The world is a very vast place with millions of places to be discovered by people, on occasions though, all the places in the world can be taken up and some are left without a space. In Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger, Holden is one of those few left without a place in the world; he doesn 't fit in. Based in the 1950’s, Holden is a 16 year old telling the days before his mental breakdown. Prior to his psychiatric incident, Holden suffered from the death of younger brother Allie and has abandoned the world and given up on progressing in life. He demonstrates this destructive behavior by constantly flunking out of school due to his failing grades. After failing his most recent school, Pencey, rather than returning home with his parents, Holden
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After the lavender room closes up, Holden takes a night out on the town visiting various bars and eventually walking back to his hotel. As he goes up to his room, he is met by a pimp named Maurice who sends a young prostitute to his room. Holden meets with his merchandise, Sunny, but instead of using her to satisfy his sexual desires, he only wants to talk. She eventually leaves out of annoyance and Holden is left alone with his thoughts and memories. The following three days Holden displays continual strange behavior as he is sleep deprived, depressed, and lacking in nutrients; this leads up to his psychotic slip. It is clear that Holden fits in abnormally with the world and is almost like a misshapen puzzle piece; although he has a spot, he simply doesn’t fit. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger uses the attitude of the narrator to show that Holden tries to change his characteristics in an attempt to fit in in a world where he does not …show more content…
By going by a different name, Holden ultimately creates a new personality for himself that gives him a blank slate, however, through this process he loses confidence in his self-image. Given that Holden is surrounded by adults, he tries to fit in by acting more mature, which in his eyes do not match up to what maturity actually is; this leads to Holden feeling immature and childish. Holden feels obligated to conform to the agenda that his surroundings and society pushes on him leading him to contradict himself; by attempting to accept these ideas, Holden only furthers his feeling of isolation as he cannot relate to these commonly felt ideas. The feeling of loneliness can only be combated by the companionship of someone else who feels the same. Although one may feel alienated and an outsider to the world, there are an ample amount of humans out there who share the same worries, doubts, and isolation, “ the possibility for rich relationships exist all around you- you simply have to open your eyes, open your mouth, and most importantly open your heart” (Cheryl
After the lavender room closes up, Holden takes a night out on the town visiting various bars and eventually walking back to his hotel. As he goes up to his room, he is met by a pimp named Maurice who sends a young prostitute to his room. Holden meets with his merchandise, Sunny, but instead of using her to satisfy his sexual desires, he only wants to talk. She eventually leaves out of annoyance and Holden is left alone with his thoughts and memories. The following three days Holden displays continual strange behavior as he is sleep deprived, depressed, and lacking in nutrients; this leads up to his psychotic slip. It is clear that Holden fits in abnormally with the world and is almost like a misshapen puzzle piece; although he has a spot, he simply doesn’t fit. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger uses the attitude of the narrator to show that Holden tries to change his characteristics in an attempt to fit in in a world where he does not …show more content…
By going by a different name, Holden ultimately creates a new personality for himself that gives him a blank slate, however, through this process he loses confidence in his self-image. Given that Holden is surrounded by adults, he tries to fit in by acting more mature, which in his eyes do not match up to what maturity actually is; this leads to Holden feeling immature and childish. Holden feels obligated to conform to the agenda that his surroundings and society pushes on him leading him to contradict himself; by attempting to accept these ideas, Holden only furthers his feeling of isolation as he cannot relate to these commonly felt ideas. The feeling of loneliness can only be combated by the companionship of someone else who feels the same. Although one may feel alienated and an outsider to the world, there are an ample amount of humans out there who share the same worries, doubts, and isolation, “ the possibility for rich relationships exist all around you- you simply have to open your eyes, open your mouth, and most importantly open your heart” (Cheryl