Holden’s Failed Social Interactions In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s failed social interactions are a result of his cynicism to Ackley and jealousy towards Stradlater.
Because of Holden’s hate towards accepting someone, his social interaction with Ackley fails. Holden has a fair friendship with Robert Ackley but judges his personality when, “He was one of these very tall, round shouldered guys-he was about six four-with lousy teeth. The whole time he roomed next to me, [he] never even once saw him brush his teeth. They always looked mossy and awful..besides that he had a lot of pimples. Not just his forehead or his chin, like most guys, but all over his whole face. And not only that, he had a terrible personality” …show more content…
He also finds Ackley annoying and irritating but still connects with him because there is no other that would accept him the way he is. As a result of Holden Judging Ackley’s picture and character, he has a difficult time to bond and connect with others. After Holden explains his judgement towards Ackley’s character, he starts being negative towards ackley and lies to benefit him, correspondingly, “the reason [he’s] sore at [him] is because he said that stuff about brushing [his] teeth once in awhile. He didn’t mean to insult [him], for cryin’ out loud. He didn’t say it right or anything, but he didn’t mean anything insulting. All he meant was [he’d] look better and feel better if [he] sort of brushed [his] teeth once in awhile” (Salinger 28). As holden explains to Ackley how he would be a whole lot better of a person if he cleaned himself up, he lies into saying stradlater had told him. Ackley is a lonely guy so whatever Holden had to say to him, he’d fought back and copes with it. He stills spends so much time with him because he …show more content…
Despite all the cynicism and judge that Holden has towards Ackley, he still copes with him though fails to have social interaction with Ackley. Holden also has a failed social interaction with Stradlater because of his insecurity. As Holden was watching Stradlater getting ready for his date, he admires him when, “[He] was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, stradlater...he always looked good when he was finished fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway, if [they] knew him the way [he] did. The reason he fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the western hemisphere. He was pretty handsome too-[he’ll] admit it” (Salinger 31). In the beginning of Chapter 4, As his roommate Stradlater was getting ready for his date while Holden was just there admiring Stradlater, jealous of his looks but judges his personality. By any means, with the way holden described stradlater's this “handsome, big guy that going on dates with girls is the reason why it causes holden to create a civil friendship with stradlater. As a result of his jealousy towards stradlater, Holden
Because of Holden’s hate towards accepting someone, his social interaction with Ackley fails. Holden has a fair friendship with Robert Ackley but judges his personality when, “He was one of these very tall, round shouldered guys-he was about six four-with lousy teeth. The whole time he roomed next to me, [he] never even once saw him brush his teeth. They always looked mossy and awful..besides that he had a lot of pimples. Not just his forehead or his chin, like most guys, but all over his whole face. And not only that, he had a terrible personality” …show more content…
He also finds Ackley annoying and irritating but still connects with him because there is no other that would accept him the way he is. As a result of Holden Judging Ackley’s picture and character, he has a difficult time to bond and connect with others. After Holden explains his judgement towards Ackley’s character, he starts being negative towards ackley and lies to benefit him, correspondingly, “the reason [he’s] sore at [him] is because he said that stuff about brushing [his] teeth once in awhile. He didn’t mean to insult [him], for cryin’ out loud. He didn’t say it right or anything, but he didn’t mean anything insulting. All he meant was [he’d] look better and feel better if [he] sort of brushed [his] teeth once in awhile” (Salinger 28). As holden explains to Ackley how he would be a whole lot better of a person if he cleaned himself up, he lies into saying stradlater had told him. Ackley is a lonely guy so whatever Holden had to say to him, he’d fought back and copes with it. He stills spends so much time with him because he …show more content…
Despite all the cynicism and judge that Holden has towards Ackley, he still copes with him though fails to have social interaction with Ackley. Holden also has a failed social interaction with Stradlater because of his insecurity. As Holden was watching Stradlater getting ready for his date, he admires him when, “[He] was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, stradlater...he always looked good when he was finished fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway, if [they] knew him the way [he] did. The reason he fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the western hemisphere. He was pretty handsome too-[he’ll] admit it” (Salinger 31). In the beginning of Chapter 4, As his roommate Stradlater was getting ready for his date while Holden was just there admiring Stradlater, jealous of his looks but judges his personality. By any means, with the way holden described stradlater's this “handsome, big guy that going on dates with girls is the reason why it causes holden to create a civil friendship with stradlater. As a result of his jealousy towards stradlater, Holden