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Catcher In The Rye Argumentative Essay

917 Words4 Pages

My favorite sentence from this reading had to be, "The arms were in sad shape, because everybody was always sitting on them, but they were pretty comfortable chairs." (Salinger 18). In the short sentence, I furthermore get a glimpse of Holden's voice and personality, this time by seeing him contradict himself. He describes how sad looking and beat up the chair is, yet goes on to say how nice and comfortable it is. This to me is a very important clue to Holden's overall personality in regard to life. Additionally, I found the sentence structure interesting here, as a typical human could fit two or three sentences into the one that he wrote. I think an important, revealing quote about Holden occurs during the early stages of chapter 3, when Holden proves his distinct sense of humor while listening to school legend Mr. Ossenburger's speech. "I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into …show more content…

I loved this sentence because it’s very relatable to when I want to take a vacation when times are getting rough. I think it’s a feeling we all go through at some point or another in our lives. I also found it kind of funny that Holden thinks he needs a vacation, when to me it seems like the rest of the characters in the book (Ackley, Stradlater) want a vacation from him. As the book has worn on, it’s become evident that Holden has had far from an easy childhood. To make matters worse, his life isn’t looking very optimistic at this point either. “I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up” (Salinger 50). Evidently, Holden is in an unhealthy psychological state of mind, as the pressure and embarrassment of flunking out of Pencey Prep combined with the passing of his brother and keeping his emotions bottled up inside are becoming too much for Holden to take. He even considers waking up Ackley for a chat, an awkward senior with a very limited social

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Catcher In The Rye Rhetorical Analysis

828 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Examples Of Suicidal Depression In Catcher In The Rye

686 Words | 3 Pages

One way holden has suicidal thoughts in the book states, ”Everybody was asleep or out or home for the weekend, and it was very,very quiet and depressing in the corridor. […] All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey – right that same night and all. I mean not wait till Wednesday or anything. I just didn't want to hang around any more. It made me too sad and lonesome.

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Holden's Phonies In Catcher In The Rye

524 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, many things trouble the book’s main character , Holden Caufield. Holden is at a point in his life where life isn’t going too well, which is pretty evident, as he’s telling his life story from a mental hospital laying on a bed. His main difficulties include his annoyance with phonies, depression, and loneliness. Holden is a very short tempered kid. He got kicked out of two schools and left one.

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1135 Words | 5 Pages

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1039 Words | 5 Pages

Holden seems to be happy and he starts coming around “Although Holden identifies many of the novel's characters as ‘phonies,’ and although it appears at times that he hates being around people, there is evidence to suggest at the end of the book that he does come to terms with the fleeting nature of relationships and human existence, as Phoebe finally provides him with companionship and fosters some brief moments of happiness in his life. ”(Pettineo, Jeff. "Isolation in The Catcher in the Rye.") It seems that once he saw his sister pheobe and got to be with her, he finally felt some happiness. In the end, In J.D Salingers

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How Is Holden Caulfield A Selfish Character

720 Words | 3 Pages

An example from the text, "Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214). Holden doesn’t make connections with people because of traumatizing events in his past and his lonely, anti social character. Another piece of text from the book, “Then I went over and laid down on Ely's bed. Boy, did I feel rotten.

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904 Words | 4 Pages

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Catcher In The Rye Controversy

865 Words | 4 Pages

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How Does Holden Use Phonies In Catcher In The Rye

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1325 Words | 6 Pages

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Examples Of Isolation In Catcher In The Rye

1436 Words | 6 Pages

What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were (Salinger 98). Instead of talking about the play and appreciating the play, Holden judges the people who surrounded him outside the theater. This suggests his immaturity by making fun of people who are just trying to live

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What Is The Catcher In The Rye Argumentative Essay

1007 Words | 5 Pages

Adults tell kids that they will grow up and likely be successful and have a satisfying life, but in The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger says that growing up isn’t necessarily good. He says that people are kinder and more tolerant towards children, and as people grow up, they have to worry more about doing good. Innocence is bliss, because younger people don’t realize all of the negativity around them because people are trying to shelter them from unpleasant realities. However, as people grow up, they will notice more negativity because they will come to see evil in life and become more skeptical about the way the world works. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger shows growing up as something bad, since younger people don’t realize things that they start to notice as they grow older that will make them more cynical about the way the world works.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

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837 Words | 4 Pages

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427 Words | 2 Pages

Holden’s Hypocritical Judgements: A Reflection of his Insecurities in The Catcher in the Rye In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger illustrates that people judge each other as a projection of their own insecurities. Using mood, Salinger illustrates how Holden judges people as a projection of his own insecurities. The readers are introduced to the mood that Holden sets when his mood towards people is sour. Holden is jealous and insecure about these people enjoying themselves, so he says this: “Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing a street with their arms around each other's waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn’t funny.”

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