ipl-logo

Literary Analysis Essay On Catcher In The Rye

606 Words3 Pages

Jim Morrison once said: “Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is.” The novel Catcher in The Rye was written by the famous Author J.D. Salinger. Morrison explains how one can have total control of their friends, like Holden; throughout the novel, the protagonist, Holden is confronted by many characters. He has positive and negative relationships with these individuals, which expresses who he really is and his purpose in life.Holden finds himself and his personality through Ackley, Maurice and Phoebe, and how they cause him to act. …show more content…

Ackley exhibits his phoniness by barging into Holden’s conversation and saying he had sex with a woman. Believing liars are phonies, Holden states: “All he did was talk in a monotonous voice about the same babe he was supposed to have sexual intercourse with the summer before.” (Salinger 48-49) Holden complains about Ackley and wanting him to leave, however he keeps talking about a fictional story that obviously was not true. Ackley shows that Holden despises people who are phonies and who have lost the game of life. This game was introduced by his teacher Mr.Spencer, and it’s those in life who succeed in life, win the game, and those who lie have lost the game. Maurice brings a sense a reality into his

Show More
Related
455 Words | 2 Pages

He gives it a very pessimistic and cynical attitude. Since Holden sees everything in such a negative manner, he refers to almost everyone except for his sister, Phoebe, as a phony. He instantly gives everyone he meets the title of a phony. As he is on the topic of an all boys school, he refers to it as “full of phonies” (page 131). Salinger has given Holden such a negative outlook that almost everything that comes out of Holden’s mouth is negative.

Read More
1493 Words | 6 Pages

In the paradoxical personality of Holden we discover something much deeper. As Holden makes himself out to be tougher than what he actually is, Salinger introduces stubbornness. Holden’s true nature of gentleness and sensitivity offered throughout the book often brings bedlam into his life, though Salinger brings into

Read More
510 Words | 3 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is about an angsty and depressed, but inquisitive teenage male named Holden Caulfield. Through the duration of the novel, Holden’s characters personality was stagnant. He stayed the same throughout the entire novel, and had little to no character development. Holden was the main character of the novel with a few supporting characters. He encountered many different people on his journey to finding himself.

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

Lakeita Hudson Jaclyn Harding English Composition 1 1 November 2017 Discourse Community- The LGBT Community A discourse community is a group of people who come together and share common beliefs or values. I chose to write my essay on the LGBT community. Although I am an outsider, I am interested in the different lexis this community has. I will be applying Swale’s six characteristics of a discourse community to learn about this group.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

Jessica Casimiro October 30, 2015 English 3/PayLea Short Story Essay Patrick Rothfuss once claimed, “The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” The novel Catcher in the Rye focuses on Holden Caulfield, an angst-ridden teen conflicted between remaining in a state of prolonged innocence or transitioning into the world of adulthood, thus facing the corruption and phoniness that it correlates with. Through Holden’s dynamic character, J.D Salinger depicts how innocence is slowly lost when exposed to adulthood. Reluctant to the idea of growing up, Holden strives to protect the innocence of himself and the ones’ around him. Holden reminisces about the Natural Museum of History, a place he enjoyed going

Read More
2150 Words | 9 Pages

In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield states that he wants to be a catcher in a field of rye. Holden wants to give kids the opportunity to stay innocent. He wants to give them the opportunity to be caught, to be saved from all the responsibilities that one acquires when becoming an adult. He wants to catch them and push them back into their youth, back to where they had someone to talk to, and when they had friends that they could talk to and have fun with. In Holden’s life, he has suffered an immense loss, the loss of his little brother Allie.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Mr. Antolini gives Holden Caulfield advice when he is at one of his lowest points. Already aware of Holden’s mental state and position on school, he quotes Wilhelm Stekel, a psychoanalyst, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” (Salinger 188). Although Holden fails to grasp Mr. Antolini’s message, the quote applies directly to his life because of his relationship with death as a result of his younger brother, Allie’s, death. Mr. Antolini uses this quote specifically because he wants Holden take a step back and try to live for a noble cause instead of resorting to death.

Read More
1616 Words | 7 Pages

Intriguing, boring, captivating, uninteresting: these are all examples of words that teenagers use to describe the novel, The Catcher in the Rye. In this coming-of-age fiction by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, an expelled teenager, kills a few days in New York City in order to prolong having to tell his parents the news of his expelling. This book is irrelevant to today's teenagers because they have different interests, they can’t feel sympathy for Holden, and the language used throughout the book is outdated. Today’s teenagers have different interests now than they did back in the 1950s.

Read More
1322 Words | 6 Pages

In the beginning of the novel Salinger portrays Holden as a antisocial person who is often seen alone and describes the world as a “ world full of phonies” one example of this is at the beginning of the book wherein the

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.

Read More
1035 Words | 5 Pages

From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.

Read More
634 Words | 3 Pages

Somebody-Wanted-But-So The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger tells the story of a teenaged boy named Holden Caulfield who is fed up with how his life is going and wants to live it his way instead of the way most people would. Holden in a sixteen year old boy who is wondering the streets of the Big Apple. Holden is relatively skinny, has brown hair, and has a red hunting hat that he loves. He has moved from school to school due to his poor grades and he gets in trouble every time it happens, but the cause is because of a deeper meaning.

Read More
1433 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
1656 Words | 7 Pages

How is one to determine if one life is more important than another? Does it depend on age? On status? On location? Is a living human with family and friends and a job more important than just a fertilized egg?

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Literary Analysis Essay On Catcher In The Rye

Related Topics

Open Document