Holden Caulfield is an adolescent male. He is sixteen years old, and is very pessimistic. He is tall and scrawny. Holden’s hair is graying at his young age which he wears in a crew cut. Holden is constantly shows symptoms of depression such as poor appetite, a pessimistic outlook, and physical headaches.
What did you want to be when you grow up? Holden Caulfield, from Catcher in the Rye did know what he was going to do. The Catcher in the Rye is about the 16 year old boy I mentioned earlier, recalling the events that took place after he was expelled from Pencey Prep. He then decides to roam New York, after he gets into a fight with his roommate, Stradlater. Then, the rising action builds from there.
Holden, the protagonist of the Catcher in the Rye often makes decisions under the influence of his problematic emotions and caught himself into many rough and self-harming situations. In the first place, Holden made self-harming decisions under the emotion of anger and sadness when his brother passed away "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 (21). " Holden is making idiotic decisions under the influence of anger and sadness and caused himself a lifelong injury. Similarly, later in the Catcher in the Rye Holden again makes another decision under his emotion of jealousy about Stradlater 's date with Jane. Holden relentlessly insulted Stradlater, driving him crazy until
A hero can be described in many ways from Superman’s example to teenager, Malala Yousafzai’s. Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old boy, who flunks out of school, in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is said to follow the Hero’s Quest- that the novel is a modernization of this mythic from. Upon reading this novel, Holden does not seem like the type of person who would be a hero, however his journey overlaps with a traditional hero’s journey in more than one place. Holden’s heroic characteristics tells the reader that anyone can be a hero, in their own way, even with all of their teen angst. Holden follows the first two steps of a hero’s journey throughout the novel.
Holden Caulfield: Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of Catcher in the Rye, however, he is a very unreliable and troubled narrator. He narrates this story inside a psychiatric ward, where he is speaking to his psychiatrist. The reason for him being in this ward is due to his brother, Allie’s death, and a suicide at one of the four schools he has attended. He is sixteen years old, and has recently been expelled from his school, Pencey Prep.
When an individual is lacking understanding of their environment, that’s called immaturity. When a person is immature, their reputation is affected. In many ways a person that is immature is not trusted by other people, nor trust people either. The novel “Catcher in the rye” takes place in Pennsylvania at his former school in the late 1940’s and the novel is told from a first person view.
While this novel does have profanity and sexual references, it still deserves to be taught in high school because Holden shows how having a negative attitude towards life does not get a person far. In the beginning of the novel Holden tells the reader that "[Pencey] kick[s] [him] out [of their school]" (6) because he "was [failing] four subjects and not applying [himself]" (6). However, he does not just notify the reader, he notifies them in a way of forgetting to mention that he is no longer going to be attending Pencey. Holden passes this off as some minor detail when in reality it is not just a minor detail. Later on, Holden reveals to the reader that this is not the first school where he has gotten expelled.
Throughout a child 's life, sooner or later they get thrown into the teenage experience which starts their transition from childhood to adulthood. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is stuck in his childhood and does not want to grow up. He is a very complex character and has an odd way of dealing with his emotions; he doesn 't. When Holden is faced with a problem, instead of facing it and slowly working his way through it, he tries to get rid of it entirely. He does not want to be thrown into the real world and will do anything to not be put in those “adult like situations”. I believe that Holden’s issues arose about the time when his younger brother Allie passed away due to leukemia when he was only eleven.
In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, the protagonist Holden Caulfield demonstrates his unusual behaviour. The narrator introduces the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose suspicions and personal issues prevent him from being “normal” in a society full of phonies that he does not seem to get along with. It becomes clear that Holden has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood swings with the people he likes, and dislikes. Therefore, it becomes obvious that some of his personal flaws include his distrust, depression, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are based on his underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has a variety psychological problems, such as his skepticism, depressive behaviour, and
The “Age of Conformity”, the decade of the 1950s in the United States, was a time when “far out” ideas were punished and societal norms began to form, and teenagers living in this decade were far from exempt of conforming to these overbearing social norms. J.D. Salinger, author of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, explored the difficulties teenagers faced in the post-World War II era in a captivating story told by a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. For over 60 years, Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has been a controversial work that receives criticism from some and praise from others, but leaves no doubt that the story of Holden Caulfield has intrigued readers regardless of their overall opinion of the novel. Salinger poured his own anxiety and PTSD from the war onto the pages, and by doing this, created Holden Caulfield. Holden, unarguably a deeply-troubled teenager, is one of the most relatable characters in literature read by high schooler students today regardless of their mental health state.
Autism in psychology is a mental condition characterized by great difficulty in communicating with others and in using language and abstract concepts (Fredericks, 2008). The book “There’s a boy in here” the author is Judy Barron and Sean Barron. It recounts a strange point by a mother and her son, passing the painful years the son underwent through the painful years and the son suffered from autism and his remarkable convalesce. Ron and Judy were a young couple that gave birth to a son who had very different emotional needs. Rob and Judy Barron’s first born child was autistic.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual”. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s lies become habitual throughout the book. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy, who has been kicked out of several schools including, most recently, Pencey Prep. Holden’s younger brother, Allie, died when Holden was only thirteen and his older brother is too busy working for Hollywood to care about Holden. Although his mother cares immensely for him, Holden saddens her by failing academically.
Holden’s Struggle To Find Himself: Throughout the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles to find himself and who he truly is in order to be happy. His struggles relate to many things that he does or say in particular. Holden lacks with a social status with women and his family, whether it’s a relationship or being antisocial. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield experiences the complexities and struggles involved with both physical and emotional relationships.
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.
While many argue that Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye does not deviate from the traditional anti-hero attributes and, therefore, does not display any prominent change, an argument can be made to the contrary. Holden Caulfield goes through some noticeable character development and is in a better place emotionally at the end of the book because he speaks with Phoebe. His meeting with Phoebe and Phoebe’s message to him shows him a youth’s perspective on his world, rather than the superficial sincerity of his elderly professor and his favorite teacher that makes advances on him. Additionally, him being able to successfully communicate with a member of his own family puts him in a better place. His time with her lets him see his own self-image of a “catcher in the rye.”
