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The catcher in the rye summary essay
Catcher in the rye analysis
The catcher in the rye summary essay
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The catcher in the rye summary essay
Catcher in the rye analysis
The catcher in the rye summary essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In Chapter 9-14 Holden Caulfield leaves Penecy Prep and heads to New York City. Where he will stay for a couple days before winter vacation starts and he will head home. Delaying breaking the news to his family he got kicked out of school for as long as possible. These chapters are where Holden’s loneliness becomes abundantly clear. The reader is subjected to many long rants by Holden about the company he wants, though he attempts to settle several times.
How do Mr. Antolini’s words apply to the novel? “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” Mr. Antolini’s words apply to the novel because it addresses one of the central points of both the novel and the central character parts of Holden. These words show the flaw in a lot of Holden’s thinking even if his intentions are good. He sees himself as having the responsibility of saving others from losing their innocence even as he struggles with the transition from being an innocent child into the life of an adult.
In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger through the character Holden show the readers that at one point, everyone has to go through the journey of innocence. Holden is a seventeen year old teenager who loses his innocence along with the death of his endearing brother and draws a conclusion that losing innocence is harmful. His own journey of innocence consists of him losing innocence, then trying to protect others from losing innocence, and finally realizing that losing innocence is not damaging as he imagined it to be. Therefore, through his journey, J. D. Salinger proves that although losing innocence is damaging and can break a person, it is not as damaging as trying to protect one’s innocence because it is unrealistic.
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.
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
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes.
One of the most important facts of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, is clearly his view of the world and his feelings towards the innocence of a child. Holden believes that the world is a corrupted place with corrupted people, and that a child should never grow up. He thinks that every adult or young adult is a phony. To Holden, everywhere he goes there is corruption.
The Catcher and the Rye a novel by J.D Salinger exposes the reader to the recurring theme of Holden refusing to let go of his childhood. After the death of his younger brother Allie, Holden refuses to let go of his memory and continues to act as a child. This idea is first really developed when Holden asks his taxi driver about the Central Park ducks. This is not the first time that Holden has been interested in the Central Park ducks. The driver Horwitz explains that the ducks can fly away, but it really it is the fish that Holden should be thinking about.
The purpose of my essay is to explore how different social backgrounds and the social norms that follow affect the personality of two fictive characters and encourage them to break out of their station to find an identity. The protagonists Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and Tambudzai in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions are both victims of social norms. Therefore, the foundation of this essay was to analyze the character’s social background, which has influenced their personalities, behavior and aspirations, and consequently their opposing actions against society. Holden Caulfield is an American adolescent during the period after the Second World War.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Mr. Antolini gives Holden Caulfield advice when he is at one of his lowest points. Already aware of Holden’s mental state and position on school, he quotes Wilhelm Stekel, a psychoanalyst, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” (Salinger 188). Although Holden fails to grasp Mr. Antolini’s message, the quote applies directly to his life because of his relationship with death as a result of his younger brother, Allie’s, death. Mr. Antolini uses this quote specifically because he wants Holden take a step back and try to live for a noble cause instead of resorting to death.
Society as a whole is something you make of it. If one wants to denounce the society they live in because it is “phony” that is because they’ve made the world around them phony. The character of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye is a prime example of someone being stuck in the idea that society is unchanging. Society is just how a person perceives the world in front of them. The eye of the beholder is the one that creates the society of their choice.
Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.
From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.
(Salinger 23) This shows that Mrs Morrow is allowing herself to be deceived. She 's letting herself think Holden is a soft and sensitive person and it shows that Holden is putting on a
Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.