The Theme Of Loneliness In Catcher In The Rye

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield suffers from loneliness. Holden is a sixteen year old boy who lives in New York and attends Pencey High School. While at Pencey he decides to leave because he thinks that most people at Pencey are phonies. When he leaves he goes on many adventures in New York, but he has such a negative experience since he is always alone. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses loneliness to express how it causes people to become depressed and to always want to have someone with them in their life to support them. When Holden is by himself, he starts to get depressed. To illustrate, Holden says, “I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of cigarettes. It was getting daylight outside. Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can’t imagine” (98). It is clear from the above that when Holden is alone, he does not enjoy it

For example, Holden pointed out, “After a while I sat down in a chair… I went over to the phone and gave her a buzz. Her name was Faith Cavendish” (63-64). From this example, it can be said that when Holden is lonely he seeks to have someone he can talk to so that he doesn't feel lonely. In this example Holden is alone and just wants someone to talk to so he doesn’t feel lonely. Also to show how when Holden is alone, he wants someone to speak to, he explained, “While I was changing my shirt, I damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz, though. I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all. But I couldn't take a chance on giving her a buzz, because she was only a little kid and she wouldn't have been up, let alone anywhere near the phone” (66-67). This shows how when Holden is not with others and is by himself, he wants to talk with others. As seen in the example above, Holden is alone and wants to give his sister Phoebe a call just so that he can have someone to talk