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Catcher In The Rye Why Does Holden Lose Him Essay

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In chapters 14-20 of the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is spiralling out losing control of himself and who he is. He’s chain smoking from the stress, going to extreme lengths to maintain companionship as always. His biggest fear at this point being alone. Holden’s date with Sally is the prime example of him finally losing it. The stress from school, pressure from others to be sexually active and perform well in school is crushing him. His emotions are wild and unpredictable as well as his actions on the date. One moment he’s madly in love with her, the next she’s an annoyance to him. There is no inbetween in whether he hates her or loves her. During the date he gets fed up enough to call her a “royal pain the ass”, something he would usually catch himself before saying. Sally is not pleased, immediately rushing to go home on account of his rudeness. Holden isn’t happy with words or Sally’s choice to leave, pleading with her to stay. Making up impossible ideas of running away together to fall deeply in love, despite him never really liking her too …show more content…

His depression taking over who he really is, as he goes as far to call himself a ‘madman’ with little explanation. Although it is clear to the reader what he means as he drinks himself stupid, chain smoking in the city. His only defensive mechanism retreating into nostalgic desires to return to childhood. Idealizing the past, his innocence and the time his late little brother was alive. He recalls many things because of this, the time he wouldn’t let his little brother play with him and his friends, visits to the museum as a child. This is where the reader discovers how he really wants life to be, simple and unchanging. Representing how he approaches the real world, leaving him unable to deal with it. Nothing is simple, his life forever changing, but he approaches it with such unwillingness and cynicalness his is unable to handle it like an

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Catcher in the rye is a phrase that Holden misunderstands horribly. So another question that could be raised is his constant image issue. Also faced with his prostitute dilemma he refused to pay money to the Maurice, the pimp. Because he’s Holden he thinks he is invulnerable to everything. “Maurice said five, I told her…

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Throughout the story he shows an interest in his sister Phoebe, and other strangers alike. For the duration of reading, the Catcher in the Rye suggests that the texts focuses on Holden’s depression and his unwillingness to let go of the past and that Salinger is concerned with his inability to grow up; however, in many scenes Salinger portrays Holden as a boy who is always out acting older than his age, but still holds on to innocence. Holden’s depression is portrayed throughout the entire story. He becomes unhappy

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To be sure, even on his date with Sally Hayes, instead of getting a charge out of the Lunts, Holden ended up remarking now abnormal the storyline was, or how "fraud" the characters acted. “I didn't much want to see it, but I knew old Sally, the queen of the phonies, would start drooling all over the place when I told her I had tickets for that because the Lunts were in it and all. She liked shows that are supposed to be very sophisticated and dry and all, with the Lunts and all. I don't. I don't like any shows very much if you want to know the truth.

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Furthermore, Holden does not like change. According to him, “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.” But he knows you cannot actually do that, which upsets him and as a result he acts out erratically. He is spontaneous in his actions sometimes, once proposing to “get the hell out of here… drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont… stay in the cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out” to Sally, a girl whom he does not even like much.

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Catcher in the Rye RAFT For the duration of his life, Holden Caulfield has become an image of constant anger, anxiety, and depression: and he is only a young adult in college. It seems very clear that Holden has been troubled since a young age, flunking out of many schools and expressing dislike for practically everything he comes across. Holden’s thoughts and actions, reveal that he is not emotionally sound. Holden lacks self-control and often acts hasty.

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He begins to suin relationships with those at school, the Fencing team and Stradlater. Then as he travels around New York he smokes very heavily and drinks whenever he can get served. Not only does Holden physically abuse himself, but mentally as well. He has serious issues with both anxiety and depression. The Catcher in the Rye is not the typical young adult coming of age story.

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I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up. ”(Salinger 50). This is what causes people to be depressed, having problems with nobody being with you to help. Being at this emotional state makes Holden to be emotionally unstable. For example, sometimes he is unreasonably aggressive, shouting at Sally or trying to punch Stradlatter, at the same time being quiet and unconfident, not contacting with Jane.

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In this passage Holden clearly gets irritated by little things that people do, but Holden continues to chat with Sally. Holden also said " I didn 't feel much like going. I 'd made that damn date with Sall,

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A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all

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Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has abnormal tendencies. Although he could just be a typical teenager, dealing with difficult situations, after analyzing his behavior it is believed that he is suffering from a mental ailment of some sort. Events from Holden’s past are still currently haunting him and it is evident that he is struggling. He needs the guidance of those around him in order to help himself through these tough time.

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