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Describe The Relationship Between Holden And The Catcher In The Rye

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Recommended: An analysis of Holden from the catcher in the rye

Carl Luce, a student adviser from a previous school, is also being labelled as phony, yet Holden calls him. “The only thing he ever did, though, was give these sex talks and all late at night… He knew quite a bit about sex…” (154) It is no secret why Holden wants to meet with Carl. Holden sounds sex obsessed and very childish during his conversation with Carl. He is trying to provoke Carl to talk about sex. Carl is very irritated with Holden’s childish behaviour and sex talk: “Same old Caulfield. When are you going to grow up?”. (155) Carl asks this question a couple of times and tells Holden that his “mind is immature”. Holden answers him by saying: “It is. It really is. I know it.” As Carl is dating an older woman now it can be interpreted that he has reached adulthood. Holden begs Carl to stay for another drink, as he was feeling lonesome, but Carl left anyway.
It is clear that Holden is emotionally unstable. He is very lonely and always talking to …show more content…

That might be one of the major reasons for his “lousy” childhood. Holden himself was only a 13 year old child when Allie died of leukemia. Allie was only 11. Although Holden was older than Allie, he has always looked up to Allie and was very proud of him. Allie’s innocence is significant as he did not live to reach adulthood. Holden was very upset the night Allie died. “They were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all… I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.” (40) Holden also saw James Castle’s body when he committed suicide – wearing Holden’s sweater. This incident brings back memories of Allies death. The way he talks about Allie is proof that Allie is still alive to him. On page 167 he talks about Allie as he is living in the cemetery, as if it’s his home. When Phoebe asked him to name one thing he likes he answers

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Holden had a younger brother named Allie who “died of leukemia when he was eleven” (Salinger 38). Allie was a major factor in Holden’s life and development as a person in general. In a way, Allie is still alive in Holden and his actions, and Holden constantly thinks about him. When Holden felt that he was going to disappear whenever he crossed the street, he says, “Every time I came to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie.

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Holden says it "drives [him] crazy if somebody gets killed...and it's somebody else's fault," referring to Mercutio in this instance. However, his statement also applies to Allie, who died from leukemia through no fault of his own. Holden expresses his frustration and disillusionment with the world in this situation. Holden has already informed us that his parents are apathetic to his situation: after he shows his frustration at his brother's death by punching out the windows, instead of addressing his grief sympathetically, Holden's parents attempt to send him to be "psychoanalyzed". Holden should be diagnosed with teen grief, rather be sent to a mental institution, an unhealthy, oppressive environment which would dramatically worsen his condition, because of a personality disorder that he does not have.

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761 Words | 4 Pages

This shows how holden is really neurotic. Holden takes this girl, Sally, out on a date. When Holden starts ranting about life, and Sally tries to defend things like college, Holden gets mad and frustrated at Sally, and ends up calling her a pain in the ass. In the past, cursing at a girl was unheard of, and for some who, throughout the book was a smooth talker, this shows how Holden’s behavior can be really erratic and unusual.

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While Holden does not always directly tell us, he implies that he has not had the best childhood. The events that Holden has gone through, have caused him to act up and look at life in this way. As a child, Holden’s brother, Allie died resulting in Holden smashing the windows in the garage, and being put in a hospital and missing the funeral. Allie’s death really shook up Holden. While not directly telling us, Holden has dropped some hints that there has been some form of abuse in his childhood, “That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid.

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The reason that Holden Caulfield is always trying to stop kids from growing up in the first place is because he want’s to protect them, and shelter them from the bad things in the world. By the end of the novel Holden realizes that he can’t protect kids all the time or save their innocence. Holden comes right out and say’s that you can’t protect kids, or their innocence when Phoebe is riding the carousel toward the end of the book, Holden says “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them". This quote is one reason that proves Holden was successful throughout his journey in the

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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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1022 Words | 5 Pages

After talking about his childhood memories with his brother he states, ¨He is dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You´d have like him.¨ Then after talking about Allie’s old baseball mitt he said, ¨I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it¨(43-44). Allie’s death is used to show the unexpected change that Holden had experienced during his life. Allie was only eleven when he died, and Holden was thirteen.

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1227 Words | 5 Pages

As for Allie, a pointless and unforeseeable illness took him out of Holden’s world too soon. In Holden’s eyes, Allie was the only person in the world that wasn’t a phony. Holden doesn’t want to grow up to become a phony. If he dies young, he will have died without becoming a phony and this is very important to him. “I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cementery, and I have a tombstone and all, it’ll say ‘Holden Caulfield’ on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it’ll say ‘F*** you’.

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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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254 Words | 2 Pages

The Qu’ran and the Torah are similar in their beliefs. They both believe there is one true God and God has always existed and will exist forever. They believe that everyone has a choice to begin a new life and if they follow God they will be blessed. Once judgement day arrives, if you are not a follower of God you will be condemned to burn in fire. If you are a follower of God, you are granted eternal life in paradise.

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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.

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837 Words | 4 Pages

Another example of Holden acting immature is when Holden meets up his old school advisor from Whooton, Luce. He calls and asks

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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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1268 Words | 6 Pages

Holden realizes she is going to grow up and he cannot affect that and he should not either because that would get in the way of her development, and that is not what mature person would do, and he does not therefore he has indeed matured by this point in the novel. Holden learned to accept loss of innocence and grew in maturity throughout the novel. At some point in people's lives everyone matures, and learns to accept that they are going to grow

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1471 Words | 6 Pages

Holden becomes increasingly attracted to the idea and comes close to obsession, as his mind is flooded with thoughts of death and disappearance, as well as questions which are revealed throughout the novel. Holden experiences two deaths prior to the events in the novel that impact him profoundly. The most significant death was the death of his younger brother, Allie. Allie died of leukemia three years before the events of the novel.

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