What Are The Siblings In Catcher In The Rye

In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.

Contrast and Contradiction- During the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s older brother, Allie, and younger sister, Phoebe, play an important role in the story. Allie and Phoebe are the only ones Holden goes into depth about. None of the other members of Holden’s family are mentioned like his mom, dad, and other brother DB. In the beginning of the story Holden said he was not going to tell about his whole life, but only about what happened last Christmas. Holden contradicts what he says in the beginning of the story when he tells about his brother and sister, “My brother D.B.’s a

    Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher In The Rye, feels that he needs to protect people around him, because he failed to protect his brother Allie from death. Holden feels that he has to care for those close to him. He watches over Jane, Phoebe, and even Mrs. Murrow when he meets her on the train. Holden tries to shield these people from distress. He does not want to fail anyone else.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, incorporates numerous themes. However, the two most important themes throughout the book were innocence and loneliness. Holden’s innocence is constantly changing as he matures throughout the story. Furthermore, Holden has to deal with the effects of embarking on his journey throughout the story with loneliness. Salinger’s message during the 1940’s shows how American society and the growth of the teenage boy remains the same throughout

Love also becomes an important aspect, each thrive for passion and affection from others and have someone they confide in. Holden places deep care into his younger sister Phoebe because they connect on many levels, both as childlike mind and in interest. He also longs for closure towards his deceased brother Allie. Holden worries about his parents thoughts, he respects them. He is concerned about his mother’s reaction to getting kicked out of yet another school. The only two people he feels he has truly connected with are his sister and Allie, often in times of need they are the first he contacts. Throughout his cycle of depression he talks aloud to Allie. (Quote: Holden: “I felt so depressed, you can't even imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed.”) He shows he cares about Phoebe by constantly wanting to call and chat with her; he often talks about her. On the contrary he contradicts himself by finding an excuse to not call, or to not visit. By isolating himself he also goes against himself because he

Throughout the story Holden experiences loss multiple times, but one stands out to him among all others. Holden loses his brother when he is 13 years old to leukemia. Holden then freaks out and unleashes his anger in the garage and punches out all of the windows causing him to break his hand. “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.”(P.44) Holden had a strong relationship with his brother, he did everything with him except for one time, and he feels guilty about it and he always thinks back about it when he is upset. This shows how Holden acts without someone to make a connection to as would everyone if they lose someone that means so much to them.

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is in a rest home, where he speaks about his past and discusses his thoughts and feelings of his memories. Holden tells about his life including his past experiences at many different private schools, most recently Pensey Prep, his friends, and his late brother Allie which led to Holden’s own mental destruction.

Holden never going to Allie’s funeral gives us insight into why Holden is still holding onto Allie. After Allie’s death, Holden still went through experiences that caused his BPD, neglect and separation. During the time following Allie’s death, Holden’s family was in great grieving, making Holden feel isolated and not getting the attention he needed to fully grow mentally as a child (“National Allegiance on Mental Health”). Holden also expresses twice, that his mother is still grieving over Allie’s death by stating his mother, “still isn’t over my brother Allie yet” (Salinger 155). Holden is also never close to anyone. He meets with his family a limited amount of time throughout the year, and is kicked out of schools, giving him no permanent guidance in his life. Holden constantly describes his expulsion as, getting “the ax” (107). He shows a continuous changing in guardians, because of his attachment to both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini, both old school teachers from schools he flunked out of. He also dealt with the separation from D.B. his other brother, who moved to Hollywood, Holden seems to be very inspired by him throughout the novel, but is mad that he left (1).

     One of the first relationships that is mentioned in the story, is Holden’s relationship with D.B., his brother. Throughout his childhood, it is obvious that Holden has idolized his older brother. Now that D.B. is a writer for Hollywood, Holden considers him a phony, and accuses him of prostituting himself by agreeing to work for the film industry.

Holden’s connection with his little brother Allie was very special to him. This is evident in the way he talks about Allie. He holds Allie up to these great expectations, saying “You’d have liked him” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) and convincing you how great he was and how intelligent and special he was. You are now able to connect and sympathise for Holden, because he has told you all about the things that mean most to him, and you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

When the reader looks back at Holden’s history they can make assumptions as to why Holden wants things to stay the way they are. The general assumption would be because Holden is very distant to people who are dear to him. He mentions his younger sister, Phoebe frequently but cannot connect with her in any way due to Holden’s enrollment in a relatively distant school. Holden also recalls his two brothers, Allie and D.B., whom he is exiled from in result of Allie’s tragic fate and D.B.’s migration to California. The death of Holden’s favorite person, Allie, results ultimately in the unstable mental condition that controls Holden. Holden’s fascination with children and their mentalities is driven from Holden’s mourning of Allie’s death. While Holden tries to resist changing, he is identifying himself with Allie. Critic, Hermit Vanderbilt, agrees that, “Obviously despairing at the cosmic injustice of such an early death, Holden falls into a schizophrenic disorder interested in keeping him from growing up and keeping the role of Allie alive.” (Vanderbilt 299). In addition to the laments of personal loss, Holden also desires a stagnancy of time because of his fear of losing his moral purity. This is shown when Holden speaks about how his older brother, D.B., has lost his moral standards in the pursuit of fame. Holden feels D.B. has strayed far from his truly respectable writing when D.B. “sold himself out” to the expectations of Hollywood. Holden refers to D.B. as a