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Isolation In Catcher In The Rye

612 Words3 Pages

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a polarizing 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion. A key text can be defined as a book that had endured the test of time and is still relevant to modern society due to its core concepts. A controversial novel originally published for adults, it has since been relevant in modern society due to its ability to deal with complex issues associated with coming of age. In particular “The Catcher in the Rye” deals with the issues of alienation as a form of self-protection, the painfulness of growing up and the artificiality of the adult world. Through the novel, Holden seems to be alienated and exploited by the universe around him. He continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong. An example of this is his loneliness propels him into his date with Sally Hayes, but his need for isolation causes him to insult her and drive her away. He depends upon his alienation, but it destroys him from the inside. This interaction conveys that interactions with other people usually confuse and overwhelm him, and his cynical sense of …show more content…

It is Holden’s word for describing the pretension, superficiality and hypocrisy that he encounters in the world around him. In the novel Holden explains that all adults are inevitably phonies. What is even worse than this is that they cannot even see their own phoniness. Phoniness, for Holden, stands as an emblem of everything that’s wrong in the world around him. Throughout the novel he encounters many characters who he categorizes as being phony. Examples of this include Carl Luce, Sally Hayes, Sunny and Maurice. This idea of a tough unyielding world is an idea that many people experience at some point in their life particular for most people in teenage hood where a different style of thinking

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