ipl-logo

Holden Caulfield's Letter To The Catcher In The Rye

394 Words2 Pages

I am writing this letter to inform you that I have been providing your son, Holden Caulfield, with psychotherapy to help treat his concerns with a number of different mental and social issues. Upon conducting therapy with him, I discovered a lot about how Holden lived life thus far, what psychological changes he went through in specifically recent times, and the events that led him to these changes. The reason I believe he 's here for psychotherapy in the first place is due to the rather awkward tendencies he has, and fixing these flaws is part of my job as a psychotherapist. Through vigorous and close inspection of these tendencies, I uncovered a few issues Holden finds himself dealing with: general skepticism and distrust in others, loneliness, …show more content…

During therapy, Holden recalled numerous events where he would act cynical towards 'phony ' people. Although acting mean towards people you don 't like may seem somewhat relatable, the extent of Holden 's skeptical behavior was simply beyond comprehensive. Holden always tries finds errors in companions he wishes to relate with, but as a result of the discovery of these flaws, he ends up breaking relationships. I remember him talking about a couple of people in particular, one of them being his own brother, D.B.. "Now he 's out in Hollywood, D. B., being a prostitute." (Salinger 1). I hear that D.B. is a writer in Hollywood, and while that is great, Holden refers to him as a 'prostitute ', in the sense that he gets paid to use his talents (writing for movies). Moreover, he criticizes a pianist he merely met in a bar, Ernie. "I 'm not too sure what the name of the song was that he was playing when I came in, but whatever it was, he was really stinking it up. He was putting all these dumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff that gives me a pain in the ass." (Salinger 84). One of the many purposes musicians serve, is to entertain people. Ernie, a great pianist as I understand, was doing just that. Mind you, it 's not just people Holden considers phony. He even goes as far as labeling movies as

Show More
Related

Holden's Heroic Decisions In The Catcher In The Rye

222 Words | 1 Pages

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

Read More

Holden Caulfield Criticism

1114 Words | 5 Pages

Keeping these things in mind, Holden Caulfield is presented much like the author. Caulfield has a very immature attitude that fall under the category of Ego-Defensive. The Ego-Defensive category has four subcategories within itself called; denial, repression, projective, and rationalization, that are labeled as defense mechanisms through psychological lenses. According to McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of Modern Medicine, denial is the “primitive–ego defense–mechanism by which a person unconsciously negates the existence of a disease or other stress-producing reality in his environment, by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” Holden presents his state of denial in the way he tries to maintain his relationship with his deceased brother, Allie.

Read More

Essay On Phony In Catcher In The Rye

714 Words | 3 Pages

He is constantly in denial and thinks that everything else is to blame for his own problems. Holden always has an excuse to justify his action. When he left his old school he said, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all” (17). Holden is basically saying here that he left his old school not because he is not smart but it was because he could not stand the people there.

Read More

Examples Of Thematic Essay On The Catcher In The Rye

1107 Words | 5 Pages

The effects of Holden constantly isolating himself can be seen especially through his improper speech and how he speaks to others. For example in chapter two Holden says “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies (pg 14).” In this Holden is exhibiting his poor vocabulary and shows how he does not put thought into the things he says. When he uses the word phonies to describe the boys at Elkton Hills in reality he means he thinks they are boys whom he is not friends with and does not like. In many other cases Holden appears to immediately result to the word phony when describing something or someone he does not like.

Read More

Catcher In The Rye Analysis

1308 Words | 6 Pages

Shouldn’t someone who acts tough and often brags know that they will never become a phony? The answer would be yes if Holden wasn’t so insecure. Holden’s childish ways cause him to never mature and figure out who he is as a person. We see many signs of Holden insecurities throughout the book, like the fact that he contradicts himself. An example of this would be when Sally and Holden are in the taxi and he tells her he loves her, he then counties to say, “It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it” (Salinger 139).

Read More

Examples Of Isolation In Catcher In The Rye

1436 Words | 6 Pages

What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were (Salinger 98). Instead of talking about the play and appreciating the play, Holden judges the people who surrounded him outside the theater. This suggests his immaturity by making fun of people who are just trying to live

Read More

Misfit In The Catcher In The Rye

1418 Words | 6 Pages

It is the “phoniness” he wants to blame. Salinger used “phony” this word many times in the book and is one of the most famous word from “The Catcher in the Rye” and it accurately describes the human nature of most adults’. During Holden’s three-day-trip in New York, he has met and encountered with many characters who are pretentious and fake, from Mr. Spencer to Luce and Sally. In society people have to lie or be “phony” just to socialize, or impress someone. Holden is a judgemental person who keeps observing other people’s phoniness but never notices them in himself.

Read More

Holden Caulfield Lies In Catcher In The Rye

1378 Words | 6 Pages

Holden lies as a result of his depression, in order to hide the fact that he’s lonely and bored with his life, to divert any questions which he believes are too personal, and to create his own reality. In this way, Salinger illustrates how, during difficult times, people resort to lying as a coping mechanism. In the beginning of the story, Holden lied to divert questions in order to protect his personal information.

Read More

Examples Of External Conflict In Catcher In The Rye

668 Words | 3 Pages

Holden cannot handle accepting blame for his shortfalls. This is evident in the way he retells his story. Holden repeatedly tells the reader outrageous claims about his character. However when he ends up coming short on these expectations, he backtracks his previous statements in order to shift the blame away from himself. When he first discusses his fight with Stradlater he says, “All I know was I

Read More

Theme Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye

837 Words | 4 Pages

Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

Read More

Examples Of Holden Being Depressed In Catcher In The Rye

728 Words | 3 Pages

I was already sort of sorry I 'd let the thing start rolling, but it was too late now” (Salinger 19). This quote goes to show that Holden is trying to be a different person. He normally would accept a night with an escort but as stated in the quote he was so depressed he couldn 't even think about his decisions. A later quote shows that he doesn 't even use his real name he uses the name “Jim Steele”.

Read More

How Does Holden Caulfield Change Throughout The Novel

693 Words | 3 Pages

Although Holden is not fully recovered he is much less depressed than his earlier stages in the book. Holden has taken a step further in his adult life and rather than dismissing those around them he begins to value them, thus being a big step. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old junior undergoes a series of changes; changes that helped a distraught teenager learn that everyone grows up. You don 't need to be the “Catcher in the Rye” that protects the children from going if the deep end thought

Read More

Catcher In The Rye: A Psychological Analysis Of Holden Caulfield

824 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has abnormal tendencies. Although he could just be a typical teenager, dealing with difficult situations, after analyzing his behavior it is believed that he is suffering from a mental ailment of some sort. Events from Holden’s past are still currently haunting him and it is evident that he is struggling. He needs the guidance of those around him in order to help himself through these tough time.

Read More

The Satire Of Holden Caulfield

699 Words | 3 Pages

Holden refuses to take life seriously and is almost proud of it. He's rude to most people he talks to and is unnecessarily fake with who he's civil with. He has some major growing up to do, but who doesn't? Holden Caulfield is not an honest person.

Read More

Character Development In Holden Caulfield In The Catcher In The Rye

871 Words | 4 Pages

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.”

Read More

More about Holden Caulfield's Letter To The Catcher In The Rye

Related Topics

Open Document