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Secondary Characters In Catcher In The Rye

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In most stories and novels, there are primary characters and secondary characters. The primary characters are obviously the main person in the story who the reader listens to during their journey. On the other hand, the secondary characters, help the main character with their adventure. Most of the time, the secondary characters are included to help convey the deeper meaning or the theme of the story. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a boy in boarding school who does not have a lot of friends. Because of this, he meets a lot of diverse people during his journey who either try to help him or just do not care for him. Many of the secondary characters do not really help Holden as he is shown as an emotionally unstable character …show more content…

He responds, saying how he would like to be “the catcher in the rye”(Salinger 225). He then remarks,”Anyway, I keep picturing these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me… What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.”(Salinger 224-225). Although in the story this is literal, there is a message that speaks out about the whole entire picture. He wants to protect the innocence of the children by making sure that they will not fall off the cliff into the world of adultery, on accident. Throughout the story, Holden has always wanted to protect kids innocence, especially Phoebe’s. When he is in the stairwell of the school, he thinks to himself,” But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall… I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it.. And then finally some dirty kid would tell them… what it meant...But I rubbed it out anyway, finally.”(Salinger 260-261). His care for other people’s innocence is shown whenever he thinks about Phoebe’s future reactions which is why she is

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Salinger is demonstrating in this phrase the fact that Holden admires his

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Holden also falters in life due to the emotional damage his parents did to him. Holden hates adults but loves children, even with his troubled childhood, he will still pick a trusty worthy child over a phony adult. Holden struggles

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In both Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Catcher in the Rye, loss of innocence and youth is a main theme. But which portrayed it better? Was it The Catcher in the Rye with the teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield, who spends three days drinking, partying, and being reckless, or was it Something Wicked This Way Comes, where the two thirteen-year old protagonists Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway fight an evil, magic carnival that comes to their town and go through traumatic events that lead them to the brink of death? The Catcher in the Rye shows the loss of innocence and youth far better than Something Wicked This Way Comes because even though Something Wicked This Way Comes explores the themes of death and evil in depth, it also explores magic which is so unrealistic that it detaches the

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He faces many problems throughout the book, and is always trying to save kids innocence. Holden also wants to stay a kid and not grow up, however he finds out that he can’t do this by the end of the novel. Some people may think that Holden wasn't successful throughout his journey, however, one could also see how he was successful in his journey. By the end of the novel, Holden was able to find out that he couldn't save kids innocence, he couldn’t be a kid forever, and he sees that even though the world is filled with evil, he can accept it, or at least live with it.

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Although others may say that Holden was successful on his journey, saying that he grew up he. Holden showed lots of immaturity throughout the novel and was the biggest phony of all.. Holden’s attitude throughout the novel was very immature and made constant poor decisions. While he was still at Pencey he put in no effort and had the attitude that nothing mattered. As he moves on from Pencey and goes to New York, he shows no care for anything as he blows lots of his money and doesn’t even take care of himself. He doesn’t clean himself up or get any sleep because of his attitude towards life.

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The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that was written by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company and was originally written for adults, but became popular among teenagers for its teenage main character, who deals with problems a large number of adolescents face in their transition into adulthood. It is not a difficult book to read, especially considering it is only 234 pages. The story revolves around the protagonist, a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who recently flunked out of a prestigious preparatory school.

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He fights this realization by attempting to wipe the vulgar words off the wall, but then acknowledges that couldn’t protect the children from such vulgarity due to “If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the “Fuck you” signs in the world. It’s impossible” (Salinger, 202). In saying this he finally admits to the fact he could never be the catcher in the

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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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Act two is a good example of the comical encounter of Polonius and Hamlet. Dr John Dover Wilson goes on to say that, “The second act of Hamlet is comedy; a comedy of masks. But the comedy does not stop there; it runs right on into the act that follows.” To put it simply, act two shows the humour in Hamlet and Polonius’ relationship, which also helps us know more about Hamlet’s ingenuity and Polonius’ incongruity (Wilson). Polonius starts his mission of spying on Hamlet but this is succeeded by Hamlet mocking Polonius.

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While visiting Phoebe’s school, he notices profanity written on the wall. Trying to remove them, he comes to the realization that “If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the “f**k you” signs in the world. It's impossible” (Salinger 202). Holden knows a child’s innocence is gone when exposed to such obscenities. He finally accepts that he is not capable of preventing the corruption of others.

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Phoebe is a child and she is innocent. Holden wants to keep Phoebe innocent because his older brother prostituted himself to Hollywood, the place full of phonies. Holden does not want children to lose their innocence so soon, but he realizes that he cannot save them

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When Holden sees him he has nothing bad things to say about him. He says to Sally “‘Why don’t you go on over and give him a big soul kiss, if you know him? He’ll enjoy it. She got sore when I said that’” (Salinger 141).

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Salinger used many literary techniques in order to tell his story. The most prominent literary device is the allusion in the title. The title “The Catcher in the Rye” is an allusion to the poem, of the same name by Robert Burns and the first verse which Holden, upon hearing a little boy sing it, thinks is “if a body catch a body coming through the rye” (Salinger 117). This later on points to the theme of the novel and how Holden wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, preventing other children from falling down the cliff and facing adulthood. The second literary technique is the flashback.

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Though Holden believes the world around him is phony and wicked, and while he wants to be the catcher in the rye, catching those who will fall over cliff; Holden does not only want to save those children but he also wants to save himself. Holden displays his desire to be the catcher in the rye by expressing his wish to protect the kids from falling off the cliff. Throughout the novel, Holden often states that everything around him seems to be phony; however, there is one thing in which Holden believes is real, and that is the children he encounters in the novel. Quite often does Holden show his desire to protect children from the corrupted adulthood that he

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Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a deep character that shows(possesses) many personality traits. His character is what connects many readers to him and helps in understanding him. Some character traits Holden possesses are that he is generous, kindhearted, usually honest, very intelligent, makes quick judgements, speaks his mind, is anxious about change, and likes kids. Considering his many character traits, it is easy for the reader to understand and relate to Holden. There are many character traits that I share with him.

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