People often enjoy being alone when they feel hurt by something or feel they are going to be hurt by someone to protect themselves from this perceived future pain or pain from the past. Holden Caulfield, the narrator and main character of the bildungsroman, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, goes against human nature and alienates himself from others as a form of protection in almost every chapter. By meeting with many different individuals as the novel progresses, he lessens the degree of this alienation. Compared to Holden, I personally challenge his reasoning that alienation is used for protection in the beginning of the novel, as I believe that having good friends is a much better form of protection than what Holden does. By the end of the Catcher of the Rye, Holden’s views begin to coincide …show more content…
He sees that using alienation as a form of protection is not only disadvantageous to oneself, but self-destructive, and that people who alienate themselves are much worse off in life due to seeing its adverse effects on others. In the beginning of the novel, Holden thinks his alienation is protecting him, but as the novel progresses towards the end, when he sees its impact on Phoebe, he realizes that it is really what has been ruining his life all along. During his encounter with Mr. Spencer, when told that he will be concerned for the future sometime soon, he just “[does not] like hearing him say that.” because “It [makes] [Holden] sound dead or something.” and “it [is] very depressing.” (Salinger, 18). After this, Mr. Spencer also tells him that he is trying to help him and Holden can tell that he truly is, but he also “ just [cannot] hang around there any longer, the way [they] [are] on opposite sides of the pole.” He goes on to describe how Mr. Spencer keeps missing the bed when he throws something on it, how his chest hair is showing, and how there is a smell of Vick’s Nose Drops as other reasons why he cannot stay