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Catcher In The Rye Ap Language

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Annie Nguyen Mr. Montalbano AP Language and Composition, Period 4 17 February 2016 Catcher in the Rye Essay In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character Holden tries to find himself in the world while being pressured to change and be more mature. Throughout his journey, his interactions with various minor characters such as Ernest’s mother, Sunny, Sally, Ackley, Stradlater, Mr. Antolini, Mr. Spencer, Phoebe and many others highlight Holden’s qualities as a young adolescent experiencing adult life. They challenge Holden to overcome his obstacles and to think and act more like an adult. Out of all the minor characters that Holden interacted with, his relationships with Sunny, Mr. Antolini, and his little sister Phoebe …show more content…

Holden throughout the book seeks comfort among a variety of women. He dreams of relieving his sexual desires for them, but is never able to complete it. His relationship with women are obscure. For example, when Holden agrees to having a fling with Sunny, a prostitute, he later on says, “...I don’t feel very much like myself tonight. I’ve had a rough night. Honest to God. I’ll pay you and all but do you mind very much if we don’t do it?” (Salinger 96). Holden wishes that he could start a sexual relationship with Sunny, but the longer he waits for her to arrive, he starts to get nervous. When Sunny does walk in and tells him to get things over with, Holden gets even more nervous and starts to reject Sunny’s advances. Holden’s retreat emphasizes his insecurity in his sexuality and how inexperience and innocent he is. Not only is he insecure about his sexuality, but also because he realizes the situation …show more content…

Within the book, Holden receives advice from two adults that he respects. They are Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini. Holden has known Mr. Antolini for many years and so his relationship with Mr. Antolini is stronger than Holden’s relationship with Mr. Spencer. While Mr. Spencer lectures Holden to “follow the rules”, Mr. Antolini shares empathy with what Holden is going. It can be infer within Holden’s descriptions of Mr. Antolini, “He was a pretty young guy, not much older than my brother D.B., and you could kid around with him without losing your respect for him. He was the one that finally picked up that boy that jumped out the window I told you about, James Castle” (Salinger 174), that he holds admiration for Mr. Antolini not only as a teacher and a friend, but as someone who is brave enough to reach out towards James Castle when no one else would do it. The close relationship strengthens Mr. Antolini’s purpose in helping Holden to overcome his obstacle. His advice for Holden is “The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply with” (Salinger 187) and then he later follow up the statement with, “Among other things, you’ll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no mens

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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

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Holden “‘[does not] like the idea” of boys doing “crumby stuff” to girls without liking them; such ideas “stink” in Holden’s eyes, but he does not put all of the blame on boys. He says that girls “[are not] too much help, either.” Holden speculates that both sides, male and female, have faults and that there could be improvement. His realizations further bolster his stature on relationships and human tendencies. In conclusion, Holden’s ethos on girls and sexuality tied to them is very unique in comparison to other coequals he encounters in The Catcher in the Rye.

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In the paradoxical personality of Holden we discover something much deeper. As Holden makes himself out to be tougher than what he actually is, Salinger introduces stubbornness. Holden’s true nature of gentleness and sensitivity offered throughout the book often brings bedlam into his life, though Salinger brings into

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Holden values many relationships throughout the novel. Holden has a strong bond with his younger sister Phoebe, whom he sees as the perfect, innocent child. He loves Phoebe not only because he could connect with her easily, but also because she is an amazing

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Mr. Antolini offered Holden the opportunity to consider a different perspective. By posing a question to Holden, Mr. Antolini makes him think about this situation, which corresponds with Holden’s, rather than telling him how to think. He truly wants to help Holden become a better person, rather than just dismissing his struggles and telling Holden he is childish. Mr. Antolini then states, “you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused, frightened, and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score” (246).

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Holden's isolation makes him want to move to a secluded area, however, Sally thinks it is stupid. Holden then loses control and rejects Sally, thereby failing to achieve another intimate relationship. Holden's isolation not only makes him fail to talk with girls properly, he also cannot maintain mental

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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

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Antolini. Both of them give him advice, but Holden decides to take none of it and continues to wing it throughout the rest of the novel. This conveys Holden's immaturity refusing to grow up and take responsibility for his own laziness and unwillingness to do what he needs to so that he can succeed in life. During the novel Old Spencer is meeting with Holden and he says “life is a game boy”(Salinger, 8) explaining to Holden that if he wants to go anywhere he needs to play along with the rules, but Holden disregards his advice and instead goes to New York to booze around the city with women staying in hotel rooms, not being mature enough to begin to act like an adult. Then when he goes to Mr. Antolini’s apartment to spend the night, Mr. Antolini tells him that he has to shape up or he’ll end up “ in some bar hating everybody who comes in”(Salinger, 186), not knowing that Holden had been doing that earlier that night foreshadowing that his “terrible fall”(Salinger, 186) is much closer than Mr. Antolini had thought, and that he would become that 30 year old in a bar sooner rather than later.

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Holden is very cynical and naïve. He is cynical by him dreaming of being “the catcher in the rye” which is naïve and is a concept of someone who protects children. Holden is the complete opposite of that. Holden doesn't really care for children and in a way only really

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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

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Holden goes to the Edmont Hotel where he sees perverts sexually fulfilling themselves. He ponders about the pleasures of sex when he thinks to himself, “I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away” (70). By not living up to his standards and going against his own beliefs, Holden is viewed as a phony, making him unjustified at his animosity to phonies. As Holden enters the elevator in his hotel, he meets a man named Maurice. When he asks Holden if he wants to hire a prostitute, Holden agrees even though, “It was against [his] principles and all, but [he] was feeling so depressed [he] didn’t even think” (102).

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Holdens thoughts on sexuality and having sex with a women is very difficult for him to understand in that time and age, he feels as if he were to finally have sex it would break something special. “Sex is something I really don't understand

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The beginning of Holden’s journey starts with the innocence and naivety of childhood. Childhood is the stage that ignorance is bliss with no care in the world. Holden goes to a prestigious boarding school for boys and he believes that everyone in that school is a phony in some way. Holden is an observant character as he stays in the background, but he can also cause the most trouble. Like a child, he asks many questions and he is very curious to the point that he can be annoying.

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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.

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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.

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