As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.
In this quote, Holden describes his younger brother Allie 's baseball mitt. The quote is significant to the novel because it provides context on Holden 's past and the reason for his behavior and apathy towards life. In the quote, Holden addresses Allie for the first time while discussing the details of his baseball mitt. Holden describes his brother 's baseball mitt as having "poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere",the quote shows the similarities they once had and their shared passion for reading and literature. Allie 's baseball mitt serves as a symbol of Holden 's love for his brother as well as the sorrow that he has experienced since his passing.
As Holden wrote about the baseball mitt to help deal with his pain, he became angry and emotional after Stradlater's unmerciful reaction. 5.) Holden, who often wishes that he was dead, had always had a pattern for his depression since he entered the mental institution. As Holden was contstantly ostracized from groups of people, he has built up emotions feeling loneliness and desolation from the rest of society. After Stradlater conquered Holden during the dispute, he "probably was scared he'd fractured my skull or something when I hit the floor.
Allie's death acts as a weight slowing down Holden’s development and making him get stuck in his grief. When Allie died it caused Holden to start a long and painful descent into depression. The time period of where he hits
Change Can Be Good As one grows up they may experience dramatic changes in their life that they wish had never occurred. In The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, the main Character Holden Caulfield, goes through loss as his life begins to change right in front of him. His brother Allie who Holden was very close with, passes away, and his family and friends are all moving forward with their lives.
Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield shows great difficulty making long and meaningful connections with other people. Holden believes he is the normal one but it is actually the other way around. He holds on to a deep emotional road block of the death of his innocent brother Allie. Holden keeps this dragging around with him which causes him to veer from connecting and having a long term relationship with others.
This baseball glove reminds Holden of his younger brother and holds him back since he “happens to have it with [him], in [his] suitcase” (44). If Holden constantly reminds himself of his loss, he will never recover and move forward. Allie prevents Holden from wanting to mature and adapting to his maturation. Since Holden saw firsthand the death of a young child, he worries that maturation will lead to death. This fear dissuades Holden from becoming mature.
Holden Caulfield has often been depicted as rebel against the norms of 1950s American society by the readers of The Catcher in the Rye because of his desire to escape society and by rejecting the ideal of the American dream that societal institutions attempt to instill within him. However, throughout J. D. Salinger 's novel, the 16 year old’s anguish and actions reflect that he is still coming to terms with the death of his younger brother, Allie. Due to his grief, Holden is someone who cares more about assisting and protecting children and because of this, resists considering his own place within society and the process of becoming an adult. Through Holden’s recollections of his deceased brother, his interactions with children, and how he changes when interacting with his younger sister, it is evident that Holden wrestles with the expectations placed on him to grow up because he wishes to retain and preserve childhood innocence within others to cope with his grief.
However, Holden so far has fully displayed the second stage of Anger, and exhibits many examples of him progressing through this stage. The stage of Anger allows the emotions one's feeling after loss to be felt after denial. This can lead to violence and rage to be enacted on one, everyone or something. Holden expresses his stage of anger by inflicting violence, which is displayed directly after the loss, and as Holden illustrates the memory he claims, “"I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. It was very stupid I have to admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie (Salinger, 39).
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.
He lives a very difficult life while growing up. He drops out of school and tries to talk to random strangers. He deals with a death from his younger brother, Allie. That is a reason why Holden is depressed and he doesn’t know how to deal with himself. Holden has thoughts of suicide, however does
Death is a part of life, there comes a time in everyone's life when they will have to experience death. Whether it is someone else dying or it is themselves. People handle death in different ways, it takes its toll on people emotionally, physically, and mentally. In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield’s younger brother Allie died from leukemia. The death of Allie shapes Holden and molds him into the man he is throughout the novel.
The motif of death in The Catcher in the Rye The most prominent theme in The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is death and the loss of innocence. Death is the vehicle that drives the story, offering an explanation to Holden’s views and punctuating his feelings towards the world. This essay will explore the various instances where the motif of death occurs and possible explanations of these instances. For the purpose of this essay, “motif” is defined as “something (such as an important idea or subject) that is repeated” (Merriam Webster Dictionary).
Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text 's major themes. One of the recurring themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye is the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs because of his reluctance to interact with the living world. As his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded by.
