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Catcher In The Rye Isolation Analysis

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Have you ever felt isolation? Like you didn’t belong somewhere and you were trying to find your place? In the novel The Catcher In The Rye Holden by J.D SALINGER Caufield struggled with this and as we go through the novel it explains step by step why he struggles to simply talk to other people. The story is about how this confused young boy doesn’t want to grow up due to the responsibilities as an adult, he just desires to be this fantasy he has always desired to be which is to help children remain their innocence and stop them from doing things that will make them develop into adults because then the children will remain happy forever with nothing to worry about.
To continue on I can personally agree with the fact that this novel relates …show more content…

Holden often fantasizes about being “The catcher and the rye” this is because he does not want to have that responsibility of knowing that he’s going to be an adult, it’s more like he does not want to accept the fact that it is happening whether he likes it or not “Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” This quote also gives us a hint because as holden was walking through the museum to find phoebe he began to remember when he was a child and that the statues of the indians huddling over the fire in the glass case fascinated him and he wished everything would just freeze in time and stay the same, he desires for that …show more content…

All holden needed was someone to care for him and to give him the attention he so desperately wanted and desired. Holden relates to teens today as in the 40’s because teenagers have all one thing in common we are all afraid of growing and going into adulthood. The most important thing to remember is that help is always their when you need it you just have to make the desiscion whether you want it or

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Holden’s answer was, “‘I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye(191). Holden wanting to be the catcher in the rye is a good dream to have but it is also an immature dream because he cannot catch everybody that falls off the cliff, which can also be seen as trying to save the children's innocence.

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656 Words | 3 Pages

Holden says that all he want to do is be the catcher in the rye protecting children from falling. The whole novel Holden makes observation around him that are taking away from children's innocence. This is what upsets him the most the fact that everyone will eventually have to grow up. While he is trying to go get Phoebe he is reminded this in the following quote. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another "Fuck you" on the wall.

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He is unable to embrace the challenges and responsibilities of adulthood because he is fixated on the innocence and purity of childhood. His interactions with Phoebe, his younger sister, demonstrate this. When Phoebe asks Holden "you know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddamn choice?", he starts to talk about being "the catcher in the rye" (173). He sees himself as the protector of childhood innocence, Holden also imagines scenarios showing his resistance to adult responsibilities and challenges.

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870 Words | 4 Pages

“ I feel like no one knows how to make me feel better. I am all alone”( Writerchic11). In the Catcher and the Rye, main character ,Holden, is trying to connect with people. Although Holden attempts to connect with other people, he do not think that he fit in with people around him. Holden thinks that he do not belong in a group with the majority of people.

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1032 Words | 5 Pages

This connects to the theme of the story, which is that people should not force themselves to grow up when they are not ready yet. Throughout the novel, this theme is emphasized by Holden's love for the innocence of children. Overall, The Catcher in the Rye is an amazing novel to read, and very much deserves its position as a classic of American

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2021 Words | 9 Pages

This is most likely because Holden wants to continue living in the past when his brother was alive. Several occasions in the novel Holden expresses the feeling that he is responsible for protecting the innocence of children since he was unable to save Allie. The title of The Catcher in the Rye reflects this responsibility since when Holden is talking to his sister, he says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing… And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff… I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff,” (Salinger 191). To Holden, falling of the cliff represents the shattering of a child’s innocence, and Holden feels like he has to stop children from growing up.

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656 Words | 3 Pages

In Holden’s mind becoming “the catcher in the rye “means that he can still catch Allie from falling off the cliff. This is relevant to Holden’s depression because everything around him is telling him to grow up but instead he runs away from it in fear that is will pull him farther apart from his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden is on the edge of becoming an adult which creates more pressure and leads him to

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1615 Words | 7 Pages

Isolation and Depression: A Vicious Cycle Grief. Depression. Isolation. What do you think when you hear those words? Holden Caulfield has been through a lot, from being kicked out of several schools to being so depressed he wonders why he should go on living. Holdens family keeps pushing him away and that’s where he learns his tendency to push people away who he cares about.

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This describes Holden to-a-t, because of his alienation problem, his conflict with “phoniness” and his struggle of growing up and leaving his small problems behind him. Throughout the novel,

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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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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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1255 Words | 6 Pages

“Then I lit another cigarette… I must’ve smoked about three cartons that day” (161). Catcher in the rye book by J.D Salinger is about a teenager named Holden Caulfield and is based on Holden failing college (Pencey) and having a rough time living around New York City until his parents find out that he failed at his fourth college. This book is written from the perspective of J.D Salinger and counters many issues regarding adolescence such as freedom and responsibility that Holden can’t handle leading to nervousness and depression. This is shown through topics such as drug usage, smoking, drinking, prostitution and J.D Salinger’s meaning to Catcher in the rye though it contradicts with the idea that he is nice towards Phoebe (Holden’s younger

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830 Words | 4 Pages

He has trouble growing up and accepting life as it is. Holden thinks adults are "phony" which makes him hate the fact of growing up and staying innocent as much as he can while he is old enough to become an adult. He is frustrated with the world and people which makes him act with anger. His innocent childish dream is to be the Catcher in the Rye, to catch the kids before they become phonies like Holden says about adults. The moment he realizes that he cannot keep kids from falling or in other words, from growing up and becoming adults, he, reaches adulthood, and takes a big step towards it at the end of the novel.

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693 Words | 3 Pages

Catcher in the Rye In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old junior undergoes a series of changes. Holden learns multiple life changing lessons; one of them is you must grow up. In the beginning of the novel, Holden starts out as “that kid”; the one with the parents who expect him to get into an ivy league school, and end up with a kid with no intentions of doing so. At the beginning of the book it is very apparent that Holden lacks motivation; he also has hit rock bottom.

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How Holden matured People go through rough stuff in their lives, such as losing a close sibling. It seems impossible to pull yourself out of the pain and guilt of your loss. It appeared Holden was in the same predicament, but through his experiences in the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger he learns to grow up. Aside from being very immature, holden refuses to grow up and dislikes people who have grown up.

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