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Analyzing characters from the catcher in the rye
Analyzing characters from the catcher in the rye
Analyzing characters from the catcher in the rye
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Holden Caulfield’s story begins on a December Saturday at Pencey Prep School in Pennsylvania, where he 's just been given the ax for failing all his classes except English. As it turns out, getting the ax is a frequent theme in Holden 's past. Before he leaves the school Holden runs to his favorite teacher’s house to say goodbye to him. Back in the dorm, Holden goofs around with Robert Ackley, a pimply and annoying kid. We 're introduced to Holden 's red hunting hat, and we meet his roommate, Stradlater, who is getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher, an old friend and sort-of romantic interest of Holden 's. Holden is not happy about this impending date, but agrees anyway to write an English composition for Stradlater.
During lunch hours at Selinsgrove Area High School, student Kalie Jimison, 18, was approached by Jason Heiser, a well-respected social studies teacher, regarding her right hand, middle finger ring. Connecting jewelry to religion, Heiser mistook Jimison as a satanic worshiper offering her to join him in the ritual of devotion. Heiser is a known ghost hunter and has reported that he can talk to the dead spirits. Spotted wandering around with his hands bound together, students have begun to feel startled with is behavior. Within his classroom, satanic symbols are hidden within all four corners in addition with one along the middle of one wall, creating a pentagram.
J.D. Salinger fully utilizes the literary device of symbolism in characterizing Holden Caulfield in the novel, Catcher in the Rye. Whether through a red hunting hat symbolizing a desire for individuality or ducks representing an escape from life’s challenges, Salinger conveys Holden’s struggles deftly, his traits elegantly, and his character development insightfully. Salinger takes one of Holden's most apparent qualities, his desire for uniqueness, and expresses it through his red hunting hat. Aside from being different through its garish red color, Salinger adds another layer of character through the way he shows Holden wearing it. "... I swung the old peak round to the back -very corny I'll admit, but I liked it that way."
22659 Mrs. Murawski American Lit Honors - Period 2 Sunday, December 14th, 2015 Influences of unreliability and reliability There is always that one friend that can never tell a story straight, There’s always loopholes, missing pieces and biases within the stories. These people are unreliable narrators. The unreliable narrators that we encounter day to day are ones that can’t be trusted. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has many influences that make him unreliable narrator throughout his journey in the story such as his profanity, his immaturity and the way he speaks the readers. To begin, Holden Caulfield in the story uses many different ways to express his feeling to us specifically in profanity.
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.
As controversial as it is, I found The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, captivating and relatable. In the novel, dysfunctional teenager named Holden Caulfield struggles in the world between childhood and adulthood. He divulges little about his childhood or parents in the novel and seems cynical from the start. His relationships fall apart easily and often at due to his own frailty. He believes the world owes him something.
This shows a physical as well as a behavioral traits of Holden. He has bad lungs because he used to smoke, which resulted in him getting tuberculosis. He says that he’s pretty help even though after just running a little bit he has to catch his breath. This shows how he has a hard time admitting to weaknesses even if its is just a small thing like this. He also is really tall, as he grew 6 and a half inches in just last year.
“I like to be somewhere at least where you can see a few girls around once in a while, even if they’re only scratching their arms or blowing their noses or even just giggling or something” (3). The narrator, Holden Caulfield, describes an aspect of his character through this confession. Obviously, he is interested in girls and desires them at all times. During the 1950s when this novel was published, having such desires would not have been approved of by the parents of the time due to the increasing social pressures of society. A majority of these adults would have considered Caulfield a terrible role model and would not have wanted the youth to read about him wanting to look at girls.
His sister phoebe and Jane ghallaher. Phoebe symbolizes childhood innocence and wittiness for Holden, she is genuine and pure. “You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your whole life... I mean she's had all A's ever since she started school...
Holden has a negative outlook on the world, he constantly is depressed because of his surroundings and the actions of people. He thinks that the world is full of phony people and he persistently says the word “phony” by describing most adults and teenagers. Holden thinks that in order to become an adult one must lose their authenticity and become phony. Contracting Holden's ideas, Phoebe, has a positive view on the world. The way that Phoebe understands the world is pure because she is a innocence child.
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.
Phoebe is a child and she is innocent. Holden wants to keep Phoebe innocent because his older brother prostituted himself to Hollywood, the place full of phonies. Holden does not want children to lose their innocence so soon, but he realizes that he cannot save them
Introduction In the year 2000 6 to 7 million indigenous people were estimated to be living in Central America. When referring to Central America one identifies it as the nations of Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and San Salvador, a map of this can also be seen on Appendix 1. The term indigenous is not specifically defined by anyone but there are similar characteristics between indigenous people, those being they are specific to a region and have specific traditions and cultures originating from very long periods of times. In this case the indigenous people of central America refers to the people who remained unaffected and unchanged after Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America.
Although Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to
Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a deep character that shows(possesses) many personality traits. His character is what connects many readers to him and helps in understanding him. Some character traits Holden possesses are that he is generous, kindhearted, usually honest, very intelligent, makes quick judgements, speaks his mind, is anxious about change, and likes kids. Considering his many character traits, it is easy for the reader to understand and relate to Holden. There are many character traits that I share with him.
