Loneliness Essay

Ah, Look at All the Lonely People Loneliness is unfortunately something most people have encountered at some point in their life. Throughout the history of literature and art, loneliness has been a theme that is commonly explored. It has been a central theme in many movies, books, songs, and other works of art. Aloneness is a theme developed through the book, The Catcher in the Rye, the movie Death of a Salesman, and the song “Eleanor Rigby”. Although the theme is the same between these works, it is developed uniquely to each through the use of literary techniques (colloquial language, dramatic diction, paradox, etc.) to convey a theme and story focused on being lonely, and what life is like for those who are, in a way that is unique to each work. The tale of the sarcastic and sadistic Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, is one focused primarily on the loneliness of an individual in the post World War II society. Catcher shares that theme with Death of a Salesman, as well as the fact that they both serve as a form of satire on a society changing faster than it is ready. In Catcher, the reader takes a trip inside the mind of a young man who is roughly seventeen years old; the reader hears all the thoughts and opinions of Holden, who is very critical of society and every single person in it. Caulfield continuously refers to people as “phonies” and always talking about people and their “phony parties” (Salinger 127) and finds it hard to like anything about people. Holden recognizes his loneliness but does not realize that it is his actions that cause it. He harshly judges people throughout the story and shuts himself off from the world and people without remorse. Holden is the only person to blame for his loneliness, he tries to counteract his lonely feelings by inviting a prostitute to his room in chapter 13 and begging her