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Holden's Influence On The Catcher In The Rye

1471 Words6 Pages

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. To some this would be devastating, …show more content…

Before he leaves though, he "yell[s] at the top of [his] goddam voice, 'Sleep tight, ya morons ' " (68)! Although it is a shame, any reader can see that Holden seems to have nothing going right or in a positive way all because of his negative attitude. Therefore, this attitude leads him to almost care about nothing. Though Holden may seem to be a lost cause because of his negative attitude, he thankfully has an epiphany that changes his view towards the world because he realizes that people have to grow up. When Holden visits his younger sister, Phoebe, he is happy to see her, but when they begin talking their conversation turns negative. Holden begins complaining to her about what he hates, but Phoebe tells him that he hates everything. Though Holden disagrees with her, when she asks him to name one thing that he likes, he struggles to think of something that he likes. So, she asks him what he wants to do later on. Eventually, he tells her that if he could do anything, he would be "the catcher in the rye" (225) because that is "the only thing [he would] really like to be" (225). He hints to the reader that he wants to be the catcher in the rye so

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Towards the end of the story, while having a conversation with Phoebe about what Holden wants to do with his life, he tells her, “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…That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (Salinger 173). With this, Holden further reveals his childhood fantasy of being a hero and saving everyone. In his soul, Holden is an innocent boy who does not want to grow up.

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Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year old boy that hates a lot of things. He attends a school named Pencey where he got kicked out because he had very poor grades. The only class he actually likes is English class. He doesn’t care that he got kicked out because he thinks that a bunch of “phonies” go to that school anyways. In J.D Salinger’s novel the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is affected by his two brothers Allie, and D.B.

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In The Catcher and The Rye by J. D. Salinger the main character (Holden Caulfield) says the term Boy over one hundred and sixty times. The book is written to a younger crowd so to connect to the younger crowd he needs to use slang like “boy”. The lingo used in The Catcher and The Rye is directed to young men and women but still has such intellectual concept. Holden is afraid he is losing his innocence so in defence he needs to call himself boy just to reflect that he is still a ‘boy’. He als has a huge capacity for wonder and wanting to be believed so that is another reason he says “boy” all the time.

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Holden says that all he want to do is be the catcher in the rye protecting children from falling. The whole novel Holden makes observation around him that are taking away from children's innocence. This is what upsets him the most the fact that everyone will eventually have to grow up. While he is trying to go get Phoebe he is reminded this in the following quote. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another "Fuck you" on the wall.

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Everyone knows Holden wants to protect the innocents of women and children, but can he do it, while discovering who he is and why he has to start his live all over again. Holden gets kicked out of his Pencey for not applying himself. Holden’s teacher could tell this that is why he made Holden listen to the essay and notes that said “quote”. Holden could not have known the facts but he could have at least known how to right a very grammarly correct and interesting essay.

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As far as Holden’s relationships with women go, he seems to show symptoms that coincide with someone who has ADD. At times, this makes Holden’s thought pattern hard to follow. Hr seems to have one opinion of a person, but then he’ll have another opinion differing from the last one. He acts impulsively based on his emotions, he bounces from topic to topic, whether it be his thought process about girls, or while he’s physically speaking to them, and he can’t always make up his mind about how he feels. Holden acts impulsively based upon his emotions.

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Carl Luce, a student adviser from a previous school, is also being labelled as phony, yet Holden calls him. “The only thing he ever did, though, was give these sex talks and all late at night… He knew quite a bit about sex…” (154) It is no secret why Holden wants to meet with Carl. Holden sounds sex obsessed and very childish during his conversation with Carl. He is trying to provoke Carl to talk about sex.

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Just like many men in the 1940’s, the famous author J.D. Salinger was drafted into the United States Army. Salinger was placed in one of the most bloody battles in the war, Battle of the Bulge. Salinger did not escape the war without trauma. He suffered a nervous breakdown, and during that time period, he created the character Holden Caulfield. Salinger’s emotions and attitudes were projected onto his character, Holden who suffers with mental health issues and projects his emotions on innocent ducks that live in Central Park.

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Altogether, Holden wants to protect children to prevent them from dying at a young age because Allie’s death is already too much for him to handle. He is even going beyond the limits to do this, as he is willing to dedicate his life to it. Secondly, as Holden is walking through the school, he notices, “Somebody’d written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would se it…” (201)

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Based on the way Holden describes himself, and the way he portrays himself, seems as if he was a mature grown up man. According to Holden, half of his head is occupied by white hairs, while on the other half was his natural hair color. He states that he has a deep voice and is quite tall for his age. To add on, the attitude that Holden has towards life, is very negative as if he was a grumpy old man, that gave up before he had started anything. Despite the way he looks, and how he acts for his age,Holden is told he, “... still act sometimes like I was only about twelve.

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Holding onto the past has always been a common trope in fiction, though it’s usually seen in a negative light. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield holds on to a lot of things- ideals, memories, people. More specifically, he never really lets go of his deceased brother, Allie. While Allie never appears himself, he’s mentioned quite a lot by Holden and is one of the things that Holden likes the most.

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Disconnected I’m not gonna lie, I felt that all of the books and plays that I had read throughout the years have some kind of personal connection with my life. I can relate to Gregor isolation from his family, Winston fear of the government, Willy attempt to reconnect with his family, and Othello distrust of the person that he is close with. But the one character that I can relate with the most is Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. The one thing that I found Holden and I relatable is his transition as a teenager.

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The world is not perfect, it is filled with violence, sex, obscenity, and immoral values. Believe it or not the world is filled with bad human kind traits. Many parents don’t want their child to experience those bad traits, even reading them. In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The character Holden is one of those bad traits, “Sex is something I really don’t understand too hot.

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These two struggles are what causes Holden to realise his purpose is being a catcher in the rye. His struggle to adulthood is quite evident. Holden states that the adult world is a nasty and horrible place, he thinks that the adult world is very phony, fake, and corrupt. These are words he uses quite often to describe the adult world, proving that he despises the thought of being an adult.

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Usually considered a controversial novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger can often express the feelings of being an outcast and the desire to find a meaning in the world. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel, though often complains of the phoniness of the world around him, has a way of creating a deeper meaning within the readers. While the truth may be that Salinger purposely set the story in such a way that the readers will be able to connect with Holden, not often do readers find it easy to do so. While Holden believes that everything around him are wicked and phony, there is part of him trying to protect the innocence of those not corrupted by such phoniness. Although Holden wants to protect and save the innocence of children, can he really do so if cannot protect himself and trust those around him.

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