Holden Bowler

details that aid in the characterization of their narrators. Salinger’s narrator, Holden, is a seventeen year old boy who is telling presumably a therapist the events that occurred after he was expelled from Pencey Prep. He tells the story in a first person “stream of consciousness” style and often goes off on tangents about things, such as his younger sister Phoebe, giving the story a sense of verisimilitude. Holden is also very sarcastic and cynical, saying “[his] parents would have…

is basically Holden Caulfield's motivation throughout the story. Holden goes to New York City and spends most of his time looking for something, but he never tells the reader exactly what he is looking for, I don’t even think he knows exactly what it is he is looking for. He seems to be looking for friendship or just genuine communication, but he is looking for it in the wrong place. Nobody else is concerned with friendship or honesty, besides his little sister Phoebe. After, Holden talks to…

J.D. Salinger’s character, Holden Caulfield, in the controversial novel, Catcher in the Rye, struggles with alienation, drugs, and alcohol due to his tragic past. Growing up, Holden lived a pretty normal life, until his brother’s tragic death. His brother, Allie, even though he was younger than Holden, was Holden’s inspiration in life. When Holden discovered that Allie was dead, he slept in the garage, and at one point during that night, Holden managed to break all of the windows in his garage…

major conflicts revolves around his younger brother's death. So Holden looked up to Allie because Ally had extreme good nature and Holden was sorry that his parents have lost their better son. Holden would've got rid of this Allie death but his parents never took him to any counseling or professional help. And example of this would be that a hold and got into a fight with Stradlater because he did not respect the memoirs of Allie which Holden wrote in the essay. By the end of the novel he sold…

Holden Caulfield is a 16 year old boy, who is can be childish at times and skeptical of the world around him, however, this is because of his hard and troubling past that lead him to become who he is now. Holden has a unique way of looking at things, he thinks that practically anyone and anything can be phony, always saying things like ‘I found it phony,’ or ‘they were being phony’ and even, ‘it was all phony as hell’. He seems to use a lot of the same words over and over again, this could be…

In Catcher in the Rye, Holden decides to leave New York to head out West after he experiences a frightening feeling of “just go[ing] down, down, down, and nobody’d ever see [him] again” (217). Yet, Holden decides to visit Phoebe one last time before leaving, so he pays a visit to her school. Holden’s experience of “go[ing] down, down, down” mirrors the image of someone falling off a cliff like in Holden’s imagination as a “catcher in the rye” (191). In a way, Holden himself is a child in the rye…

18, 1946. You would have liked him” (Salinger 43). In the novel, The Catcher In the Rye, by J.D. Salinger: Holden’s younger brother dies of Leukemia. Holden never full recovers from the family loss and is affected by this through the rest of his childhood and as he continues to grow up. In the novel, the death of Allie, Holden’s brother, causes Holden expresses multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Throughout the novel he experiences insomnia, sudden mood swings, and suicidal…

throughout the streets of New York to possibly find purity. J.D. Salinger’s reason for writing such a controversial novel was to appeal to the teenage mind. Holden is sexually confused and struggles expressing his feelings. He admits he is still still sexuall driven and has said that if a girl tells him stop, he will stop. For Holden “no” means “no”. Holden believes that his noble trait is really one of his weaknesses. When he encounters Sunny he decides he wants want nothing to do with her…

troubles of Holden Caulfield, a mentally unstable, teenage boy seeking approval in an ever-changing world. Throughout the novel, the author uses a variety of stylistic and language techniques are used to intrigue the audience into reading the text, which include the use of imagery, symbolism and metaphors. It is the different themes and techniques like this that are used throughout the text to pull the reader in and additionally entertain them. J. D. Salinger uses the main character, ‘Holden…

teenage boy named Holden Caulfield, after he flunks out of the fourth elite boarding school he has attended. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles with depression and loneliness, and is unable to find help for himself as he meets old acquaintances and new people. Holden’s disillusionment was caused by despairing memories and failed attempts at relationships, which created a fabricated world in his mind; therefore, to solve Holden’s situation, he should visit a psychoanalyst…