Aliens of Salinger Isolation, an inevitable process, is present through many perspectives of the world. When a child is ill, society isolates him. If man is black, people avoid him. When a girl is new, the group isolates her. Isolation comes in a myriad of forms, but it is especially common to find the theme embedded in literature. For example, J.D. Salinger creates the theme of isolation in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by surrounding the protagonists, Holden Caulfield and Seymour Glass, with the ideas of cynicism and trauma.
Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye is confined to a group of rich, privileged classmates. He views the world cynically, so he misjudges people and has failed …show more content…
This scene suggests that Holden isolates himself from his peers. While everyone is playing sports, he is aloof on a hill observing. Salinger shows how individuals isolate themselves in new situations to socially protect themselves. However, Holden’s lack of social interaction stems more from Holden’s constant criticism than from a defense mechanism. Commonly, society is the first to isolate a person. However, Holden unintentionally blocks out his friends as he judges them and calls them “phonies”, a name he uses to describe ingenuine or superficial and conventional people. Likewise, Holden’s experience with his brother Allie’s death causes him to be in a strange emotional state, in which he overanalyzes a situation and judges his roommates and dates. Therefore, he neglects the opportunity to interact with them. This suggests that emotional distress can ultimately lead to social problems. Although Holden is aware of his alienation, he does nothing to alleviate his loneliness because it is his nature to criticize the negativity in humans. As Holden …show more content…
Similar to the many traumatized-veterans who return from war, Seymour feels that he has lost his niche in society. While Muriel, Seymour’s wife socializes along with the other hotel attendees, Seymour spends time by himself on the beach with children. At first glance, it seems that Seymour secludes himself from his wife and steers away from adjusting to a normal adult life. However, society is also responsible because it is not fit for mentally ill people such as Seymour. For example, when Muriel converses with her mother, she responds to her mother’s question about Seymour and says, “I mean all he does is lie there. He won’t take his bathrobe off”(“Bananafish”, 9). The description not only shows that Seymour’s bathrobe is symbolic of a barrier that he uses to hide and alienate himself, but it also suggests the ignorance of the “normal” society because people do not realize the trauma that soldiers endure. Most only view the soldiers physically and neglect the mental trauma caused by war. Like the typical society, Muriel does not realize that her husband is in distress, and she unintentionally makes unseemingly comments that suggest an eccentric personality for her husband. This shows how mental illness is not always the problem from returning soldiers. Instead, the norms and criticism of
Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye is confined to a group of rich, privileged classmates. He views the world cynically, so he misjudges people and has failed …show more content…
This scene suggests that Holden isolates himself from his peers. While everyone is playing sports, he is aloof on a hill observing. Salinger shows how individuals isolate themselves in new situations to socially protect themselves. However, Holden’s lack of social interaction stems more from Holden’s constant criticism than from a defense mechanism. Commonly, society is the first to isolate a person. However, Holden unintentionally blocks out his friends as he judges them and calls them “phonies”, a name he uses to describe ingenuine or superficial and conventional people. Likewise, Holden’s experience with his brother Allie’s death causes him to be in a strange emotional state, in which he overanalyzes a situation and judges his roommates and dates. Therefore, he neglects the opportunity to interact with them. This suggests that emotional distress can ultimately lead to social problems. Although Holden is aware of his alienation, he does nothing to alleviate his loneliness because it is his nature to criticize the negativity in humans. As Holden …show more content…
Similar to the many traumatized-veterans who return from war, Seymour feels that he has lost his niche in society. While Muriel, Seymour’s wife socializes along with the other hotel attendees, Seymour spends time by himself on the beach with children. At first glance, it seems that Seymour secludes himself from his wife and steers away from adjusting to a normal adult life. However, society is also responsible because it is not fit for mentally ill people such as Seymour. For example, when Muriel converses with her mother, she responds to her mother’s question about Seymour and says, “I mean all he does is lie there. He won’t take his bathrobe off”(“Bananafish”, 9). The description not only shows that Seymour’s bathrobe is symbolic of a barrier that he uses to hide and alienate himself, but it also suggests the ignorance of the “normal” society because people do not realize the trauma that soldiers endure. Most only view the soldiers physically and neglect the mental trauma caused by war. Like the typical society, Muriel does not realize that her husband is in distress, and she unintentionally makes unseemingly comments that suggest an eccentric personality for her husband. This shows how mental illness is not always the problem from returning soldiers. Instead, the norms and criticism of