Socializing Up the Wrong Tree In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a cynical teen in the middle of a mental break down. Holden finds imperfections in just about every person he meets using his favorite descriptive adjective: phony. Holden is clearly lonely and is constantly seeking companionship but is always held back by his opinions and indecisiveness. Holden judges people based on his opinions and therefore preventing him from bonding with the average “phony”.
However, even though Holden acts emotionless he does have feelings but expresses them differently. Holden also negatively characterizes people frequently, for example: Holden states that he finds Ackley very annoying and repulsive. However because of his longing for any source of human connection, he eventually befriends him and even asks Ackley to go to the movies with him. Holden is an emotionally unstable person and often finds himself in turmoil with his feelings. On one side Holden’s interest in human interactions drive him to find and build relationships of his own, but on the other hand he uses his alienation as a wall of protection from outside forces.
He is described as ‘uncoordinated and clumsy’ and he was often teased and beaten because of this. The author describes him of having a look of ‘a cowering dog’ and I think this is a very good description of his character - he is always being beaten down by other people. He has ‘a stack of wild red hair’ and pale watery blue eyes. Overall, he is not very dashing at first sight, especially as in the previous paragraph, the author has just described how his father is completely the opposite - handsome and charming (when he needed to be). When Meshak (Mish) appears later in the book, he seems little changed; ‘a child in a man’s body’.
Christopher sees and experiences things much differently that other people. He has a very hard time with distinguishing facial expressions, sarcasm, and he has a very difficult time understanding other people's logic. He also fantasizes about being the only person left on the earth and he avoids people at most costs. I absolutely think that Christopher has a disability because none of the things listed above would be considered “normal” behavior. Most people would go
Activity #1: Diagnosis John Nash's antisocial behaviour was clear from the very beginning of the movie where we notice him seated alone and not speaking to anyone. As the movie develops he is hardly seen associating himself with people other than his roommate who he relies on and to who he states that "the truth is I don't like people much, and they don't much like me." Abnormal behaviour John displays is where he starts to believe he had been hired for a top-secret government mission, even though he hadn't. These delusions often led him to ramble on about things that no one could understood. Disorganized speech is another symptom of schizophrenia which he displayed frequently.
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.
Throughout the book, there is a mutual frustration between Christopher and those he interacts with, both do not understand how the other thinks. He does not get human emotions and does not understand illustrative speech. "I find people confusing. this is for two reasons. The first reason is that people do a lot of talking without using many words...the second main reason is that people often talk using metaphors."
The husband didn’t like having to look at Robert’s eyes without glasses because there was “too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it” (Carver 103). This is being very ignorant because it sounds as if he is not accepting to Roberts handicap by discriminating against him because of his eyes. Also, with his discrimination against the dark glasses, he includes the use of a cane. He said “but he didn’t use a cane” (Carver 103). It isn’t necessary
I become a very defensive listener, treating everything they say as a personal attack because most of my attention is elsewhere and I am daydreaming and missing all the signs of verbal and nonverbal communications. Another problem that I have when listening is I am a very defensive listener. When speaking to people, I turn their simple constructive criticisms into a personal attack on my total character ( again not giving my full attention I miss how they use nonverbal communication). I think it is because I am very concerned with the way they thinks of me, and making them happy. The problem with my pseudo thinking is that when it comes time for me to have a response I have no clue what was said during the conversation because the only thing I focused on was the topic of discussion.