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Examples Of Transcendentalism In Catcher In The Rye

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Holden Caulfield, in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is an ideal transcendental hero. Though the question here is to what extent is Holden a transcendental hero. Holden’s way of being can be hard to understand, he has those “soft” moments where he seeks for his sister for comfort, or his red hunting hat, but most of all, a baseball glove that belonged to his younger brother, Allie who passed away. Other time, it’s the complete opposite, he goes for cigarettes, or alcohol. Another way that helps him with his moments, is going out into nature and relaxing. There is so much things that lead Holden to have a long extent of transcendentalism, but there is also things that pull him away from being a long extent in transcendentalism. …show more content…

Aside from being a liar, Holden is depressed. After Allie, his younger brother passed away, Holden hasn’t been too healthy himself. There is this baseball glove that was Allies, and it is a comfort to him. Along with that, another thing that Holden finds comfort in is a hat. This hate in particular is a red hunting hat. We realize that throughout the novel he is obsessed with the past and finds comfort in certain things. From the past, he finds comfort in Allie’s baseball glove, and a red hunting hat. To add onto these, as he gets older, he starts to smoke, drink, and go to his sister Phoebe to find comfort. Holden is only sixteen years of age, but he looks much older than that which is why he can slip through bars and drink, faking

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741 Words | 3 Pages

Salinger does a phenomenal job developing the red hunting hat into a symbol by emphasizing how important it was to Holden throughout the novel. When Holden is leaving the hotel, whilst walking out the door he grabs his coat from the hat check girl. He then proceeds to show her his hat. “I showed her my goddamn hunting hat and she liked it”(169).

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159 Words | 1 Pages

A baseball mitt from your dead brother isn 't something that you would usually carry around with you. It makes him feel better inside. As well, Holden’s red hunting hat is a representation of him and his qualities. The hat is its own and unlike everyone else. It symbolizes that holden is out of place, and that he is his own person.

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1005 Words | 5 Pages

Holden is clearly trying to drop his innocence because he thinks it will make him look more appealing. However, we do see Holden walk the tightrope as later in the novel he realizes it was a mistake to let go of his innocence, he

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828 Words | 4 Pages

As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Into the Wild: Transcendentalism at it’s Finest “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man (Chapter 14).” This was a quote from a letter that Chris McCandless wrote to an acquaintance named Wayne Westerberg. It was a week or so before Chris McCandless spent many months in the Alaskan wilderness alone, and eventually arrived to his death.

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1023 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the book, Holden Caulfield occasionally feel lonely and depressed. He hates how people are trying to pretend someone they are not. Holden Caulfield wears his hunting hat while he was in one of the biggest city in the world, which is unique. Caulfield’s red hunting hat made Holden

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1493 Words | 6 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye In the novel The Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger writes about a teenager struggling to find his place within the existence of the reality of others. Salinger creates shocking events that lay out the foundation of the the main character Holden Caulfield’s life in the novel. Salinger uses Holden’s characteristics throughout the novel such as Holden’s stubbornness to establish a much bigger theme in the book along with many other symbols.

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417 Words | 2 Pages

Into the Wild Chris McCandless. Who is he? I guess you could say he is the pure definition of a “transcendentalist”. A transcendentalist is a person who lives a completely different type of lifestyle than your average person, they believe in self reliance, they will always have a strong connection with mother nature, they’re individualists, and always searching for the meaning of life. McCandless went on a journey that no normal american would have thought was sane.

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

Change Can Be Good As one grows up they may experience dramatic changes in their life that they wish had never occurred. In The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, the main Character Holden Caulfield, goes through loss as his life begins to change right in front of him. His brother Allie who Holden was very close with, passes away, and his family and friends are all moving forward with their lives.

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639 Words | 3 Pages

Nature Is Real Life Society could stress us with fake desires but, “In the woods, we return to reason and faith.” (Emerson 243) In the book, Into the Wild, John Krakauer documents Chris McCandless, fighting to find truth in the nature away from society. Ralph Waldo Emerson's views of finding truth in nature include leaving society, noticing life around yourself, and understanding that nature is filled with truth. Chris McCandless is driven by the transcendentalist ideal of finding self-truth in nature.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

The heart of the story was Holden grieving over the death of his brother. Holden needs a solution to his problem. So he pulls out the mitt and confront his feelings to discharge all his grief and depression. Indeed, holden does not understand why his smart nice brother dies. He feels guilty that he who is stupid and inferior is still living.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

Holden tries to prevent the inevitable, but one must move on with their life, and that is, contributed to the loss of innocence. His hat keeps him safe from the societal horrors that steal one's innocence. So when he has finally comes to grips with the fact that he must become older, and make grown up decisions, he gives his hat to Phoebe when, she takes it out of his pocket and offers it to him, since it was raining, but he says “You can wear it awhile” (Salinger 233), he does this because he wants to protect her now and stop running away from his

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837 Words | 4 Pages

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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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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824 Words | 4 Pages

Holden constantly relives his past, which can indicate his diminishing mental state along with post-traumatic stress disorder. A common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder is reliving the past, or being unable to move on. He repeatedly has flash backs of moments shared with Allie when he is depressed. He wishes to be able to modify scenarios such as when he kept his brother from going out with him and his friend, Bobby. He finds comfort in recreating scenarios in his head, because he believes that it would have helped Allie live.

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