ipl-logo

A Comparison Of Holden And Ben's Sexual Illness

618 Words3 Pages

Holden and Ben´s sexual awkwardness is a result from a combination of abnormal first experiences, absent parental love and guidance, and being a teenager, resulting in an abnormal lust for sexual fulfillment. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye and The Graduate, Holden’s and Ben’s parents do not demonstrate love to them. Holden is just outcasted and his parents get him psychoanalyzed after his brother dies. They send him away instead of trying to talk to him and help him through his depression and struggles of being a teenager. His parents just give the problem to other people because he is the outcast and the “disappointment” child. Ben, on the other hand, his parents use him as a way to entertain their friends and to show off their material wealth …show more content…

Resulting with a hole in Ben and Holden that combined with their teenage/early adult lives makes them yearn for physical connection. Both Ben and Holden start out by trying to get sexual satisfaction through unconventional methods for Holden his first sexual experience was going to be with a prostitute but when she got to his hotel room "she stood up and pulled her dress over her head. I certainly felt peculiar when she did that. I mean she did it so sudden and all. I know you're supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody gets up and pulls her dress over their head, but I didn't. Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy" (Salinger 94-95). Holden’s first real sexual encounter was going to be with a prostitute, but it ends up just making him depressed and before this point, he talked about all these girls that he supposedly had sex, or some sort of relationship with. Which seems to be a lie to hide that fact that he is socially an outcast and has not taken that “step” out of teenage years. Holden’s parallel, Ben goes through similar

Show More
Related
294 Words | 2 Pages

Another very common characteristic found in most teenagers, including Holden Caulfield, is obsession about sex. Throughout the story, Holden is always thinking about sex or in his own words thinking about “giving a girl a feel”. When Holden had a temporary stay at hotel in New York, he wanted to lose his virginity by calling a prostitute over his room, but after calling the prostitute over, he was afraid to have sexual intercourse with her since he never practiced it before, so he ended up rejecting the prostitute. The only thing Holden got from this experience was a punch in the stomach from a pimp. Holden also spends a lot of time fantasizing about sex with the girls he knew from school, which is very immature, but not surprising for a

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

Chapters 18-19 Left Side Journal Holden is probably the most obnoxious in these chapters meeting up with Luce. The reason is because all he does is talk about sex even though he is a virgin. What I don’t understand is why does Holden care so much for others sex lives? I get that he is a virgin and he may be curious, but it is just really rude and uncomfortable not only to Luce, but also to the reader. The main thing I focused on in these chapters is the question that Luce asked Holden - “When are you gonna grow up?”

Read More
1685 Words | 7 Pages

Holden does not understand the reasoning behind sex, although he admits he would do it if he had the chance. 21. The author uses the name Faith Cavendish to show irony. Before Holden calls her up, he says “She used to be a burlesque stripper or something” (Salinger 71). This shows that Faith wasn’t all that pure in her earlier years.

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

His “phony” lawyer dad and the disappearances of his two brothers have left Holden alone, with no healthily attached role model male figure in his life that he can look up to in his life. To conclude, his childhood has left him with this naivete and has also left him to tend to these fanatic and ideal beliefs of sex and

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

There are three main things that display Holden’s loss of innocence: his excessive drinking and smoking, leaving for three days and not contacting anyone, and Sunny the prostitute. When Holden is drinking and smoking, it shows how much h doesn’t care about his own health and how he’s more mature than others his age. When he doesn’t contact anyone it shows how he believes he can take care of himself and is an adult, much like when he interacts with Sunny. Holden helps many of the children who he meets keep their innocence because he has lost his. In An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye, Lingdi Chen says that Holden sees the protection of children’s innocence as a primary virtue and that he enjoys being with Jane Gallagher and Phoebe because they are innocent and youthful.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

He is horrified when he witnesses a group of boys at his hotel flirting with two young girls, and he intervenes to prevent them from taking advantage of the girls. Similarly, when he meets a prostitute, he is more concerned with talking to her and understanding her life rather than engaging in any sexual activity. This proves that Holden wants to keep the innocence by not engaging in any sexual activity. He believes that a connection on a more personal level is more important than those that meet his physical needs. Holden's most significant relationship is with his former roommate and friend, Jane Gallagher.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

Also, when Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini patting him on the forehead in the middle of the night, he tells us of similar “perverty” stuff that happened to him multiple times as a child. Therefore, he clearly struggles to trust anyone he both meets and knows, which shows his insecurity and skepticism of others. Another instance of this is Holden’s relationship with D.B. Although Holden says that they were once close, he now considers D.B. as phony because of the work he does in the film industry. In doing so, he loses a close relationship with his brother, just because he feels

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

They quickly realized that Holden did not think it was funny or a joke. He perceives himself as the older man by kissing one girls on the forehead. When he does that she thinks it is weird and strange because she is much older than him. Again Holden is trying to connect but at times when it is not appropriate at the wrong times. This leaves Holden very sad and lonely.

Read More
903 Words | 4 Pages

Holden’s failure to embrace the masculine stereotype is epitomized in his idealized and naive views on romance and sexulaity. When Holden enters the upscale Edmont Hotel and sees a young couple on a date, he remarks, “I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all …. It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes” (Salinger 70). Holden’s belief that a man should not engage in a casual relationship with a woman unless he truly loves her, stands in stark contrast to masculine standards which encourage and congratulate men’s sexual exploits. Holden’s asexual beliefs

Read More
255 Words | 2 Pages

The story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, is about a mother and a daughter’s relationship. The mother wanted her daughter to become the child prodigy that she longed for, but her daughter was not able to fulfill her mother’s dreams. In this story, the author switches perspectives of a mother and daughter. This resulted in multiple conflicts being used. The author’s use of multiple conflicts resulted in change and growth in the characters throughout the story.

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

He states, "The trouble was, I just didn't want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if want to know the truth" (pg 96). This one example of when he lost interest in pleasure or normal activities. Holden also shows a change in eating behavior. He states that himself; saying "I had quite a large breakfast, for me-orange juice, bacon and eggs, toast and coffee.

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

He talks quite a bit about sex, but his virginity is the last existing innocence to him. Holden pays for a prostitute to have sex with, but he cannot go through with it. He is very hesitant about losing his innocence. Holden wants to be “the catcher in the rye” (191) and save all the innocence in the world. He believes that that is what he wants to do in the future as he tells his little sister, Phoebe.

Read More
1076 Words | 5 Pages

Holden is a virgin, and he is very uncomfortable with the idea of sex. He sees sex as something that is dirty and corrupting, and he is repelled by the idea of losing his virginity. Holden reveals that he has “had quite a few opportunities to lose [his] virginity and all,” but he “never got around to it yet” (Salinger 92). Holden claims to have had many chances to lose his virginity but his attitude towards sex reflects his desire to hold onto his innocence.

Read More
448 Words | 2 Pages

Holden thinks of sex as "a spiritual experience" where he can 't do it with a girl "[he] don 't like a lot" (Salinger 162) (Salinger 163). He needs to be with a girl how he has feeling for, not just a random stranger. This shows he don 't take advantage of

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

Holden has had several opportunities to have sexual intercourse with another female yet he keeps avoiding it, therefore unlike the rest of the teen population who have had intimacy with another being, he is an outcast, an alien. In this case, Holden is alien to sex and what intimacy truly is; his little knowledge on this is causing him to avoid going through with having an intimate relationship or sex with someone, even a prostitute who will charge him more than what she was worth. Fear can also play a role in alienation from society. Holden has a fear of human behavior and arguably even sickened with the human behavior.

Read More

More about A Comparison Of Holden And Ben's Sexual Illness

Related Topics

Open Document