...Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost...
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...novels of the 20th century by Time Magazine • Until 2006, Catcher was one of the most frequently banned books • Mark David Chapman (assassin of John Lennon) and John Hickley Jr. (attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan) both had copies of the book in their pockets when they were arrested • Tells the story of a teenager expelled from his high school and his journey across NYC in the 1950s • Issues discussed in the book include: School, teacher, music, sex, alcohol, hypocrisy, family and being a teenager. • A story is about Holden Caulfield, the 16 year old protagonist of the novel and his experiences in school and new york city. • Holden Caufield- sketch of an American teenager • Nearly all readers identify with or see some of their friends reflected in different aspects of Holden’s characters • Young readers see in Holden Caulfield a little bit of what they are, while older readers see in Holden a bit of what they were once • First person limited we see this story only through Holdens eyes • You – the phychoanalyst and the reader • Stream of Consciousness, many digressions • Dialect- Slainger perfected the dialect of the teenage boy • The Language is the cause of much controversy over the book • This...
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...Hollow Man In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield believes that almost everyone he comes in contact with is a “phony”. About the only two people that Holden does not consider phonies are his sister, Phoebe, and his dead brother Allie. Virtually everyone else fits this label, including himself. The root of Holden’s pessimistic outlook on life and people is the fact that he is invisible. Although Holden is a phony himself, he has a negative view of society because he wants to connect with someone and he’s chronically depressed. Holden claims that most of the people he call phonies are phonies because they act a different way, or sort of put on a front, when they’re around certain people. This makes Holden a complete hypocrite in every aspect because he does this many times throughout the book. For example...
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...Time: A long weekend in the late 1940s or early 1950s Place: Holden begins his story in Pennsylvania, at Pencey Prep. He then recounts his adventures in New York City. Themes: Alienation as a form of self-protection; the painfulness of growing up; the phoniness of the adult world Characters: • Holden Caulfield- he protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden is a sixteen-year-old junior who has just been expelled for failing from Pencey Prep. Although he is intelligent and sensitive, Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice. He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him almost unbearable, and he tries to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. The criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses, and at times displays as much phoniness, meanness, and superficiality as anyone else in the book. • Ackley- Holden's next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy; he often barges into Holden's room and is oblivious to Holden's hints that he should leave. • Stradlater- Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is handsome, self-satisfied, and popular. • Jane Gallagher - A girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer. Jane is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls whom he both respects and finds attractive. • Phoebe Caulfield - Phoebe is Holden's ten-year-old sister. She listens to what...
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...man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium. The events he narrates take place in the few days between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is sixteen years old.As Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane Gallagher and, in a flashback, recounts how he got to know her. They met while spending a summer vacation in Maine, played golf and checkers, and held hands at the movies. One afternoon, during a game of checkers, her stepfather came onto the porch where they were playing, and when he left Jane began to cry. Holden had moved to sit beside her and kissed her all over her face, but she wouldn’t let him kiss her on the mouth. That was the closest they came to “necking.” Holden leaves the Edmont and takes a cab to Ernie’s jazz club in Greenwich Village. Again, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go in the winter, and this cabbie is even more irritable than the first one. Holden sits alone at a table in Ernie’s and observes the other patrons with distaste. He runs into Lillian Simmons, one of his older brother’s former girlfriends, who invites him to sit with her and her date. Holden says he has to meet someone, leaves, and walks back to the Edmont. Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, offers to send a prostitute to Holden’s room for five dollars, and Holden agrees. A...
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...famous American writer J.D.Salinger. This paper mainly analyzes the adolescent problems Holden Caulfield confronts on the journey from childhood to adulthood. These adolescent problems include Holden’s protection of innocence, his disgust for the phoniness of the adult world, and his alienation from society. This paper concludes that these adolescent problems produce great impact on him. Holden behaves almost erratically and impulsively and has negative attitudes towards almost everything and everyone he meets. Keywords: Adolescent problems, Innocence, Phoniness, Alienation 1. Introduction The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s masterpiece, tells the painful story of a high-school boy growing up in the world of decadent New York. Young Holden Caulfield is expelled from school because of his poor academic performance. He is afraid to meet his parents earlier than they should expect him, so he decides to stay in a New York City hotel. There he meets pimps, prostitutes and “queers.” Soon he becomes aware that the world of adults is a “phony” one. After his meeting with a friend, Holden sneaks back home to see his kid sister Phoebe. She is a loving kid, but her talk about their father “killing” him sickens him. Creeping out of home, he goes to see his former teacher, Mr. Antolini, only to find that his respectable teacher is a homosexual. And he escapes from Antolini’s house. Holden feels himself sinking. Then he decides to go west and spend the rest of his life there. When...
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... Salinger, the conflicted protagonist, Holden Caulfield, struggles in maintaining a balance in his life with an aversion view towards society and a disconnect with others. Also, my personal memories connect to Holden’s events and views in life. Holden’s distaste for adapting into adulthood overpowers his pursuit of identity and acceptance of reality. Holden establishes that disabling others from maturing is impractical, but discovering a meaningful purpose within himself is critical in accepting his change into adulthood. Holden encounters various people that both suit...
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...J. D. Salinger's notable and esteemed novel, Catcher in the Rye, reflects the hypercritical views of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a distinguished vision of a world where morality, principles, intelligence, purity, and naivety should override money, sex, and power, but clearly in the world he inhabits these qualities have been exiled. Holder desperately clings to and regards innocence as one of the most important virtues a person can have. However, he son becomes a misfit since society is corrupted and he yearns for companionship, any kind of connection with another to feel whole and understood again. Ironically, despite his persistent belittling and denouncing of others, he does not apply the same critical and harsh views on himself. In Holden's eyes, society has influenced people to lose themselves. He is outraged by how easily citizens would bend to the ways of society to fit and prevail in it. He claims his own brother, D.B.--a talented writersold out his potential to Hollywood. In his mind, D.B. could be viewed as a prostitute that would sell himself, or his services, to whoever was the highest bidder. Ernie is too portrayed in such a way as D.B. is, as the accomplished and gifted pianist was depicted as using his talent to gain fame and money. Holden found himself disgusted by Ernie's corniness and the way of showing off his talent when passionately playing the piano to entertain as well as amazing...
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...Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #4: Adolescence and Adulthood: The Developmental Trajectory One of the central ideas of this novel is Holden Caufield’s curious, conflicted relationship with adolescence and adulthood. Standing on the threshold between the two, Caufield negotiates neither successfully. Applying a developmental psychology framework for this essay, identify the points at which Holden’s ability to navigate adolescence successfully began to break down. Identify what Caufield could have done to achieve a more successful resolution of this complicated developmental period. Finally, you may wish to analyze this novel using the literary concept of the bildungsroman. In either case, be sure to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts that you are using as your analytic framework. https://myportal.bsd405.org/personal/bennett,%20megan%20w/english10/Catcher%201112/Catcher%20Essay%20Thesis%20Samples.pdfn http://www.unit5.org/ncwhsimc/Documents/Analytical%20Thesis%20Statements.pdf Both Salinger and Knowles display meaningful symbols throughout their novels that give the reader a better understanding of the intentions and meanings which are revealed throughout the novels Throughout the novel, Holden Caulfield possesses curiosity with conflicting relationships between adolescence and adulthood. The title of the novel The Catcher in the Rye is a central, controlling theme that symbolizes the main character Holden’s wish to keep children from reaching adulthood....
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...Short Story vs. Film: My Left Foot To each its own, the film and the short story, “My Left Foot”, give audiences a different view on this story written by Christopher Brown; however, because of the unusual context that the story unfolds on, the written version, which contains the first-person narrative, reigns supreme. In the beginning, Christy Brown was diagnosed with, at the time, an unknown disease (which was later discovered to be Cerebral Palsy). As a result, he was unable to speak for a large portion of the film and the entirety of the short story. Unfortunately for the film, they did not do a first person narration, which excludes much of the internal struggle that occurred during the story. Chrity, because of his condition, was isolated from everyone else. He mentioned that he was “lonely, and imprisoned in a world of my own, unable to communicate with others.” Consequently, it created a desire within him. A desire to be like and with the other the kids. A desire to fit in (something that he could not do because of his condition), which he also stated:” I longed to run about and play with the rest, but I was unable to break my bondage.”. Additionally, the film began when Christy was around nine years old (this was most likely due to the limited pool of young age actors). This excluded much of Christy’s mother’s efforts to care for him (she accommodated for Christy’s disability), find cures for him (she went through many doctors), but most importantly, to raise Christy...
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...about a boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden drops out of schools and faces hardships while away from home. Throughout the novel, it is shown that Holden refuses to grow up as he reminisces about his childhood life. He also faces many struggles and hardships. The death of his younger brother Allie seemed to take the greatest toll on him. His death had also much grief to him. Holden and Allie shared a special relationship that couldn’t really be replaced. His death affected Holden to such a great extent that he has difficulty forming new relationships throughout the story. Holden’s brother Allie was eleven years old when he passed away from leukemia. When Allie died, Holden went to his garage and broke...
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...that may be significantly impacted by a traumatic experience. The author J.D. Salinger illustrates this idea in his novel The Catcher in the Rye, which focuses on the life of the depressed protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Holden experiences the death of his young brother Allie and struggles with transitioning from his innocent childhood to his materialistic adulthood. This transition eventually influences his mental state of mind, which is evident by his lack of motivation in school, and results in him suffering from loneliness, frustration and alienation. The psychoanalytic lens discusses an individual's actions based on their conscious and unconscious mind. The Catcher in the Rye can be better analyzed through the psychoanalytic lens rather the existential lens, and this is exemplified by Holden’s desire to avoid inevitable change, his resultant isolation and his battle between his conscious and unconscious mind. Holden has a fear of change and desire to avoid...
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...death. Also due to these deaths Holden is lead to a conclusion that everyone is a phony. Finally, Holden refuses to commit to relationships with anyone after the death of Allie; he distances himself and avoids deep lasting relationships. Holden is affected strongly by James and Allie’s deaths; he is suicidal with mental problems and...
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...Catcher in the Rye in Class Essay In the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield the main character in is struggling with growing up. While living in Manhattan for a couple of days he goes through an emotional journey where the options are grow up or “disappear”. The key moments to Holden’s coming of age journey was his moments of separation, exploration, and his self-realization. As soon as the book starts we are given evidence that Holden constantly isolates himself from society. As soon as the book starts Holden tells us that he is watching the school football’s team game by himself “practically the whole school was there except me “(2). This shows how he chooses himself to not partake in society’s activities. Another experiencing in the novel that shows Holden separation from society is him leaving Pency Prep early instead of staying until the Christmas break. Holden constantly separates himself from the adult world because he is not mature enough to understand why adult’s act the way they do so instead he just calls everything they do “phony”. We see the word “phony” used often in the novel to show Holden’s hatred toward everything to do with adults. A large bulk of the novel was following Holden’s exploration of New York as a free man. He begins to have his first experience with the adult world. This stage of his journey was beneficial to his coming of age journey as he begins to realize the level of maturity you need to...
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...The viewpoint of this class having a new name "American Identities and Experience" the reading that this course should continue to read is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger. It would be great fit for the Fall 2019 syllabus because the book itself explains the title of the course. The main character from the book Holden, is an American who trying to find his identities by learning and living through his experiences. Holden is considered the universal teenager living in America who is going through trouble and issues as young person. The time era he is living in the late 1940's is already a civilized life if Holden would have been living in the 1800's the "go west young man" phrase would have been applied to him. It would have encouraged him...
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