Unreachable Dreams in The Catcher in The Rye Many people find that their dreams are unreachable. Holden Caulfield realizes this in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. As Holden tells his story, he recounts the events since leaving the Pencey School to his psychiatrist. At first, Holden sounds like a typical, misguided teenager, rebellious towards his parents, angry with his teachers, and flunking out of school.
The novel Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, is a story of a young man named Holden Caulfield. Since his brothers death, he has had a very difficult time coping and has had difficulties transitioning from childhood to adulthood. He gets expelled from school due to his poor academics and leaves to go home to New York City to try and find the solutions to his problems. The story begins in a mental hospital or a sanatorium where Holden is describing the sequence of events that led to his current psychological state to a psychiatrist.
Benjamin Braddock, from “The Graduate”, feels alone, confused and doesn’t know what to do with his life. He, in many ways, mirrors Holden Caulfield, from The Catcher in The Rye. They are both surrounded by people they consider phoney and consumed by confusing thoughts of sex. They both feel alone and as though they have no one to talk to. Even though Holden spends three days alone in NYC at age sixteen, and Ben spends weeks sleeping with a married woman in California at age twenty two, they share the same haunting feelings of loneliness and depression.
He finds an apartment advertisement with a negotiable rent, but after being bullied he is forced to take the apartment for a high price for 2 weeks leaving him with only 2/3 of his money. With only £9, Link is thrown out if the apartment, jobless and depressed. On the streets, he struggled facing verbal abuse, rubbery, very cold weather and nowhere to sleep. On a small doorway, Link meets a homeless boy, Ginger, whom helps him survive on the street. Shelter, an army expert, discharged after 29 years due to his mental health grounds is now in the picture.
Bias- Holden/25 - “No your not .“Boy,he could really be aggravating sometimes. He never missed a chance to let you know that you were sixteen and he was eighteen. In the first place I wouldn't let you in my family. Explanation- Holden tries to explain how he has a very particular bias to individuals that try to act as if they are adults, but really they were just kids. Irony-Holden/13- “One of the biggest reasons I left Elton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies” Explanation- Holden constantly calls everyone in his life a phony, when in reality, Holden is the real phony.
Undeline the dependent clauses. (40 pts). Symbolism in the catcher in the rye In the book the catcher in the rye is about a young man named Holden. School has never been the thing for our main character Holden. Holden has been kicked out of many of the best boarding schools, and thinks that the everyone is phony.
Holden is afraid of growing up and becoming an adult – Discuss J.D. Salinger’s unique novel ‘The catcher in the Rye’ explores the life of a cynical teenager, Holden Caulfield, who is stuck between childhood and adulthood. Salinger highlights that Holden’s goal is to resist the process of maturity and entering adulthood. This is evidenced and demonstrated by Holden’s persistent fear of change, his strong opinion on the ‘phonies’ of adult world, his difficulty of moving on from the past and his impulsive personality. Holden’s fear of change contributes to his resistance of the process of maturity.
As a result of Holden’s resistance to grow up and embrace adulthood, he instantly alienates himself from the world and those around him leaving him lonely and vulnerable. In the aftermath of enduring several negative encounters, Holden reaches emotional collapse. He tells the story as a monologue, from a mental facility where he has been recovering from the stress of the experiences he reflects upon. The character of Holden Caulfield is introduced to us as an adolescent who is immature and as a result, ostracised from his peers. The first time that we see Holden show his inability to accept responsibly for his actions is when he leaves his team’s fencing equipment on the subway, and he says “It wasn’t all my fault.” As the captain of the team, Holden should have been taking care of the equipment and using his authority to make sure everything went smoothly.
There is a common theme between this poem and this book: the loneliness, depression, and neglect teenagers face leads them to feel like “outliers” of society. Holden is going through a tough time after the loss of his brother. Life hasn’t been easy for Holden; he has had to deal with his bad grades, the stress of getting kicked out of schools, and the neglect by his parents. He has nobody to talk to, nobody to console him. In the poem, a fourteen year old faces many critical issues, although in comparison to Holden’s they seem trivial.
Assignment 1: Q1. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE After studying Holden’s actions throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, I believe he is incorrect in forming the belief that Mr. Antolini betrayed him. Holden jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Antolini is a “pervert” based on an incident where he wakes up in the middle of the night to find his old English teacher patting him on the head. This gesture, which appears perfectly platonic and fatherly, leads him to feel betrayed by one of the few people that he liked and trusted. It is clear that Holden misinterprets Mr Antolini’s action because of a number of factors, including his fascination with sex, his mistrusting, judgemental nature, the lack of affection in his life, his struggle with adolescence and his cynical outlook on adult life.