the use of turning an everyday item into a piece of symbolic literature.

Castronovo writes that The Catcher in the Rye is much more than just a novel. Instead, influences young adults on the experience of Holden Caulfield. This book has power and lessons that connect to the real world. It describes Holden and all the struggles he faces throughout his life. This becomes more personal when interpreted from real life experience rather than just a story, because the battles Holden faces within this novel can be one’s exact life in the real world. It describes his character, his emotions, and the setting of the

This self-destructive behavior is a result of not only his pride in viewing others as phonies, but his overall hypocrisy. One example can be seen in his actions in Chapter 10. While Holden had previously talked about the importance of youth and innocence, and is a character that is proud of that aspect, Holden disregards his own philosophy in Chapter 10 as he tries to appear older in order to order a drink at the bar. As he describes his gray hair and aspects that make him look mature, Holden’s hypocrisy can be seen strongly, as he would be acting in a “phony” way. Another prime example of this can be seen in Chapters 11 and 12. While Holden condemns the people in the bar as “perverts”, he himself later seeks out a woman to have sex with, and eventually has to settle for a prostitute. This, once again, shows that Holden does not adhere to his own philosophy of “phoniness”, which causes self-destructive hypocrisy in his actions. Holden’s lust for love creates another example of just this in Chapter 15. While he had previously criticized characters like Stradlater for being a phony who cares too much about dating, he himself goes to great heights to have Sally go on a date with him. This last act of hypocrisy shows that Holden himself is a phony, and that his worldview is flawed. Holden Caulfield does not adhere to his own philosophy of what “phoniness” is, as he makes exceptions for himself. This

Holden looks up to the people that are still innocent. Like for example his little sister Phoebe, who is still innocent and hasn't been exposed to the real world. Holden thinks that children need to keep their innocence and so he does whatever he can to protect the children. While watching Phoebe have fun Holden says, “I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, i wish you could’ve been there” (Salinger, 213). Holden is so happy to see that Phoebe still is a innocent little girl. Holden has been through a lot and seeing Phoebe happy brings him back to his happy place. Also Holden doesn’t really realize that at one point

He tries to be someone he is not , Holden feels lonely when phoebe is riding the carousel and he is sitting at the end of the chair in the rain all alone, also when he sees the seesaw boys at the park and you can tell that they do not want him around. Things like that are the things that Holden felt like he wasn’t good enough for anybody and also really sad. Also when he found out that Jane had slept with Stradler, he was about to be done with everything, he felt really disappointed and mad at life, because he really feels something for

The most common aspect noted throughout the novel is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the ugliness of the adult world, the complexities that alter the simple minded persona Holden tries to capture from the childhood world. Yet he fails miserably to do so, because he undoes himself in order to make himself. "After old Sunny was gone, I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of cigarettes" [Holden Caulfield pg. 98] Holden tries to project an attitude unique to others and indifference. Yet Holden is very self-conscious about himself. After he was offered a night of promiscuity, he rejects it as soon as Sunny comes in Holden is very critical on sex. He believes it should only happen between two people who genuinely care for each other. He criticizes others for being promiscuous, yet he almost lost his virginity to a prostitute. After feeling anxious with the moment spent with Sunny, Holden smokes cigarettes to calm down the uneasiness and depression he feels because he cannot come to terms with what he

Innocence and purity are crucial aspects of Holden’s life; he does the best he can to hold onto these pieces of himself throughout the book. Holden takes his red hunting

Supporting claims are made that within Holden’s subconscious he is dealing with emotional turmoil of abject rejection that he then expresses through refusal to even entertain the idea of conformity. Numerous outside critiques also claim that Holden’s only true desire is to be accepted, “Holden is angry at everyone. Anger, of course, is the flip side of hurt. Holden is wounded by his disappointment in the faults of the world. He feels that he is different, doesn't fit into his environment. . .

J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye through the eyes of a boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden goes on a journey of self discovery after he is expelled from his third high school. Holden is faced with many challenges during his journey back home. Through Holden's interactions with other characters, The Catcher in the Rye tackles on the idea of what a typical teenager is. Holden would frequently lie to people for his own entertainment. He also doesn't back down, even if he ends up getting hurt. In both situations Holden has tried to start drama which makes him a typical teenager.

One thing that we learn soon enough about Holden is that he has a mindset of the adult world being phony and that he is very skeptical about many of the well kept hidden themes that come with it. Throughout the whole novel, Holden tries to unravel these concealed messages so that they can hopefully guide him into conserving the innocence of individuals. Innocence is a crucial theme that plays a part in this novel that Holden is very concerned about for not only himself, but others. This struggle is what creates his upbringings and responsibility for helping younger people including his sister and others

When he tells people about his past, he misses people like Allie, his little brother who passed away at a young age. He enjoys telling people about his past stories, but he occasionally becomes distressed when doing so because it reminds him of people that made him smile. Another example of Holden fearing to share his feelings with others was when he stayed overnight at Mr. Antolini’s apartment. He wanted to sleep over at the apartment, but at the same time, he wanted to leave without telling Mr. Antolini because he was uncomfortable there. He eventually left, but at the same time, he regretted not telling Mr. Antolini that he did. The only one Holden is sincerely able to open up to the most is Phoebe, his younger sister, but he still can’t even share all his feelings with her. Holden’s conflict of fearing to share his feelings with others is essentially a struggle between good and evil. “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (277). If he shares his feelings, it will help him grow up and form a stronger relationship with people. If he continues to not share his feelings, it would only continue to hurt him more, but he doesn’t want to form relationships with people because he feels that he will miss them more if he

J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye recounts protagonist Holden Caulfield’s journey after he becomes expelled from his boarding school, Pencey Preparatory, due to his inability to improve his grades. Before leaving Pencey, Holden visits Mr. Spencer to say goodbye, but Mr. Spencer confronts him with his lousy exam essay— causing Holden to make up an excuse to avoid Mr. Spencer’s persistent sermon. Holden does not go home; instead he wanders through New York City avoiding his awaiting parents at home. Salinger’s representation of Holden’s adolescence as a time graced by innocence and curiosity, yet terror and tribulation highlights that innocence eventually diminishes.