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The Importance Of Schoolwork In Catcher In The Rye

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Many issues such as drama, schoolwork and hormones affect teenagers, but in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is most affected by seeking acceptance. His need for acceptance is one that many people suffer during the critical high school years where friends and popularity take precedence over schoolwork. As a young man alone in New York City, Holden wanders around aimlessly looking for someone to talk to him and accept him. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield seeks the acceptance of others when he writes Stradlater's composition, meets with a prostitute, and talks with the nuns.
One of Holden's most important ideas is the innocence and purity of children, specifically his dead brother Allie. When Stradlater asks Holden to write a composition for him, Holden agrees and decides to write about Allie's baseball glove, something that is very personal to Holden. When Stradlater reads the composition, he responds with, “For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddam baseball glove.” (Salinger 46) Holden reaches out for Stradlater's acceptance, but the response he gets is rejection of both Allie and himself. This results in Holden and Stradlater getting into a brutal fight and ends with Holden …show more content…

He starts conversing with the nuns while eating breakfast at the train station on his way to meet Sally Hayes. The conversation starts when Holden donates money to the nuns. They then start talking about school and books that they enjoy. This is the first time where Holden is enjoying and participating fully in the conversation. At the end of the conversation with the nuns, Holden says, “I said I’d enjoyed talking to them a lot, too. I meant it, too.” (Salinger 125) His conversation with the nuns results in him being a bit more mature and having the first conversation he truly

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Holden Caulfield’s story begins on a December Saturday at Pencey Prep School in Pennsylvania, where he 's just been given the ax for failing all his classes except English. As it turns out, getting the ax is a frequent theme in Holden 's past. Before he leaves the school Holden runs to his favorite teacher’s house to say goodbye to him. Back in the dorm, Holden goofs around with Robert Ackley, a pimply and annoying kid. We 're introduced to Holden 's red hunting hat, and we meet his roommate, Stradlater, who is getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher, an old friend and sort-of romantic interest of Holden 's. Holden is not happy about this impending date, but agrees anyway to write an English composition for Stradlater.

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In Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield's mental and emotional life is greatly impacted by his younger brother, Allie. Salinger presents Allie’s impact on Holden’s life through the Dick Slagle incident and the movie scenes. However the difference between the two scenes is that the Slagle scene ends with the two changing roommates, while the movie scene finishes with a happy ending. Although both of these scenes show how Holden is affected by Allie, they contrast due to Holden’s final reaction towards the two scenes. Through Holden’s expressions towards the movies and Dick Slagle’s suitcases, Salinger suggests that Holden dislikes happy endings because of his brother’s death.

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Throughout Holden’s journey, Phoebe seems to be one of his only supporters that loves him unconditionally. Phoebe provides Holden a safe space where he can be himself and she will love him no matter what. He knows that all she wants for him is to be happy which lets him almost idolize her. As a person, Holden’s main goal is to save children from adulthood where they could lose their innocence. In children and those nuns, he sees qualities that he has lost and he admires them most for being able to retain them.

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1493 Words | 6 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye In the novel The Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger writes about a teenager struggling to find his place within the existence of the reality of others. Salinger creates shocking events that lay out the foundation of the the main character Holden Caulfield’s life in the novel. Salinger uses Holden’s characteristics throughout the novel such as Holden’s stubbornness to establish a much bigger theme in the book along with many other symbols.

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When Holden encounters most people he makes up lies and doesn 't enjoy talking to them, but with nuns it’s different, “I said I’d enjoyed talking to them a lot, too, I meant it too” (146). Holden gives the nuns money and highly respects them. You can

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However, despite Holden’s concern for children and youngsters to maintain their mental chastity, he also fears for the innocence of himself and those who have lost their way. A prime example of this occurrence would be when Holden is conversing with the prostitute and he says“‘Don’t you feel like talking for a little while?’ I asked her. It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar…” and “‘Honest to God.

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The Catcher in the Rye Thematic Essay Imagine living a lonesome life, full of fear and little hope of better days to come. Imagine the toll this would take on a person’s life and how they develop as a person. For Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye this, is his reality. Holden is a sixteen year old troubled boy suffering through major mental issues and living a rather a depressing life for a teenager. Throughout the novel he goes through many hardships that only worsen his depression making him feel hatred towards his seemingly hellish world.

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When asked to pen a descriptive composition for a friend who has no time for classwork, Holden begrudgingly agrees, and immediately chooses to write about Allie’s baseball glove. The fact that his first choice of material to draw from was a possession of Allie’s shows how deep his love for his brother is. Holden reminisces about the mitt, saying, “The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat” (Salinger, 49).

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After failing most of his classes, Holden decides to leave his school early before winter break starts; however, he did not tell his parents about his expulsion. Taking a train to Manhattan, Holden makes his way to a hotel where he will be staying until winter break begins. In his hotel, he calls a stripper named Faith Cavendish, hoping to have sex with her. Despite Faith wanting to meet the next day, Holden quickly hangs up the phone, not feeling like waiting. Holden then goes downstairs to the hotel’s nightclub.

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Purpose: To show how a small change in choice could affect holden’s life The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from New York. The novel starts with Holden, writing in his book, hinting that he is in some sort of mental facility .Even though he comes from a wealthy family,because of his loss of interest in studies,and low grades, he gets expelled from all schools he has studied in .Holden leaves his final school, Pency Prep and decides that he will stay in New York City until his parents learn of his expulsion and “cool down” .Most of the novel is dedicated to Holden’s time in the city, Holden lives in a hotel room for a few days during his stay .Holden then starts meeting with people that he used know, some strangers and goes to places with. From his conversations, he

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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.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the course of the novel, Holden is constantly attempting to find somebody who is willing to both listen and

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1553 Words | 7 Pages

The novel, “Catcher in the Rye”, was written by J.D. Salinger. Even though he wrote numerous novels, people regard this one as one of his best. The main character Holden Caulfield throughout the plot is on a progression of heading to ultimately a mental breakdown. Which is inferred more as the novel continues. Holden’s peregrination to a mental breakdown conveys how the moral ideals that are taught to kids become lost to the hypocrisy of adulthood by the deterioration of innocence and the artificial facade of society.

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In this quote he tells that his brother died. This shows his brother died when he was young. Furthermore he dies as an innocent child who was not exposed to the adult world or the “phoniness.” Allie's death was tragic to Holden but maybe, in some ways Holden wanted the death himself, he wanted to preserve his innocence. Another point that shows Allie's mitt represents innocence is when Holden says Allie used to read poems on his glove while playing baseball which he wrote before the game so he wouldn’t be bored.

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Holden’s Struggle To Find Himself: Throughout the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles to find himself and who he truly is in order to be happy. His struggles relate to many things that he does or say in particular. Holden lacks with a social status with women and his family, whether it’s a relationship or being antisocial. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield experiences the complexities and struggles involved with both physical and emotional relationships.

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