It is notable that Holden never directly mentioned that he disliked sex; He merely says that he was ‘feeling so damn peculiar.’ His thoughts about the museum of Natural History demonstrate his fear of change. That is, he likes how ‘everything always stayed right where it was. The museum represents his desire for things to stay the same. Ultimately, he does not want to transform into an adult, because he is fearful of the adult world and how different it is to the childhood. Also, he does not want other children to ‘grow up’.
This book/movie is centered around the conflict of Gogol’s American culture and his Indian heritage. There are big misunderstandings between Gogol and his parents and their cultural differences make communication between them very difficult. The result is that Gogol, the main character, never finds ways to effectively be intimate with family and loved ones, because he is not comfortable or practiced in understanding and therefore communicating his own identity. Gogol grows up American and strongly identifies with his Americaness. As he grows up, he distances himself further and further away from his Bengali family.
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.
An author's choice of words can either make or break a good story or character. Holden Caulfield is the main protagonist of the book, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger; the book follows the coming of age experience of a rebellious teenager who explores New York after getting kicked out of a prep school. As Holden Caulfield matures throughout the story, it becomes evident that Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator due to Salinger's writing style. The three main traits that make Holden unreliable are his sadistic conjectures about life, his self-contradiction and his exaggerations of the truth. Firstly, Holden has a tendency to make negative biased opinions on everything to mask his insecurity which makes him narrate the story unreliably.
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 tone is also based join alienation. In which Holden could not adapt to certain situations concerning individuals as displayed throughout the novel. The story begins with Holden in Pennsylvania telling the audience about his adventurous weekend in New York after being dismissed from Pencey Prep, which is located in Pennsylvania. Holden reveals his main conflict, in which he wants to reject the adult world yet he wants to be apart of it. He displays such behavior when he retreats to his childish ways in almost every mature situation however, he makes decisions as if he were an adult.
How does J. D. Salinger use symbolic imagery to enhance the characters and/or purpose of the text? In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger introduces a young boy named Holden who is expelled from school and wanders the streets of New York for 3 days. Holden fears change in the world and seeks company which he constantly drives away with his own self isolation. J. D. Salinger uses symbolic imagery to allow the reader access into Holden’s thoughts which in turn reinforces the underlying purpose of the text. The author uses the symbolic imagery of the red hat, ducks and carrousel to link to the novel’s themes of innocence, grief and change.
But when one looks deeper, the text seems to fit Holden’s ideal. Winter, in which the event takes place, represents the growing-up, or death. The crossroads resemble the transition stage between Holden’s childhood and adulthood. Holden, of course, doesn’t want to embark on the journey of adulthood; he’d rather just stay a child. He feels as if he won’t survive the journey and will “disappear.” Holden, being his callow self, can’t comprehend that this ideal of his won’t work.
He was sent there by his parents, who seemed to be withdrawn from his life. Similarly, Salinger's parents sent him to Valley Forge Military School, where he had a neighbor who always seemed to be barging in, showing a resemblance to Ackley. The reader learns that Holden is the son of wealthy parents from New York. It turns out that J.D. Salinger was also born in New York to upper-class parents.
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.