J.D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield Psychoanalysis J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, writes about a cynical teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who has a difficult time expressing his emotions to other people. Salinger also had a hard time with his social life, so he composed this novel to express his own difficulties through Holden Caulfield. When analyzing this novel, it is clear to see the similarities between Salinger’s own personal life and the life he creates for Holden. J.D. Salinger uses the character Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye to reflect his own social problems: interacting with other people, relationships, and status expectations.…
Adolescents all have their own ways of transitioning into adults. In one way or another, we all lose our childhood innocence, whether we like it or not. Many people wonder what this stage in life may be called. ‘’Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The certain age at which this transition takes place changes in society, as does the nature of the change.”…
“ I kept picturing myself catching him In the act, and how I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam bloody” (Salinger). One one would assume this came from a violent person, a person with problems controlling their anger but no, it comes from 17 year old Holden Caulfield who just wants to be loved for once in his life. When we first meet Holden we see the dilemma that he goes through throughout the entire book. He goes on this journey, both mentally and physically, and it starts when he leaves his ‘phony” school Pencey Prep. Throughout this struggle we see Holden’s true form and how it's affected him.…
As humans we constantly find ourselves facing the fact that we are growing older and accepting the responsibilities that come with age. Sometimes we see teenagers, young kids and even some adults fall into a place where they are emotionally stuck in the past. In the catcher in the rye, Holden Caulfield is a character that portrays an irrational fear of growing up through displays of angst such as; Childlike behaviour, rebellion and sheltering/protecting others (young children). His fear and dread are normal reactions to adulthood and the phoniness he has come to understand it entails. In the novel the Holden tries to act mature but in his attempts he reveals the dept of his immaturity.…
J.D. Salinger wanted to make a statement about the vulnerability of innocence as well as highlight the struggles a teenager faces when confronted with his future. He does this by creating a character currently dealing with a quarter life crisis; Holden has no clue what he’s going to do with his life, is severely depressed and is in constant conflict with growing up and adulthood. Holden Caulfield is confronted with an unfair challenge; like most modern youths, at the tender age of 16 he faces the the impossible choice of what he’ll do in life. First of all, it is cruel and immoral for him to be dealt with this issue as he is still stuck in a child-like mindset and even references how people his age are “practically children” (Salinger 147).…
When he meets up with Old Luce at a bar, he continually asks him “How’s your sex life?” (187). Luce tells Holden to stop asking him that but he continues anyway. He does not even drop the subject, he asks him about girls and jokes about Luce being gay.…
The novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel tells the true story of his and his father’s brutal treatment and survival of the Holocaust. The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, told by a sixteen year old named Holden Caulfield, describes in great detail what he did after he was expelled from his private school, Pency. The novel, Of Mice and Men, describes the journey of two men, George and Lennie, working on a plantation to earn enough money to buy their own stake of land. The characters in all three of these novels develop in their overall psyche according to the setting of the story. Specifically, Elie Wiesel, Holden Caulfield, George, and Lennie develop in their overall psyche according to the setting of the story.…
Lysette Anthony once said, “Mental illness leaves a huge legacy, not just for the person suffering it but for those around them.” In J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden, leaves a huge legacy for himself and the people around him with his mental illness. He hints that he is mentally ill but only says it outright at one point in the book. Holden is a 16 year old guy living in New York City. He is a troublemaker and routinely gets kicked out of multiple, very expensive private schools.…
Writing-in-Role: Holden Caulfield (the Catcher in the Rye) Selma Thurmer was Pencey’s headmaster’s daughter and seemed to possess interesting personality attributes, so I’ve decided to write about the scene where Holden talks to her on a bus in the beginning chapter of the Catcher in the Rye. Inserting scene in page three, chapter one, first paragraph: I sat next to her once in the bus from Agerstown and we sort of struck up a conversation... Personally, I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to old Selma, but I figured I’d do so because she sat right next to me on the bus.…
Many novels are unable to be appreciated and understood if they do not hold a deeper meaning within their context. An example is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger which is a famous bildungsroman novel set around the 1950s. It is narrated by a young boy named Holden Caulfield who flunks out of school and goes on a journey in New York City to figure himself out and to learn to come to terms with his transition from innocent childhood into phony adulthood. In this novel, J.D. Salinger’s use of symbolism expresses the emotions and desires of Holden Caulfield which relate to the overall message of the story that he is afraid of transitioning into adulthood. There are many symbols relating to Holden’s relationships that clearly show his fear…
There has never been a day in this world where individuality and identity came from the acceptance of belonging. Society deems the idea that it is wellfully astonishing for someone to uphold a different “character” than everyone else. However, society does not guarantee that that “someone” would be accepted considering their difference. One specific fictional society backs up these beliefs. This fictional society is the community that takes place in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.…
J.D Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye is on the subject of a adolescent, Holden Caulfield, the central character of the story. Holden is piled with distinctive difficulties and for the most part absorbed in his own mind, which causes him being able to not come to realism. The psychoanalytic theory coordinates a position of definition when working with Holden Caulfield. Holden is viewed as a cut off, insubordinate teenager who failed out of an all-boys exclusive school, Pencey Prep.…
He wants to protect those who are innocent and preserve their innocence. (Pg 206) “You can’t take anything. Because you’re not going. I’m going alone.” In his dream job he’s the only one who can save the kids that are about to run over the cliff.…
When Holden calls Luce, he does because Holden wants to have a mature conversation, however, Holden asks immature questions which causes Luce to leave. "Maybe I'll go to China. My sex life is lousy,” I said. "Naturally. Your mind is immature.”…
Salinger shows his attentiveness toward the rhythms of speech by using italics quite frequently in order to let the reader know when a character is placing emphasis on a word, or even on just a syllable, in dialogue. The emphasis of a single syllable shows a realism to the dialogue of The Catcher in the Rye rarely seen not only in the works of Salinger?s time, but also before and after it. Salinger?s emphasis on the rhythm of speech is mirrored in his emphasis on the rhythm of thought, which, in turn, emphasizes the importance of both. Salinger uses paragraph breaks not only to change from one subject to another, but also to accentuate certain thoughts. In another demonstration of his literary brilliance, Salinger shows that he knows the human mind by using shorter paragraphs for more important matters.…