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Asher Lev: Compare And Contrast Essay

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Holden Caulfield and Asher Lev are the two primary protagonists in the books The Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. They can relate with each other because they are both impacted by the past. Throughout the book, while Asher remembers his childhood and his parents, Holden retells the story of his life a few months prior to the beginning of the book. Holden tells the cynicism he felt when he was thrust into adulthood all alone and Asher reveals his journey to be an artist. One can assume that no matter what happens in the future, the past will always hold significance to Asher and Holden. One of the earliest memories that both Asher and Holden share are death. Asher lost his uncle, his mother’s brother, and Holden lost his younger brother Allie. Both of the protagonists can relate to death. Asher’s childhood memories consist of his mother being sick and how much he had to grow up. As a child, a person is expected to make mistakes and learn from them. With his father being engaged with work and his mother’s illness, Asher matured fast. Towards the …show more content…

He believed Asher had a true gift and he taught Asher how to use it. For most of his childhood, Asher was limited. His mother asked him to paint only pretty and beautiful things and his father preferred if he didn’t paint at all. In a way, Asher Lev was in purgatory. To make Asher realize how important his art was to him, he said that he couldn’t abandon the things that were meaningful like his “doubts and my fears. And my art” (Potok 260). Likewise, Holden was limited as well. He felt it was a waste to go to school. As he told his sister later on, the only thing he wanted to do with his life was to be the “catcher in the rye”. Holden thinks that he was wronged because he was thrust into adulthood and therefore he feels that it is his job to protect the virtue of others before they free fall into adulthood like he

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For instance, even after so much time has passed, Holden names his dead sibling when asked by Phoebe if there’s anything in the world he cares about. Without memories of Allie, there is apparently nothing else to fit that claim. Allie’s old baseball mitt is still Holden’s most prized possession, and, due to its close personal nature compared to any other items on hand, he writes about it for an assignment even when it goes against the prompt. Therefore, taking note of the effects the death still deals presently, and considering Holden “broke all the windows” in the garage with his fists the day after the death occurred, it makes sense to conclude Allie’s loss has caused him to embrace a jaded view of life and humanity (Salinger, 39). Despite it all, Holden’s venture to the park with Phoebe seems to

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Holden Caulfield experiences flashbacks to the traumatic events that have occurred in his life. Holden is constantly reminded of his younger brother Allie who passed away when he was 11 years old. “So what I did, I wrote about… did, and he had very red hair,” (Salinger 38). The reader can see that Holden is constantly thinking of Allie, and that Allie was one of the people in Holden’s life that made him happy. Holden’s ability to remember the vivid details of Allie and his life prove that these traumatic events, occurring upon those who brought him joy, will always be with him.

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Holden meets few prominent mentors throughout the novel, who offer ephemeral relief to his problems, allowing for itinerantly to the past instead of living in the present. Allie, Holden’s brother, is a significant mentor who makes Holden reminisce on positive experiences with him before he passes away. Furthermore, Holden struggles long-term when Allie passes away and violently reacts, displaying his impaired judgement due to the stress of losing a family member ( Salinger 38-39). Holden admires his brother for being able to work past hardships and emotionally express himself through his unique poetry on his baseball mitt, which becomes a symbolic item to Holden when remembering Allie. Holden’s other prominent mentor is his sister, Phoebe, who sticks by his side,

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In these two novels the characters feel that they need to get away from everyone and they feel like they need to do something else. In the novel Catcher in The Rye,by J.D Salinger, the main character holden wants to get away from everything. He starts this by running away and heads west. He tells Phoebe that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. During this point of thee book he is starting to feel less depressed.

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In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a peculiar character portrayed as a skeptic living in “a world of phonies” in circa 1950. These personality traits can be seen through his doubts of society as well as his way of thinking and acting toward others. He also demonstrates a lack of responsibility adding to his role as a slacker. Holden flunks out of school repeatedly and has no desire to confront his parents. He mopes around the city for days, delaying the inevitable punishments he’s sure to get.

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The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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After talking about his childhood memories with his brother he states, ¨He is dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You´d have like him.¨ Then after talking about Allie’s old baseball mitt he said, ¨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¨(43-44). Allie’s death is used to show the unexpected change that Holden had experienced during his life. Allie was only eleven when he died, and Holden was thirteen.

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In conclusion, Holden, as well as a few other characters, from The Catcher In The Rye represent the terms expressed in Freud’s Theory of Personality known as the Id, Superego, and Ego. Looking back on the situations involving Holden, he most definitely has trouble fitting into society. We should never expect affairs to go easy for us without putting in the work required. Sometimes it is okay to turn rebellious in order to get a point across, but sooner or later, we just have to persevere and obey

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Holden did not know how to deal with his death and expressed it through wanting to harm himself. He did this to escape the pain he was feeling inside. Holden said that Allie was the most amazing, kindest, and happiest person. Because Allie died so young, Holden felt that his innocence was taken away from him. This was the “trigger” to many of Holden's actions.

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The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, is the story of an angst-ridden sixteen year old Holden Caulfield as he learns to deal with growing up. The story follows Holden through his three day experience through New York as he learns about the truth about innocence, sex, and mortality, making The Catcher in the Rye one of America’s most notable coming-of-age stories. One of the largest influences on Holden’s life was his younger brother Allie who died from leukemia at age eleven when Holden was thirteen. The death of Holden’s brother had a profound effect on Holden emotional state, which eventually caused his complete mental breakdown by the end of the novel.

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Nandan Shastry In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield struggles with many internal and external conflicts that change his attitude on life and how he approaches and confronts various situations. Throughout the novel Holden is always labeling people and situations that he disagrees with as phony instead of respecting that someone may have different opinion than him and it might be right. At the conclusion of the novel Holden is faced with the questions of whether he will apply himself when he goes to school that coming fall. He replies that he wants to but will never know until that time has come.

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Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by. The death of his brother Allie has left him in a tough spot. Holden doesn’t exactly know how to deal with this. The different stages of grief are represented through Holden. Holden shows denial and anger when he flashbacks to one of his memories after his brother’s death.

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The Catcher in the Rye is a story about loner Holden Caulfield who recounts his past few days where he was kicked out of school, left to visit New York, and shares his thoughts on almost everything in his everyday life, such as women and his dreams to be a catcher in the rye. First, to establish the shabby setting, Salinger uses similes. When Holden travels to his former teacher's home, he sidetracks from his original thought to complain about the bed he is sitting on. Salinger writes Holden thinking, "'It is. I was.

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These two struggles are what causes Holden to realise his purpose is being a catcher in the rye. His struggle to adulthood is quite evident. Holden states that the adult world is a nasty and horrible place, he thinks that the adult world is very phony, fake, and corrupt. These are words he uses quite often to describe the adult world, proving that he despises the thought of being an adult.

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He talks to his brother as if he 's there searching for help from him. This novel is about him moving through New York and witnessing this and not wanting to be a part of it, yet knowing he has to fit in there somewhere. Holden grows a very dangerous drinking problem. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden is a lost and depressed boy looking for a purpose in life. Holden believes that growing up is going to cause him to lose all innocence in himself.

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