ipl-logo

Holden Caulfield Loneliness

829 Words4 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger goes into the life of a boy named Holden Caulfield. The novel tells of his thoughts, and depicts him as a lost teenager. Holden is the definition of a slacker; he can’t even stay in a school for long before getting kicked out. Holden is lost without his brother Allie, and seems to be lost in his path of life. He is constantly dealing with loneliness, and depression. Holden is stuck in a part of his life that doesn’t exist anymore. He holds onto the past, and isn’t making anything of his future. His brothers death is the biggest part of why Holden is lonely. Allie and Holden were close, and Allie was there for Holden when he needed someone to motivate him, or help push him to be great. Throughout the novel …show more content…

He seeks help in all the wrong places. When he stayed at a past teachers house it was okay at first, but it didn’t last long till he felt uncomfortable there. “...I felt something on my head, some guy's hand. Boy, it really scared hell out of me. What it was, it was Mr. Antolini's hand. What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head…” (Salinger 24). Holden even hinted at the beginning “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game….You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place…” (Salinger 1). He’s not a people person, friends and parties aren’t his thing. Holden didn’t even attend the game everyone was at that night. He says that most people are fake and phonies “ One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all…” (Salinger 2). He isolated himself at school, and he would continually read his brothers glove of poems. That seems to be the only enjoyment and closest thing to interactivity he’d get. It was to someone dead; a person who he could no longer see anymore. If he holds onto this, and habits of his lonesome self his future could be jeopardized. He won’t make anything of it, and Holden is stopping himself from having any good happen to him. He broke down completely by the end of the novel. This shows

Show More
Related

Catcher In The Rye Loneliness Quotes

801 Words | 4 Pages

When Holden had reached the climax point of his mental state, he had a hard time to get across the street. “Every time i came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I’d just go down, down, down and nobody’d ever see me again”. At this moment when his mental state was lost and his shield down, the loneliness consumed him. At one point he even accepted

Read More

Holden Caulfield Character Analysis Essay

971 Words | 4 Pages

His mom spoke with me about his experience with a therapist. I also met with his therapist myself and it was brought to my attention that Holden refuses to let go of the death of his brother. When Holden was talking to his roommates about his brother Allie, a lot of memories came back to him. He talked about how he smashed the windows in his garage and how he gave up on everything because of the death of his brother. For example Holden says, “it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family.

Read More

Examples Of Holden Being Depressed In Catcher In The Rye

728 Words | 3 Pages

He talks to his brother as if he 's there searching for help from him. This novel is about him moving through New York and witnessing this and not wanting to be a part of it, yet knowing he has to fit in there somewhere. Holden grows a very dangerous drinking problem. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden is a lost and depressed boy looking for a purpose in life. Holden believes that growing up is going to cause him to lose all innocence in himself.

Read More

Catcher In The Rye Persuasive Essay

303 Words | 2 Pages

Holden feels helpless and alone. In summary, Allie’s death plays a large role in forming Holden’s personality. He tries to graze over the subject without much emotion because Allie’s death was sudden and tragic, and he has been unable to seek support for most of his

Read More

Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis

656 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by. The death of his brother Allie has left him in a tough spot. Holden doesn’t exactly know how to deal with this. The different stages of grief are represented through Holden. Holden shows denial and anger when he flashbacks to one of his memories after his brother’s death.

Read More

Stubbornness In Catcher In The Rye

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.

Read More

How Does Holden Grief

1548 Words | 7 Pages

Holden grapples with loneliness and a lack of connection stemming from the loss of his brother, Allie, three years before the beginning of the novel. We learn that Allie died of leukemia when Holden was only thirteen: “He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You'd have liked him.” Holden’s reminiscences display the hole in his life that Allie once filled.

Read More

Catcher In The Rye Mental Health Quotes

983 Words | 4 Pages

From the beginning to the end of the novel, Holden is seen continuously distancing himself from his friends by calling them “phonies” as reasoning to not be close with others to hide his depression. Eventually, Holden is left with barely anyone who he sees as a friend, leaving him all alone. For instance, on his way to a hotel since he cannot go home, Holden asks the taxi driver, “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me, I'm loaded” (Salinger ). This evidence demonstrates to the reader that Holden cut out everyone in his life and is now left with no one due to his isolating methods that provide influence to his depression.

Read More

Holden Caulfield Loneliness

1039 Words | 5 Pages

These few lines from the book are a clear indication of Holdens loneliness. Holden didnt have a good explanation as to why he started crying out of blue, only to say himself that he was depressed and

Read More

Holden Caulfield Ptsd

1065 Words | 5 Pages

To begin, early in the novel Holden tells the reader about his younger brother Allie that passed away due to leukemia. It is also made known to the reader that Holden has PTSD from this tragic situation. Holden has a hard time trusting people because of this, and has struggled with mental illness since Allies death. In addition to trust issues and PTSD, Holden tends to go into a fantasy world when he gets depressed. In that world, he “talks” to Allie out loud as if he was there.

Read More

Catcher In The Rye Holden Analysis

380 Words | 2 Pages

Holden refuses to interact with others because he wants to be with his brother Allie and he is still emotionally destroyed by his death. Holden is still regressing to the time of his childhood, a time where he was happy and with Allie. This is the reason why Holden refuses to enter the threshold of adulthood. The reader can notice then when Holden says, "I like Allie just because someone is dead you don't just stop liking them, for God's sakes especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive". Holden still believes that true happiness resides in his childhood in the presence of his deceased brother.

Read More

Examples Of Phony In Catcher In The Rye

2042 Words | 9 Pages

… You could hear them all yelling. ”(Salinger, 2) This quote shows how Holden is alienated from society because he wants to stay away from the “phonies” as he explains later in the book. While everyone else is at the game, Holden is isolated on Thomsen Hill, far away from the football game, and not communicating with people at

Read More

Holden Caulfield's Depression

1154 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, he mentions his brother plenty of times, that he misses him very much, although he continuously denies it. Not only did this affect his mental health, it also ruined the social aspect of his life. From this, he no longer allows himself to attach and connect to other people, and alienates himself from almost everyone he comes across in the story. That is, except for his sister, Phoebe, the only person he admits to loving. Perhaps, if this one major event never occured, Holden would not be so depressed and be socially, mentally, and emotionally okay.

Read More

Holden Caulfield Loneliness

1394 Words | 6 Pages

He repeatedly describes how much he does not like Ackley, as well as how much of a social outcast he is. Even though he makes it clear that he doesn’t like Ackley, he is so lonely that he decides to hang around him anyway. This causes Holden to feel “rotten” and “lonesome” due to his lack of true friendships. He uses these words quite often in the novel to purposefully put himself down and inform the outside world of his plight. This also shows Holden’s major internal conflict: he can not make friends that he actually likes, but he’s so lonely that he resorts to hanging around people he does not want to be around.

Read More

Character Analysis: The Catcher In The Rye

720 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel, the topic of death is reoccurring in Holden 's mind. Whether he 's in school, doing homework, or aimlessly walking around New York City, Allie 's presence or lack thereof is always looming. It escalates to the point that Holden is always thinking about his own death, but more more specifically he 's fear of being forgotten: "Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddamn curb, I had this feeling that I 'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I 'd just go down, down, down and nobody 'd ever see me again. Boy did it scare me"(256).

Read More

More about Holden Caulfield Loneliness

Related Topics

Open Document