Joan Didion

Protagonist’s play a very important role in the novel as a whole but as well as the development of the storyline. By definition, a protagonist is “the principal character in a literary work (as a drama or story).” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Each protagonist develops and matures as the novel does as well. Through the storyline protagonists also develop and mature in response to the events that they experience. In the following four novels, the protagonist’s involvement in the occasions of the…

If there’s one thing Holden Caulfield hates most, it’s phonies. Throughout the whole novel, Holden points out when someone is being phony or being fake, being precise with every detail. Most people he comes across happen to be “phony” or doing phony things. Regardless of what Holden may say or think about others, he is also a phony. Everytime he speaks to someone a lie comes out and he’s often portrayed doing phony things. By calling others phonies, it makes it easier for him to deal with…

We’ll do this with two words. Slow and fading. The opening shot will begin with a blank canvas, the title Perks of Being a Wallflower appears letter by letter through the motions of a typewriter, alluding to Charlie and his signature equipment. Charlie’s words play over with his genuinely dark quote, “there is so much pain, I don’t know how to not notice it...” There is no music, so we may be able to detect and place an emphasis on the slight tremors and desolation in his voice. An impression is…

Holden Caulfield is a 17 year old, who just got expelled from Pencey Prep, for failing all his classes except English. He makes it clear that he doesn’t feel sad about leaving the school because he didn’t connect with his fellow students. When he was at his dorm room his other roommates came in, the one telling him about his date tonight with Jane Gallagher, a friend of Holden. The roommate talks Holden into doing a homework assignment for him while he’s out. He writes about his deceased…

The familiarity of Holden’s apartment allows Holden to feel an uncommon sensation of ease and relaxation. When Holden first arrives at his apartment, he immediately feels different: “Our foyer has a funny smell that doesn’t smell like anyplace else. It isn’t cauliflower and it isn’t perfume – I don’t know that the hell it is – but you always know when you’re home” (158). Holden’s ability to “know” when he is home thoroughly demonstrates how Holden is able to feel relaxed in his household. Holden…

Holden Caulfield is one of the most interesting and confusing characters in all of literature. He is the seventeen-year-old narrator and protagonist in The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. Holden, who is in a mental institution, tells the story of a weekend spent in New York when he was sixteen after he was kicked out of his fourth school for failing four out of his five classes. Holden is a very opinionated boy who has been related to by teenagers over the last 60 years. Throughout the book,…

Soon after Amir betrays Hassan, the realization of what he did as a child causes him to feel guilt into adulthood. The life-altering betrayal Amir commits in his adolescence follows him into his adult life, even as he starts anew in America. In his haste of attempting to start a new life, the guilt clouding his conscious idles him into finding his redemption. As a child, Amir ponders the scant dreams and allegories that he and Hassan share with each other. Amir remembers one of Hassan’s dreams…

Number One The main idea of the story 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…

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 Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a symbol of the younger generation who rejects America’s culture of conformity unlike his parents. The older generation of parents tried to defeat the spread of communism by conforming while the teenagers felt a disconnect to society. Caulfield uses the word “phoniness” to display his affection towards conformity. Caulfield would love to experience a human connection similar to his but does not find such thing. The youth during this time…