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Salinger catcher in the rye writing
J.d. salinger style of writing
Salinger catcher in the rye writing
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Salinger catcher in the rye writing
J.d. salinger style of writing
Salinger catcher in the rye writing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The catcher in the rye tells the story of Holden Caufield, a teenage boy who recently got kicked out from his fourth school. Holden decides to leave the school before he is scheduled to and wanders around New York. Holden shows many symptoms of depression throughout the novel such as, disengaging from activities, not doing his school work and having no interests or hobbies. Holden shows little to no change throughout the novel and does not develop as a character. Holden’s flight reaction is something that stays with him throughout the book.
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).
Holden Caulfield’s early loss of innocence causes him to fiercely guard the innocence of others, resulting in pain for him when he realizes that his attempts are futile. Holden’s negative experiences with the adults in his life lead to his valuing the idea of innocence. Despite his bad role models, Holden clings to the concept that integrity is the most important quality in a person. While reflecting on one of his old boarding schools, he expresses his dislike for its “phony” headmaster, Mr. Haas. He complains, “[O]ld Haas went around shaking hands with everybody's parents when they drove up to school.
During Catcher, the whole story is set as a first person recount from the view of Holden Caulfield, but during this recount, there are some small instances of Holden thinking of his life as a child. The recount is from Holden’s point of view as he is obtaining psychiatric help, after he has been found to have mental issues. The majority of these small flashback moments during the text are about Holden’s younger brother Allie, who passed away with Leukemia when Holden was a few years younger. Holden holds strong and happy memories of his younger brother’s life, and during this extended flashback, he tells the author about his brother, and although Allie does not take part within the story, the audience learns lots about him. Holden is very much traumatised by the death of his younger brother, and this traumatic event has helped in making Caulfield the socially awkward person that he is during the recount.
In the novel, Holden is being kicked out of his current boarding school Pencey Prep. He is being expelled because he was failing four or five classes. Holden states in the story that he doesn’t try hard
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.
Sometimes growing up can hurt. Sometimes it is a scrape on your knee. Sometimes it’s a heartbreak. Sometimes it’s how life goes. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden, is growing up and misses those times when he was still innocent.
Holden Caulfield dreams of being a “catcher in the rye”. This job would entail preventing small children from accidentally skipping, running, or hopping off a cliff. We are led to believe that the edge of this cliff is adolescence, with adulthood waiting below, claiming the innocence and joy of those who fall victim to it. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden frequently expresses his thoughts, including thoughts on politics, Lillian Simmon’s “knockers”, phonies, and the loss of innocence. He seems almost fascinated with innocence, whether he recognizes it or not.
I do believe that Holden’s flashbacks are an accurate depiction of both cases because Holden puts his thoughts on both of these cases as he was describing them. For instance, when Holden describes his dead brother, he mentions that “you’d have liked him,” (Salinger, 38). This demonstrates how much Holden really loves his brother but refers to it in second-person as a way to distance himself from his own personal feelings. After he recalls the moments with his dead brother Allie, he writes Stradlater’s composition about his old brother’s baseball mitt. This also contradicts with the fact that Stradlater asked Holden to write him a composition for his English class.
Holden remarks that Pencey kicked him out and he “wasn't
The only motivator that Holden has to continue living is his younger sister, Phoebe, who is extraordinarily intelligent for her age. After he gets kicked out of Pencey, Holden is lost in life. He speaks to many people, seeking advice and comfort, but they are not able to help him find a human connection. Holden’s depression increases throughout the novel, almost to the point of suicide. He criticizes many people and ideas, labeling them as ‘phony’.
The idea of having a character that struggles to find themselves is quite a common idea in many books. This is seen in the Catcher in the Rye where JD Salinger puts Holden the main character through different struggles throughout the book to finally realise what his purpose is and what he aims to be. There are many different situations that Holden is put through but they all aim to the same purpose, being a catcher in the rye. Two of the main struggles are his journey into adulthood and to retain his innocence. The second is how he is almost alienating himself from others and very rarely opens up to anybody, and his relationships with people are not great because he thinks of many of the people he meets are phony.
The Catcher in the Rye is an example of a huge flashback, told by Holden from a mental hospital, one year after the main events of the novel. In Chapter 1, Holden says: “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy” (Salinger.1). This shows that what Holden later on tells us is a flashback to his journey from around last December and that it has all already
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.
A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all