ipl-logo

Holden's Behavior In Catcher In The Rye

1015 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of the catcher in the rye

Holden´s Behavior
Holden Caulfield is a teenager growing up in 1950’s America. He has been through an ordeal, both physically and mentally, and is going through a pivotal time in his life, arguably caused by the death of his brother, Allie, only a few short years before. Holden runs away from his school, Pencey Prep, and wanders around New York for the vast majority of the story. During this journey, he is faced with the fact that he must grow up, something he does not take lightly. While it may be noted that Holden Caulfield wasn’t quite able to express himself through practical means, his thought processes can be surmised as identical to those of the typical teenager. First, Holden demonstrated ignorance towards the changes occurring in his …show more content…

Early in the book, Holden sets out on his own in New York City. He checks into a hotel and is offered the services of a prostitute named Sunny. Holden accepts the services of the prostitute, but doesn’t follow through. He is just desperate for intelligent conversation. The incident with Sunny the prostitute isn’t the only time Holden expresses his loneliness and need for conversation. Later on, Holden comes into contact with his former girlfriend, Sally. They get into an argument after he tries to convince her to run away with him. Holden’s attempts at advocating intelligent conversation about the matter at hand are met with rejection by Sally. “We both hated each other’s guts by that time. You could see there wasn’t any sense in trying to have an intelligent conversation”. Intelligent conversation isn’t the only thing Holden wants, nor is loneliness the only emotion he’s feeling. Holden meets up with his brother’s ex-girlfriend, Lillian Simmons, at a bar with her new boyfriend early on in the story. Despite the fact that Lillian invites Holden to sit with them at a table, granting the prospect of conversation he desires, he refuses her offer. He not only wants conversation, but he wants to be stimulation rather than boredom. “But I certainly wasn’t going to sit down at a table with old Lillian Simmons and that Navy guy and be bored to death”. Holden’s feelings are not unnatural nor unwarranted, and he is told that he is not the first person to feel this

Show More
Related
1013 Words | 5 Pages

The reason I focused on this question is because it directly states what the reader is thinking of Holden throughout his journey after he leaves Pencey. The part that I disregarded in these chapters is when the conversation of

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

(chapter 13 pg 91) Holden admitted that he really didn’t want to have sex he just wanted to talk to somebody. He constantly said these lines. “Don't you feel like talking for a while. I just thought perhaps you might care to chat for a while. ”(Chapter 13

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

The Death of a loved one is painful and destructive; however, there's healthy ways to rebuild yourself after that loss. Holden, the protagonist of The Catcher In The Rye, and his family lost Allie and they all showed signs of suffering from the loss since they didn’t find helpful ways to make peace with Allie’s death. Holden’s father and mother both displayed self destructive patterns after losing Allie. The most extreme case is Holden, who lives by the notion that the world is cruel and is made for suffering rather than living. Holden’s family is scattered apart, which makes it harder for them to heal.

Read More
330 Words | 2 Pages

When Holden was at a Earls piano bar and he lied to D.B.’s ex- girlfriend that he had to leave because, he thought she was annoying and left the even though he didn't want to. He seems not to care too much about his ex-girlfriend Sally either, he told her she was a pain in the butt;

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

Holden Caulfield’s early loss of innocence causes him to fiercely guard the innocence of others, resulting in pain for him when he realizes that his attempts are futile. Holden’s negative experiences with the adults in his life lead to his valuing the idea of innocence. Despite his bad role models, Holden clings to the concept that integrity is the most important quality in a person. While reflecting on one of his old boarding schools, he expresses his dislike for its “phony” headmaster, Mr. Haas. He complains, “[O]ld Haas went around shaking hands with everybody's parents when they drove up to school.

Read More
656 Words | 3 Pages

Although others may say that Holden was successful on his journey, saying that he grew up he. Holden showed lots of immaturity throughout the novel and was the biggest phony of all.. Holden’s attitude throughout the novel was very immature and made constant poor decisions. While he was still at Pencey he put in no effort and had the attitude that nothing mattered. As he moves on from Pencey and goes to New York, he shows no care for anything as he blows lots of his money and doesn’t even take care of himself. He doesn’t clean himself up or get any sleep because of his attitude towards life.

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

Holden is unaware of his problem. When people try to help him he tells them there is nothing wrong with him. Holden wonders why he cannot connect with others. He blames it on other people when the source of his problems is himself. Holden’s past holds him back from connecting with others, but his fear of letting go of his past has him limited and scarred from making new relationships and connections.

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

In the following quote, the prostitute comes to Holden’s hotel, Holden declines to have sex with her and instead wants to mingle: “Don’t you feel like talking for a while. I asked her, It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar” (106). Holden isolates himself from all the people he loves and cares about like his family and Jane because he persists afraid of rejection. However, at the same time, Holden desires to have affection so badly, with anyone, even just talking with someone will satisfy him. For his lack of affection blooms into immense loneliness.

Read More
1077 Words | 5 Pages

And I didn’t like her much. Nobody did. You had to feel sort of sorry for her, in a way” (). This demonstrates Holden’s failure to understand people and the judgemental thoughts he has. He often has these judgemental thoughts to distance himself from others.

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

The beginning of Holden’s journey starts with the innocence and naivety of childhood. Childhood is the stage that ignorance is bliss with no care in the world. Holden goes to a prestigious boarding school for boys and he believes that everyone in that school is a phony in some way. Holden is an observant character as he stays in the background, but he can also cause the most trouble. Like a child, he asks many questions and he is very curious to the point that he can be annoying.

Read More
1615 Words | 7 Pages

He says this because he 's jealous and envious of the other guy because Sally wants to hangout with him for a little. Holden makes her upset and kind of mad because the way he said it was sarcastic and rude. Holden doesn’t like him and is mad that he intruded on their date and Holden says, “...he walked about two blocks with us” (Salinger 142). He didn 't like that. When he meets with Sally she is genuinely happy to be with him in the beginning but right when she sees a boy she knows who is more put together then he is and she wants to engage with him instead.

Read More
1035 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Holden's Behavior In Catcher In The Rye

Related Topics

Open Document