One Last Breath

about fifty times as intelligent” (43). The hyperbole, “fifty times as intelligent,” (43) reveals Holden’s lack of self-esteem when he describes how Allie was so much smarter than him. His low self-esteem is shown several times in the novel and is one of the causes of Holden’s depression. Holden compares himself to other people and often sets unrealistic expectations on them, which explains why he gets depressed when people act phony. From Allie’s death, Holden realized that not everything in…

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…

Adolescence is a difficult time in every person's life, because of the great deal of change that occurs during this time can be overwhelming. The Catcher in the Rye is the story of a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. He has recently been expelled from school, and he travels home to New York to find someone who will listen to him and tell him adulthood will be okay. Holden tries to preserve his own innocence, and the innocence of others by not letting go of childhood memories and through his…

In the books, The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald these authors write about two characters who have deep phoniness tendencies throughout their lives in the real world. The character in The Catcher In the Rye While Gatsby unquestionably is a big phony, Holden is the biggest phony because he lies just to isolate himself from other people, for no reason at all, and so adults would take him seriously. Although Holden is a big phony, Gatsby fabricates…

Patient: Holden CaulfieldDoctor: Robert Barnett Psy.D.Case #: 1234Admission: March 20, 1948Date of Report: March 23, 1948 The patient, Holden Caulfield, has been admitted to my facility by his parents and by suggestion of his sister two days ago, because he has recently been expelled from his school due to academic failure, depression and alcoholism. He is the middle child of three children. The patient is a heavy smoker and drinker. There are no unstable members of his family. While…

The Existential Trials and Tribulations of Holden Caulfield Comparatively, Holden Caulfield is easily one of the most iconic literary figures of one of the most controversial and enduring novels of our time. Obviously for good reason, Catcher in the Rye evokes every reader to question what is the point of the novel and therefore by extension why was this point made. To fathom this you have to delve deeper into the question “For what is Holden Caulfield's eternal struggle?” Namely, a…

In both novels, The Catcher In The Rye and We Need Names the three themes isolation, identity, and disorientation are very prominent. In J.D. Salinger's novel “The Catcher in the Rye” the main character Holden Caulfield he experiences all three of those themes. The main character in NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel “We Need New Names” Darling also experiences these three themes as well. The theme of isolation occurred quite a bit in both novels. In “We Need New Names” Darling experience with this is…

In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is evolving throughout the novel by gradually reaching a point where he can no longer cope with the truth of reality, causing him to mentally break down into a state of instability. For example, Holden is out on a date with Sally when he suddenly asks her “‘Here’s my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here? … Honest to God, we could have a terrific time! Wuddaya say? C’mon! Wuddaya say? Will you do it with me? Please!’”…

Holden values children’s innocence. When phoebe asks Holden what he would like to be when he grows up, Holden says: “Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around–nobody big, [he means]–except [him]. And [he’s] standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What [he has] to do, [he] has to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… [He’d] just be the catcher in the rye” (191). Holden pictures himself as a “big” figure catching thousands of children before they fall off a cliff. Falling off…

violence but he never acts on it. Some people manipulated the novel and used it as an excuse to kill. One person who did this is Mark David Chapman. Chapman was the man who killed The Beatles Member, John Lennon. When interviewed, Chapman said that The Catcher in the Rye was his life in a paperback novel (salinger movie). Chapman, who had a rough childhood was very lonely and depressed just like Holden. One of his friends recommended the book to him and he fell in love with it (Catcher in the…