This shows more about Holden’s personality and his negative thinking, which is also a link to his down fall. This is not the only thing that Holden feels guilty about. On the day of Allie’s funeral, “[He] wasn’t there, [He] was still in the hospital”. Holden was not able to make it to his brother’s funeral, and because of that it makes him
Due to his mother’s stern moral beliefs, he does not have much interest in sexual relations and has negative views on it. The third problem is Dunstan’s fear of being manipulated in a relationship because, of his mothers firm control over his father. Thus due to the hostile childhood his mother creates, Dunstan can never form a successful relationship in adulthood and this leads to a life of loneliness. Having trust is a major aspect in keeping a continuous relationship. Being trustful though, is a characteristic Dunstan Ramsay lacks and this results in weakened relationships.
The way Buddy talks about Esther I think affects her. When somebody you care about makes you feel like crap that it really takes a toll on you. You want to how much you appreciate and admire the person you care about, not have them dampen them with a lack of interest, making yourself feel better, and a misunderstanding of how to treat a woman. Esther idolizes Buddy but he never really felt the same way about her as he looked at her more as a sex partner. The novel talks about things regarding sexism by showing how Buddy's sense of manliness and superiority is built on what he thinks of himself, not who he actually is, hypocritical in a sense.
Additionally, he’s so overcome with obsession and affection for Erica that the significance of her dead lover, Chris, towards her goes unnoticed. Changez appears to ignore Erica’s lack of desire when attempting to have sex with her, such is his desire. Despite everything, they do form a tight bond, although a very one-sided affair with Changez desperately wishing for Erica to sort herself out... even wanting to shout at her, ‘he’s dead!’ Yet ultimately, Erica’s significance on Changez is for all the wrong reasons right up till her supposed suicide, when Changez is preoccupied in Valparaiso. The country that Changez becomes enamoured become disillusioned with, caused by the relationship with Erica. The Reluctant Fundamentalist will be used to help develop this thesis.
It is obvious Brick does not appreciate the devotion of Maggie. He is in a state of denial about life (and his possible sexual orientation and attraction to Skipper) and has degraded Maggie since the beginning of the relationship. He also expresses how amazed he is that
Peyton is pitied by Cassie because of the kind of man he is and this makes you feel pity for Peyton as he truly loves Cassie, “The naked emotion on his face made her pity him and wash him away. He was a man who always wanted the best for everyone around him, which in Cassie’s mind meant he was fated to be disappointed.”(Crummey 14). You feel pity for John Peyton because he wants the best for everyone around him and this is such a good quality but is seen as a weakness in the eyes of Cassie whom he loves. Cassie later on gets pregnant which is a hard hitting blow to Peyton because he has not had relations with Cassie so it could not be his, “‘There’s just myself and father,’ Peyton said and he stopped himself before he took the thought any further.” (Crummey 63). Peyton says this while being asked if the child could possibly be his and pity is felt for him as he is forced to come to terms with the fact that Cassie had relations with some other man.
This by itself sounds like condemning evidence that Brick is a horrible immoral person, but we the audience feels more of sympathy toward him than anger because of the unfortunate circumstances that occurred in his life. The audience never got the chance to meet skipper but we understand that Brick and him used to be inseparable; they were professional football teammates and would spend a lot of time together traveling and playing. Brick greatly valued this friendship however; many people including his own wife completely destroyed their friendship. People would call their friendship “impure” and “wrong” implying that they were homosexual. Margret, bricks wife, confronted Skipper and told him “Stop lovin my husband or tell him he’s got to let you admit it to him!” To prove her wrong Skipper attempted to have sex with Margret but could not do it, which made him even, believe that he was gay.
Holden is always searching for a new friend but he always turns away at the last moment. When Holden interacts with women in the novel, he is very different when he interacts with men. The female characters all are very important because they present and symbolize many different things. In addition, Holden is very nice to younger females but to older females he gets sexually attracted. When this happens he will do anything to get women`s attention, which leads to him being an extremely disrespectful and impolite teenager who is also very immature.
He later says how "I was not enthusiastic about his visit.... A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (100). Upon the arrival of his wife’s friend, the husband is ultimately uncomfortable around Robert because he does not know how to communicate with or act around him. His discomfort is revealed when Robert and his wife were sharing their experiences “about the major things that had come to pass for them in the past ten years” (100). He felt it was necessary to join in because he thought Robert would “think [he] left the room and didn’t want [his wife] to think [he] was feeling left out” (103). It is obvious the husband is overly involved with Robert’s handicap and fails to see him as a person with his
In the novel, Holden often mentions how he's “lonesome”. He always thinks of calling people when he is alone, such as when he left Pencey and the first thing he did was go to a phone booth, but almost never ends up doing so. This may be because when he does try to socialize, people are ungrateful towards him, such as when he wrote Stradlater's composition and Stradlater ended up hitting him. Holden spends a lot of time in the novel thinking about sex and trying to lose his virginity. Something that stops him from actually having sex is his high regard for women's boundaries, like when he always stops when they say “stop” even though they might not actually mean it, and when he dislikes Stradlater for taking advantage of girls.