...One of the most common mentally ill conditions is depression. The state of depression has lots of effects on a person’s thoughts, behaviour and feelings. Depression is where a person feels very sad and very down. Depression is mostly caused by losing a loved one or being put down by lots of people. The author of The Catcher and The Rye shows lots of points leading towards Holdens depression. Holden lost his brother allie and that is what really brought holden down. Holden’s teacher Mr. Antolini Tries to point holden in the right and tell him that the path he is taking is wrong. He tells holden that seeing life as corrupt is no good and brings bad relationships with evrything. Mr. Antolini attempts to help Holden to prevent his “great fall” as he states,“the...
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...years, proving it can withstand the test of time. Her classic writing style, unforgettable characters, and literary acclaim have all contributed to the novel’s success. These same characteristics apply to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, supporting that this novel will also stand the test of time. Each author has a style uniquely their own, with...
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...Coming of age is a life-long process all humans inevitably go through. This process of maturity can often be examined from fictional characters, such as Scout and Jem from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsb by Scott Fitzgerald. Each of these characters encounters different processes of coming of age. When these characters process of maturation and coming of age are compared, the most relevant coming of age best exhibited by Holden from The Catcher in the Rye, following with Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and Mr. Gatsby from The Great Gatsby; however, differences in coming of age are apparent in the different time periods of each novel setting, practicality, and present social issues. Holden Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the...
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...In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden has been kicked out of Pencey Prep; he then proceeds to visit Mr. Spencer whom he talks to for a while. Mr. Spencer leaves Holden more depressed than he was beforehand. Holden leaves Pencey Prep and goes into New York City where he debates calling Jane, searches for Phoebe, and tries to cheer himself up before having to go back home. Holden goes back home during the night to talk to Phoebe and she gives Holden some money she had been saving, Holden cries and goes back out. Holden returns home at the end of the novel and we don’t know what happens, but he tells us that everything is okay. Throughout the novel three main literary elements are present: Holden’s tone, Holden’s point of view, and Phoebe’s point of view. The tone and word choice Holden uses reveals what’s going on inside his head. Holden uses negative and hostile language which shows his despair and isolation (Miller). “‘That’s exactly my goddam point,” I said. “I don’t get hardly anything out of anything. I’m in bad shape. I’m in lousy shape’” (Salinger 146). The novel is packed with religious profanity that Holden emits all throughout the novel and because of it, religion is kept fresh in one’s mind and can infer that Holden wants it but doesn't want to go through with getting what he wants (Evans). Though the religious profanity is so prevalent in...
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...(Brendan Francais). Advice, no matter how times it is ignored, it is still useful as a guide for our self growth. An example of a person who does not take advice would be Holden Caulfield from the novel Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield narrates the novel, Catcher in The Rye from a mental hospital in Southern California. He narrates his life after failing out of his school, Pencey Preparation. Along the way Holden took advice from many people, but never executes it. “If” is a poem from Rudyard Kipling to his “son” to teach him how to be a man. Much like how Holden ignores the advice...
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...with the internal struggles while coming of age. J.D Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, applies literary devices and language patterns to develop the main character, Holden Caulfield, and his internal struggles and conflicts of maturing into adulthood. Salinger effectively uses Holden’s lies, language of depression, and flashbacks to accurately portray how teenagers often fear growing up, and feel the need to hang onto their innocence. Lying is an effective way for teenagers to hide their emotions and pretend to be someone they’re not, essentially testing the waters of maturity without taking the responsibility. Holden flees Pencey Prep School after being kicked out for failing the majority of his classes, and finds himself on a train sitting next to the mother of one of his classmates, on his way to New York City. Taking a liking to the woman, Holden begins to spin a web of lies. He tells her his name is Rudolf Schmidt and casually adds, “I have to have this operation… It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little brain tumor on the brain… right near the outside”(58). This single lie entertains Holden, as he would rather talk about something that he has never experienced instead of being truthful about himself. He avoids taking on the responsibility of being mature enough to tell the truth about failing out of Pencey, including his decision to run away from his problems. With all the lying Holden has done, he has become quite skillful and creative at it. Unsure of where...
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...Maturity can be defined as the state of being mentally and emotionally well-developed, and therefore responsible. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a teenager named Holden Caulfield who is depressed and lonely, and wanders New York City in hopes of his problems going away. Holden starts off as an immature teenager who ignores his problems instead of facing them, he deals with having depression because of the events that had a huge impact on his life, and struggles to find himself, but by the end of the novel he matures. One of the examples of how Holden matures is how he let’s go of keeping children from adulthood. In addition, he no longer wants to save children from growing up. A quote that Holden says in a very sophisticated manner is one of a couple of supporting reasons to his dream of keeping children from adulthood. On page 211, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything.”. Another quote that is said by Holden is also on...
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...Realism in 21st Century The world, in view of the fact that it was created is changing. With the changing desires and demands of today’s standard of living, individual needs to be in sync with the demands and trends of modern day living. Not too long ago, people were seen doing stuffs that have turned out to be more of a routine in today’s humankind. Every single day a new type of technology is been introduced in today's world. So, the question arises that is theses changes necessary in today's world? If yes, does it have a good or a bad impact to the human society in today's world? We need to talk about in which approach hi-tech advancements that pace into our daily lives have altered our lifestyles in the very last few centuries. In today’s world each and every single people rely on new and advance technologies. Everyone loves new technologies and gadgets that promise innovative and better ways of living. A pace of life is frequently increasing with the increase in new technologies. Nowadays somewhat more a quarter of the earth’s population can be found in the industrialized societies. And half of the population still lives on past agriculture, but they are also relying on machines. The remaining of the world’s population, however, is no longer of either the past or the present. They live in the future, within the most important centers of cultural and technological change, in New York, California, Cambridge, London and Tokyo (Toffler, p. 38). A new part of technology...
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...In the Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Jane has a drastic impact on Holden. She keeps him grounded in multiple ways. Jane prevents him from falling down a dark path. She makes Holden realize that people change and that it is impossible to keep them the same. Jane is a reminder of happiness and reality to Holden as he transforms himself throughout the novel, allowing him to maintain hope during this delicate time. Jane is a source of reality for Holden because as he hears more about her from others, he can see how she has changed. She establishes the idea that it is impossible for everyone to stay the same. Holden wants to keep Jane in a glass box; he does not like the idea of Jane growing up and losing her innocence. Shortly after Holden...
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...Holden and Charlie In both the novels Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Chbosky’s the perks of being a wallflower, the main characters Holden Caulfield and Charlie are troubled teens. Although they were teenagers in different time periods they shared many similar teenage difficulties. Both novels portray a male protagonist growing up while struggling to find his identity, while loathing their lives. Thus both novels are of the coming of age genre. Both boys are socially awkward and are not able to integrate into society. In this case, Charlie is insulted by senior students of his high school, “God, that kid is such a fucking freak,” (Chbosky 145). Throughout the novel Holden and Charlie strive to become a part of society. While Charlie tries to integrate with society, it seems that Holden rejects it and wants to create a new society that suits him more. With the downs of life they find a way to cope with the failure of being accepted which leads to a self-destructive behavior. Such behavior tends to lead to the use of drugs, alcohol and violence. However similar they may seem, they also share many differences which are responsible for the differing results of their outstanding social statuses. While Holden avoids his problems, Charlie chooses to confront them and this is partially why Charlie becomes socially accepted. Despite their resembling problems, they also differ greatly in lifestyles. While Holden comes from a rich family and goes to a prestigious private school, Charlie...
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...The story Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is about a 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield. His story starts off in a mental institution where he is undergoing treatment for a severe nervous breakdown, after being kicked out of Pencey Prep. This is not the first time he got kicked out of school, he continuously fails academically regardless of the school. He develops deep depression over the death of his younger brother, Allie, who died from Leukemia about three years ago. He is not sociable with his peers, has no real friends, and creates conflicts with or criticizes everyone around him. Holden had feelings of apprehension over Stradlater's date with Jane, and leaves school just days before he is suppose to, without. He also is not...
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...Holden Caulfield and Mental Illness Holden Caulfield is a 16-year-old rebellious teenager on the outside. He doesn’t seem to care about anything or anyone, and he certainly doesn’t seem to care about his future. If you dig a little deeper however, it isn’t that he doesn’t care, it is that he is suffering from several mental illnesses. At the end of the book you learn that Holden has told you this story from a Mental Hospital. He has displayed many symptoms of PTSD, Depression and Dissociative identity disorder throughout the book. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is hyper anxiety disorder brought about after a shocking or traumatic event. Holden has had at least two events in his life that would bring about this disorder: When he was 13 and his brother Allie died of Leukemia, and when he witnessed the suicide of his classmate James Castle. A symptom of PTSD is reliving the past. The book itself is a flashback and there are many instances where Holden flashes back to a memory. One instance is when he flashes back to after Allie died “ I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie.” (Salinger 1945) Another relevant...
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...of lazy...”(p26) to “...till he got that chance.” (27) Collins Classics The Catcher in the Rye “The funny thing is though...”(p13) to “...when you think about it.” (p16) Penguin Analyse the extract in detail. Make sure you cover: * The ways in which the writer presents and develops Huck’s character. * The ways in which the writer creates a distinctive narrative voice. * The ways in which the theme of escape is presented. The ways in which any other themes are explored by the writer. * The ways in which the extract is a product of the novel’s social and historical context. In both extracts the theme of escape is explored. In extract 1, Huck is planning to escape from his abusive father and in extract 2 Holden does his best to escape from Mr Spencer’s room. Both extracts are in the first person so that the reader feels the narrator’s discomfort. Both characters feel the need to escape from oppression of some type; Huck from physical abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father and Holden from what he feels is the oppressive, “depressing” atmosphere of Spencer’s room and Pencey in general. In both extracts the reader feels the anxiety of the main character. However, the two characters are quite different. Huck is practical, resourceful and admirably cheerful whereas Holden is portrayed as neurotic and judgemental. We seem to be presented with a hero in Huck and an anti-hero in Holden. Both characters reflect their social and historical contexts. Huck, a product...
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...I’ve just recently read your article Holden Reconsidered and All for my AP Lang course and I must say I’m not sold on the idea that Catcher in The Rye is dated. It played on the notion that innocence is a timed bonus to life. At one point in everyone’s life we can relate to Holden and share these fears that he has. You say that you no longer can relate to Holden and that’s no fault of the book and it’s not that the book became dated, you no longer dread the inevitability of aging. Once you experience you have the answers to Holden’s questions and you can no longer relate to his fears of growing up. My biggest question while reading your article; can one really say that being young is the only time to enjoy the book? Once we grow up we can’t...
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...is when old Spencer is lecturing Holden about how important it is to play by the rules. You get an idea of how Holden feels about advice from a mentor. On the surface Holden acts very respectful but in his mind, he is extremely disrespectful. The passage hints at how Holden feels about life in general. And how he is just losing at life. (65 words) At the beginning of the book Holden explains how he hates phonies. As you read on into the book you find out that Holden is actually a huge phony as well. Only a phony would say that they hate phonies when their entire attitude shows that they are one themselves. Holden acts this way to hide inner pain and other feelings. (61 words) As the book progresses Holden acts older and older. He doesn’t...
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