control, and arranging" (Joshi 1). His behavior has displayed obsessive impulses. "Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ***. I broke it, though, the same week I made it - the same night, as a matter of fact" (Salinger 54-58). "Girls with their legs…
Throughout the novel, “Catcher in the Rye”, J.D. Salinger takes the reader through the labyrinth of the protagonist and narrator Holden Caulfield’s mind. The novel parallels easily to many of the battles teenagers still face today, such as, the upheaval from childhood to adulthood and the feelings of uncertainty when faced with making choices that shape their future. As Salinger highlights Holden’s struggles to find his own identity in a world of “phoniness”, he also emphasizes Holden’s struggle…
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield strikes up a conversation with two New York cab drivers about the ducks in Central Park. He asks his first cab driver if he “happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance" and throws the same question at a second cab drive a few chapters later. In his breakdown moment, he stumbles drunkenly around the park looking to see “what the hell the ducks were doing, see if they were…
Some readers of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger believe that Holden Caulfield does not need to lie to get through life they think he can just tell the truth.They argue that Holden lies out of pleasure, and uses it as a game. They believe that evidence of this can be seen when Holden is on the train to New York and is talking to a mother of one of the boys at his school, when he lies about his name, “‘Rudolf Schmidt,’ I told her. I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life story”…
Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye Symbolism is a figure of speech that is often used when an author wants to create a certain mood or emotion in a work of literature. It could be the use of an object, person, situation or word to represent something else, like an idea. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye utilizes symbolism to show the development of a struggling teenage boy named Holden. Over the course of the novel, symbolism appears during significant events and thoughts of individuals.…
He finds himself feeling the need to “buzz” a certain someone or the want to just talk to people and tell them about his crazy ideas but this doesn’t last long until Holden feels in solitary. “I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead,” (Salinger, 48). Holden is so lonely that most times he feels as though he’s better off dead. His loneliness is apparent through the lack of friends…
is at the moment and no one seems to feel similar to him. This causes Holden to feel detached from society. Holden also interacts with Old Luce, an acquaintance of his, to make Holden question what he really needs: “ ‘For God's sake. I told you the last time I saw you what you need.’ Old Luce says. ‘You mean to go to a psychoanalyst and all?’ I said [...] ‘It's up to you, for God's sake. It's none of my goddamn business what you do with your life.’ I didn't say anything for…
When writing, authors often make reference to objects, people, and even conversational or grammatical errors in attempt to draw the reader’s mind to a deeper, more analogical train of thought. In the novel Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy living the life of a stressed out, depressed, and even suicidal student in the late 1940s. He claims to always see himself as different, even alienating himself from society. During the beginning of his story, he buys a…
Holden’s parents impact his behaviour the greatest, as their neglect towards Holden is seen to greatly impact him throughout the novel. His parents are portrayed by Salinger as very dismissive of Holden and his well-being, which intern significantly affects Holden's behaviour. This dismissive nature is clearly depicted when Holden's parents are both unaware that Holden is expelled from boarding school. Furthermore, it also illustrates that Holden didn't feel safe and secure to disclose such…
Innocence doesn't last How old can kids be and still be considered innocent? In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, which is narrated by Holden, takes the reader through his life as a junior as he gets kicked out of his private school Pencey. Holden decides that he no longer needs school. Holden wants to move far away from the city where no one knows him. Before holden leaves he stays in the city for four days. During these four days he learns something important about what he…