and hints that he is bitter towards D.B. because he believe that he has become a sell out to Hollywood. One of the most noticeable things about Holden is his ability to be extremely judgemental of almost everyone and everything around him, he criticizes and philosophizes about people who he considers boring, insecure and phony, in Holden’s story he implies that he is the only noble character in a word that is full of superficial and phony adults. Another part of Holden’s personality that is noticeable is his attitude towards sex, Holden is a virgin but he spends most of his time in the novel trying to lose his virginity. Holden is disappointed to find that sex can be casual as he strongly believed that it should be between two people who deeply care and love each other.
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.
The Source does not make it clear whether More did torture those people or not, but does make him seem uncompassionate and cruel. Source N is somewhat trustworthy, due to it being more factually based, because Ackroyd would have had much more information when he wrote the Source, however, despite him clearly stating that More was a cruel man, it is unclear whether or not this is true or even trustworthy. Source O also agrees that More had little compassion for other people as it says he was not pleasant to talk to and that he was always ‘taunting and mocking’. The Source is written by someone who was around at the time of More’s
He is a young adult himself. Basically he's admitting to himself that he's a phony too because he has already seen all the corruption. Throughout the book, Holden can't stop thinking about Jane. He likes Jane and he has this little crush on her. When Stradlater took Jane on a date, Holden was jealous as hell.
Last Exit to Brooklyn, Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn is Selby Jr's first book and is a book finished in the 60's - a series of short stories all loosely connected to each other through characters and settings. Each story is dark and sometimes it grows to become unbearable. It garnered it a massive amount of controversy, and became the subject of obscenity trials and book burnings. Selby hit the literature world with a book so blunt, so brutally honest in its depictions of the lowest forms of society that people weren't able to handle it because it really does knock the wind out of you the first time around. In this book, Selby brings out prostitutes, pedophiles, drug addicts, abusive husbands, psychotic wives, and all lowlife trash that you could possibly imagine and places them under a harsh light, explaining their sides and everyone else's yet allowing us to grow to hate these characters.
Holden informs the reader of how he is receiving treatment in a mental hospital, describes some of the things he does not like about his school Pencey Prep, and discusses how he has recently been expelled from it. During his final days at Pencey Prep Holden becomes increasingly irritated by the people there such as his history teacher Mr. Spencer, his disgusting neighbor Ackley and his cocky roommate Stradlater. These annoyances push Holden’s mind to the edge, and he decides to leave Pencey Prep early and stay somewhere in New York City by himself for three days before he is expected to arrive at home (Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye”). Holden’s trip to the city is an adventure filled with angry cab drivers, a heartless prostitute, and a series of Holden’s realizations and memories of life. From getting punched brutally in the gut by a hotel “pimp”, to conversing with nuns about Romeo and Juliet Holden’s trip reveals many inner aspects about himself.
It has been quoted many times, the triviality of knowledge and the power that comes with it. But ever so often - that power can be so overwhelming, until we are rendered helpless in the face of its colossal presence and questionable significance. “Ignorance is bliss”, but can ignorance be justified in todays world? As a classmate of mine said and to which I have to agree with, “I do not want to die a fool.” Holden Caulfield is a representation of all of us. We understand that he acknowledges the ‘phoniness’ and corruption that comes with entering the adult world and like most of us, he is very
I didn’t have anything else to do” (Salinger 61). He had no one to spend time with so he had nothing to do. The lyrics “Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days/and the people I meet always go their separate ways/Sometimes you tell the day/by the bottle that you drink/and times when you're alone all you do is think” (Bon Jovi) from the song “Wanted Dead or Alive” fits Holden’s character very well. The song is about how he is when he’s alone he thinks and his relationships never last and how he drinks to forget everything. This is very much accordant to Holden’s character in the sense that he is alone through most of the book and he is quite the alcoholic.
IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR ABOUT, the first words spoken by Holden about his insignificant life. Complaining about every little detail he sees and thinks how this school sucks and how his winter coat and gloves got stolen and he is left with only a thin sweatshirt to keep him warm. Holden resides at Pencey prep school where he is now getting expelled for failing four out of his five major classes. Going to his elderly social studies teacher to say good bye before he leaves only irritates him due to what he had to say. Holden leaves Mr. Spencer’s house going back to his dorm hoping to find peace from all that is bothering him but only finds that his roommate is now going out with his previous girl friend Jane.
In the story both the characterization and conflict help to show how “pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.” The characterization of the narrator allows the reader to see the problem brought about by having too much pride. The author’s use of indirect characterization in “The Scarlet Ibis” is one way the story relates to the quote. In the beginning of the story, the narrator said, “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” This demonstrates that the narrator has a hard time dealing with his brother’s disability. The author allows the reader to see how desperate the narrator is to have a typical life with an ordinary family. The narrator feels that it is one thing for Doodle to be disabled, but he would rather do away with Doodle than deal with the embarrassment of having him in his life if he were mentally weak as well.