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Catcher In The Rye Innocence Quotes

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Characterization/ Symbolism/ Innocence “I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that's all I told D.B. about, and he's my brother and all” Chapter 1, Page 1 Holden uses a nonchalant and informal voice when talking to the reader, indicating he is not a very uptight or serious person. His recantation of events around Christmas time symbolize a possible loss of innocence as the entire holiday is based on the myth of a man clothed in all red, breaking into your house to give you presents, and upto a certain age, most children believe that to be the truth. Characterization/ Innocence “Pencey Prep is this school in …show more content…

This quote also underlines Holden’s innocence as he still has not met that many people outside of his own “bubble.” Characterization/ Syntax “I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all. They gave me frequent warning to start applying myself—especially around mid-terms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer—but I didn't do it. So I got the ax. They give guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey.” Chapter 1, Page 4 Holden continues to use an informal voice when addressing the audience by using words such as “flunking” and “the ax” to highlight his indifference to what is proper. Syntax is used when Holden says “So I got the ax”which is stated in a very short and blunt manner. This might have been used to support Holden’s lack of a bourgeois-like attitude because of his failures at …show more content…

Characterization/ Family “ He [Allie] got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent” Chapter 5, Page 43 Holden’s recantation of his younger brother, Allie’s death shows him as still suffering from the loss of his family member. Him failing his classes might be his way of grieving or at least lashing out due to the loss of his brother. Characterization “The next part I don’t remember so hot. All I know is I got up from bed, like I was going down to the can or something, and then I tried to sock him, with all my might….” Chapter 6, Page 49 Holden is characterized as impulsive here as he attempts to attack a boy who weighs twice as much as him and plays sports, just because Holden got into a jealous rage that Jane might have had a sexual interaction with Stradlater on their

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945 Words | 4 Pages

Holden explains that the school kicked him out, “. . . on account of . . . flunking four subjects and not applying (himself) at all” (Salinger 4). This quote means that Holden was “given the axe” because he was failing four out of his five subjects only passing English and was not getting involved in the school.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

The loss of his older brother and the absent parents have really affected Holden’s behavior. He lives a life without any care but with exception of younger children. Holden has a fascination with younger children and their innocence possibly because he wasn’t able to enjoy his adolescent years and nor did his brother. Holden mentions “‘Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

The book “The catcher in the rye “ by J.D Salinger shows a teenagers journey through horrible days of misfortune. The main character, Holden, have interesting ways of dealing with his problems. It is anything from loneliness to his way of alienating for self protection. J.D Sallinger has chosen a special way of illustrating Holden’s life in forms of an iceberg, the inside of him is much larger than you think. Holden knows about how people feel about him but does not want to realise it and therefore uses a special technique to protect himself.

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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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873 Words | 4 Pages

Holden for a short period of time attends a boarding school called Pencey Prep, but then states, “They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all” (4). Pencey is the third school Holden gets kicked out of, however it is something that could have been avoided had Holden wanted it to. Since Allie’s death however, Holden seems to stop caring about his life progression as he struggles to face the idea of growing up and conforming to adult society.  

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289 Words | 2 Pages

Although most of the time, Holden demonstrates his rebellious side, he actually still has fragile side. “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by”(7). “Good-by” is a word can brings a sense of sadness. Holden’s thoughts about “good-by” demonstrate he is a fragile boy who is like a piece of glass, easy to be broken. This shows that Holden is a person who has desire to love and care from others.

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1493 Words | 6 Pages

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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503 Words | 3 Pages

Trying To Look Honest by Hannah T. In the “trying to look tough” passage Holden is trying to be vulnerable with the reader, but he doesn’t know how to and he fears potential judgment. Holden begins the “trying to look tough” paragraph by saying that he “didn’t give a damn how [he] looked. ”(99) as he puts on his hunting hat.

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904 Words | 4 Pages

During his short time in Manhattan, just the thought of his yellowness and his gloves being stolen at Pencey Prep depresses him to the point where he decides to have more alcoholic drinks after a night in the town. After a night in which Holden didn’t socialize the way he wanted to, he feels so depressed that he wished he died. These instances are important, because it shows that his feelings are unreasonable, and as a result, his depression affects his rational

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714 Words | 3 Pages

He takes the reader on a journey over a few days from him leaving the school to roaming the streets of New York. The question is Holden a Phony often pops into the minds of the reader. Holden is a phony because he is a hypocrite who does things that he criticize others for. He is a phony because he pretends to be someone that he is not,

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, Holden’s observations are often unreliable because he lacks experience to fully understand or simply because he is denies the truth. After the fight with Stradlater, Holden says "All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I 'd only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I 'm not too tough. I 'm a pacifist, if you want to know the truth" (46).

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

Holden is a very judgemental and immature character and often has vulgar language. Holden often criticizes everyone he comes in contact with and does not try to comprehend the mindset they may have. His childish nature and vocabulary are what make most of his comments laughable. “It was funny. You could tell the waiter didn’t like her much, you could tell even the Navy guy didn’t like her much, even though he was dating her.

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615 Words | 3 Pages

He put down his razor, and all of a sudden jerked his arms up and sort of broke my hold on him.” (pg 39) Holden is really a hypocrite also from the research paper, “This establishes Holden’s own sense of hypocrisy: although he condemns the behavior of the class to which he belongs, he shares their behaviors and even accepts this value system as reasonable.” (pg

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1872 Words | 8 Pages

Throughout the book, he does not want to make any real grown-up decisions or set any goals for himself. He shows a lack of ambition and motivation and therefore is a constant failure at school. He refuses to associate himself with mature ways of living, and this is all because Holden his hanging onto the picture-perfect image he has of his childhood where he could be careless and free. He sees this particular period of his life as the only good thing that has happened to him so far in his life. He wants to hold on to it for as long as he can.

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837 Words | 4 Pages

In The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, introduces the protagonist; Holden Caulfield. Holden feels the sense that he cannot choose between the two worlds. For example, he makes it seem as both of them are complete opposites from each other. In the book, Holden wants to keep his innocence, but he also wants to grow up and toss that innocence away. He still keeps his childhood personality by constantly obsessing over things that shouldn’t matter.

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