In the novel The Catcher in the Rye authored by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is a teenager who refuses to accept that he is becoming an adult. Holden is obsessed about being a child and refuses to stop horsing around. He chooses to place himself between the world of simple innocence and complex adulthood. Holden is the narrator and he chooses to tell the story in his own contradicting manner. Holden controls his experiences and his narrations of the same are distorted from reality. He is also naïve and immature, which causes him to listen to strangers in his attempt to avoid listening to the advice of those who truly care for him. Holden’s personality is synonymous to a rubber band, he uses resistance and control in an
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For example when Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, got in a fight with him, Holden, “All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I’d only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I’m not too tough. I’m a pacifist, if you want to know the truth.”(Salinger, 46) Therefore, Holden is enjoying the fact that he looks tough because he has blood on his face. He contradicts himself by calling himself a peaceful person. These are the kind of contradictions that the author uses to show how unreliable Holden is. Furthermore, another example of Holden’s unreliability is his exaggerations. In his school, he feels the need to hate everyone because he is uncomfortable there. Holden criticizes all of his classmates even those he’s never even met. “It’s full of phonies…and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liqueur and sex all day.”(131) The author allows the reader to understand that Holden’s immaturity is the reason for his loneliness at all the schools he …show more content…
As portrayed by Mr.Antolini and all the help he gave Holden. Mr.Antolini guides him to think better of himself so he doesn’t feel like he is useless. Even after Mr.Antolini tries to help him and guide him in the right direction, Holden finds a way to push him aside by making him sound like a terrible person for helping him: “What he was doing, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head.” (Salinger, 192) Holden ends up rejecting everything Mr.Antolini had told him and he finds a way to make a negative image of him in his mind. Holden has a peculiar way of thinking when it comes to socializing and being friendly. Generally, people get along better with their family and close friends than with strangers that they meet for the first time. Holden finds it interesting to start conversations with strangers, even if the conversation is personal. He prefers talking to strangers because those conversations do not involve him being lectured. He asks his cab driver, whom he does not know, to have a cocktail once at the Edmunt Hotel where he was going to be staying that night. “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail.” (60) In essence, this just shows that Holden likes to have friends that do not question him about his life and they do not get in his personal
For example when Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, got in a fight with him, Holden, “All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I’d only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I’m not too tough. I’m a pacifist, if you want to know the truth.”(Salinger, 46) Therefore, Holden is enjoying the fact that he looks tough because he has blood on his face. He contradicts himself by calling himself a peaceful person. These are the kind of contradictions that the author uses to show how unreliable Holden is. Furthermore, another example of Holden’s unreliability is his exaggerations. In his school, he feels the need to hate everyone because he is uncomfortable there. Holden criticizes all of his classmates even those he’s never even met. “It’s full of phonies…and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liqueur and sex all day.”(131) The author allows the reader to understand that Holden’s immaturity is the reason for his loneliness at all the schools he …show more content…
As portrayed by Mr.Antolini and all the help he gave Holden. Mr.Antolini guides him to think better of himself so he doesn’t feel like he is useless. Even after Mr.Antolini tries to help him and guide him in the right direction, Holden finds a way to push him aside by making him sound like a terrible person for helping him: “What he was doing, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head.” (Salinger, 192) Holden ends up rejecting everything Mr.Antolini had told him and he finds a way to make a negative image of him in his mind. Holden has a peculiar way of thinking when it comes to socializing and being friendly. Generally, people get along better with their family and close friends than with strangers that they meet for the first time. Holden finds it interesting to start conversations with strangers, even if the conversation is personal. He prefers talking to strangers because those conversations do not involve him being lectured. He asks his cab driver, whom he does not know, to have a cocktail once at the Edmunt Hotel where he was going to be staying that night. “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail.” (60) In essence, this just shows that Holden likes to have friends that do not question him about his life and they do not get in his personal