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Holden Caulfield Setting

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Catcher in the Rye is the recounting of the weekend after the main character gets expelled for the umpteenth time from another uppity private school. The name of the main character, "Holden Caulfield," can be broken down in such a way that it reveals the character in question's tendency to hold onto and protect happier memories and childhood innocence from this big, unfair, scary game we call life, without realizing that he would be stunting the growth of those whom he is protecting. The character's first name, "Holden", can be interpreted as a pun for how he wants to "hold on" to better times. Throughout the story, Holden speaks fondly about his childhood summer memories, talking about when he used to play checkers with Jane Gallagher (p.17), or when he, his younger siblings, Phoebe and Allie, went to the park every Sunday (p. 37) to play, and often brushes the more serious moments he has experienced off, instead of going on a tangent like he usually does (p.21). …show more content…

Holden being sent out in an unfamiliar world, without help, is like having to play a board game without knowing how to play. His name relates to him being a player in this game called life because to field means to send a player out into the game. IN this case, Holden is the player, and life is the game. When Holden arrives home to talk with Phoebe, he brings up how he wants to be the “catcher in the rye,” and do nothing but that all day (p. 93).Through this entire story, Holden has been struggling to transitions from a child to an adult and wonders how ducks know to leave the lagoon in the winter and fly south. Holden being sent out in an unfamiliar world, without help, is like having to play a board game without knowing how to

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119 Words | 1 Pages

The beginning of the book shows that Holden Caulfield is in a mental institute in California. He then has a flashback that takes us back to where the real story begins. The setting takes place at Pencey Preparatory School in Agerstown, Pennsylvania and New York City, New York during 1948 or 1949 (post World War 2). The story is over the course of only three days.

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1269 Words | 6 Pages

BP1: Holden recognizes and ultimately rejects

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656 Words | 3 Pages

The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden was molded into someone with a more hopeful future. He went from a life of sloth and indifference to fighting for children and generously helping save their innocence. Holden first displays the sin of sloth through all aspects of his life, especially in his schooling. He is failing four out of five of his classes. Holden is a high school student and has been expelled of four schools already for academic failure.

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

Craig and Holden similarly struggle with depression and can create a deep connection with the reader. Overwhelmed by the world, these characters become unable to remain content with their lives. It is this that ultimately makes them relatable characters as they fight an internal conflict throughout the story. Holden’s struggle with transitioning into adulthood and Craig’s undeniable pressure from his surrounding circle are topics that many teenagers can identify with. When Holden is in central park and passes by a lagoon, he says, "I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go.

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618 Words | 3 Pages

Holden Caulfield, the main character in the bold novel, Catcher in the Rye, constantly encounters problems with maturity and developing. Even though maturity often comes with age, Holden is the exception to this rule. All through the novel, Holden states he has a fascination with the ducks in Central Park. This fascination with ducks is a clear symbol of maturity and Holden’s youthful side. The ducks in the novel can be a symbol for many challenges in Holden’s life.

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1733 Words | 7 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye, written by JD Salinger, is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Undergone with mental treatment in a sanatorium at age 16, the story initiate a plot twist at Pency Prep, Pennsylvania. Failing four subjects, except English depicts how unconcerned and reluctant he is for a new change. After his exit from Pency Prep, he encounters a society beyond innocence, making it an interesting aspect to analyze and scrutinize the book into depth. Throughout the early chapters, the prevalence of a significant theme was ‘Individual alienation’.

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1400 Words | 6 Pages

Purpose: To show how a small change in choice could affect holden’s life The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from New York. The novel starts with Holden, writing in his book, hinting that he is in some sort of mental facility .Even though he comes from a wealthy family,because of his loss of interest in studies,and low grades, he gets expelled from all schools he has studied in .Holden leaves his final school, Pency Prep and decides that he will stay in New York City until his parents learn of his expulsion and “cool down” .Most of the novel is dedicated to Holden’s time in the city, Holden lives in a hotel room for a few days during his stay .Holden then starts meeting with people that he used know, some strangers and goes to places with. From his conversations, he

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489 Words | 2 Pages

Seventeen year old Holden Caulfield is a character who is resentful of the adult world, while displaying immature, almost childish behavior as the novel progresses. He is afraid of change and struggling through life, despite having the whole world ahead of him. The first quote that I’m going to analyse is one of the most powerful and memorable quotes from the entire book, namely because it’s in the title. Holden is protective of his youthful qualities and doesn’t want to abandon them when he drifts into adulthood. He refers to himself in chapter 22 as ‘the catcher in the rye’, saving ‘thousands of little kids’ from their impending doom as they start running off of the edge of a cliff.

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1446 Words | 6 Pages

Holden When something mortifying occurs to you it can really have a negative impact on you when your are growing up. In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, J.D. Salinger introduces Holden as a very troubled student and as a result he is being expelled from a boys College Preparatory School. As a matter of fact the author J.D. Salinger wasn't the brightest pupil in his school “Despite his apparent intellect Salinger- or Sonny as he was known as a child- wasn't much of a student”(Biography). Salinger presents the protagonist Holden Caulfield out to be a disgruntled, rebellious and a problematic adolescent. Which is further explained in the Psychoanalytic Theory which provides a wide selection of information to view the

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1031 Words | 5 Pages

He sees the world only through his cynical view. His troubled and grieved mind leads him to assume that everyone is out to get him. Carl Luce, a senior from when he went to Elkton Hills, told him that he needed to go to see a psychoanalyst. Holden can not keep bottling up his grief. After an excursion with Phoebe, he is set free of

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623 Words | 3 Pages

This title refers to Holden’s desire to protect kids from adulthood which relates to his aversion to change and growing up. Holden’s explanation of a catcher in the rye symbolizes his desire to protect kids from growing up. When his younger sister Phoebe asks him to name one thing he would like to be, he says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye… And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”

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1273 Words | 6 Pages

J.D Salinger was a peculiar man. He was a man riddled with insecurity from the failures to withstand the standard of normality and conformity imposed by a disingenuous society, a child whose mind could not be understood by the square carved thoughts of the traditional school system, and a soldier whose trauma of World War Two would not let its horror escape his mind. The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s one and only novel, was written throughout duration of time in which Salinger’s pain could only be interpreted by pen and paper. Much of Salinger’s reclusive nature is reflected upon in the protagonist, Holden Caulfield and his refusal to allow the adult American society to steal his innocence and curiosity.

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281 Words | 2 Pages

The novel’s title, The Catcher in the Rye, is an allusion to Robert Burns’s poem, “Comin’ Thro the Rye”, which utilizes sexual imagery to suggest themes of adulthood. At first, the title appears cryptic and holds little meaning to the reader. However, later in the novel, Holden tells Phoebe that he dreams about thousands of children playing in a field of rye, while he stands near the cliff, ensuring that none of the children fall off. Throughout the novel, Holden expresses his contempt for adult world, which he believes corrupts and turns people into phonies, and as a result, his fantasy reflects his desire to be a hero.

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893 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the ‘Catcher in the Rye’,Holden Caulfild has no clear perspective about his future and tries to escape from routine of the grey present into his past,the place where he is a friend,a brother,a son and just a boy with an ordinary life. The book reveals a few days in life of a 16-years-old searching for reasons to live and to find his place in the world. Being alone everywhere he goes Holden has noboby who could take care of him. In every school he has gone to he was a complete stranger, being surrounded by people he could not find a single person to have a real conversation with.

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