Everyone knows and wants the all too true ?American dream,? to be or wants to be something that is better than what you are or have already. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an idealist who always envisions his life as it should be, and not as it truly is. It is the story of an emotionally disturbed sixteen-year-old boy; told through a flashback. In an attempt to deal with his problems and try to find himself, he leaves the school, which he was kicked out of to vacation alone in New York City. Holden?s view of adults is not likely of a boy his age. While most teenagers Holden?s age see adults as role models, Holden perceives adults as ?phonies? which always depress him. Although Holden is shown as immature and inconsiderate; he is also a nurturer. He takes very good care of his sister Phoebe, and puts a lot of trust in her. He sees all children as beautiful and helpless. As an idealist, he thinks he can go forever. Through out the novel the reader sees Holden as an idealist, always wanting what he can never have, and striving to always obtain what he wants out of his life. Holden?s views of adults are very unlikely for a boy his age. Holden looks up to no one, and sees all adults as ?phonies? and hopes to never become like that. . He feels sorry for all of the ?phony? and depressing people in the world, especially his parents. The two people Holden should look up to the most in the world he clearly despises. His father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him ?phony? because he views his father?s occupation as demoralizing. Holden says, ? Lawyers are all right, I guess, but it doesn?t appeal to me. All they do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like hotshots. How would you know you weren?t being phony? The trouble is you wouldn?t.? (172).
The Essay on Holden Phony Sexual Antolini
J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye provides a provocative inquiry into the crude life of a depressed adolescent, Holden Caulfield. Without intensive analysis and study, Holden appears to be a clearly heterosexual, vulgar yet virtuous, typical youth who chastises phoniness and decries adult evils. However, this is a fallacy. The finest manner to judge and analyze Holden is by his statements ...
Therefore doesn?t like to talk to them, and thinks that they do not and will never understand him. Although he does not care for his parents, he still pities them. Holden feels sorry for almost every adult that he comes in contact with. From the minute that Holden walks into Mr. Spencer?s room he is already sorry that he came. ?There were pills and medicine all over the place, and everything smelled like Vicks Nose drops. It was pretty depressing.?(.7).
Just the sight of Mr. Spencer made Holden ill and depressed. He tells Mr. Spencer that he had talked to Dr. Thurmer and he said, ? Life is a game, and one should play according to the rules.? (8) This quote is ironic to Holden since he never believes that life is a game. He believes the exact opposite, that life is very serious and he doesn?t accept the rules set before him by phony adults. He continues to tell Mr.Spencer that his parents will be very irritated by the news that he had been kicked out yet again. Considering he had already been kicked out of about four different schools. Holden then states that he tends to act very young for his age, being sixteen then and saying he tends to act thirteen, even though he has gray hair. Holden even sees kids his own age as fake and depressing adolescence like himself. He cannot stand his roommate Stradtler and despises his sometimes companion at Pencey, Ackley. Holden hates and at the same time wishes to become Stradtler. Stradtler is everything Holden says he hates and never wants to be, but in reality it is a cover-up. Meanwhile, Ackley, whom he should feel sympathy for, is an annoying pest that Holden cannot wait to get out of his room.
His cruelty and frustration towards people his age leads him to feel even greater hatred to adults around him. In an Editorial Review from Amazon.com a writer stated ?Holden?s constantly wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to ?phonies? (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.? Holden does not only criticize ?his? parent?s beliefs, but other parents as well. He thought that the little kid running around in the streets of New York while following his parents was so incredibly dumb. He thought her parents were not paying any attention to her while she was in the street. Although he sees the child as completely helpless, he still does nothing to try and help her. Holden always refers to adults and himself as a lot older then actuality. He sees adults as old and incapable of doing anything right. Holden does not really care about anything, most of the time not even himself. He thinks everyone is ?phony? and that everyone that you hold in awe will inevitably disappoint you. As an idealist Holden thinks that he is an adult, although he never wants to grow up into a world he thinks so horrible and actually have to Holden feel that he is an adult, yet he still does many childish things.
The Term Paper on Lack Of Respect Holden Mature Phoebe
The Catcher in the rye by J. D. Salinger How mature do you consider Holden to be? The main character of the book, 'The Catcher in the Rye', Holden, is a character full of contrasts. On the one hand he often comes across as an immature young teenager, but also sometimes as someone who is far beyond their years. From first to last Holden is very contradictory in the way he portrays himself and we ...
He sees his sister Phoebe as his only true companion in a world so fake and disillusioned. From the death of his younger brother Allie who he also held on a pedestal, it has left only his ten-year-old younger sister for Holden to look up to. Holden refers to his older brother D.B. only as a writer off in Hollywood and Allie as when he was alive as a ?wizard.? He talks of Phoebe as older than himself and sees her as so angelic and strong in an un-pleasant world. Holden states, ?You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your whole life. She?s really smart. She?s only ten, she?s quite skinny and you can take her anywhere with you.? Holden is always thinking of Phoebe, and comparing things to her. He knows he can confide in her because she is to young to judge him and actually tell him that he is crazy. He is closest to Phoebe because of her young age and feels he can shelter her from the evil world that lies ahead of her. When Holden confides in Phoebe when he returns home for a visit, the reader sees that Phoebe is maturing when she yells at Holden and is shown to be an adult figure in his life. Phoebe realizes that Holden is loosing it, and she also sees what hatred he has for everyone and everything.
She sees right through his games, and is his only friend. She says to him, ?You don?t like anything. You don?t like any schools. You don?t like a million things. You don?t.? Holden gets very disgruntled by her mature comment, and tries to come up with something when he says, ?That isn?t nice what are you a child, for God?s sake? I like Allie, and I like what I?m doing right now. Sitting here with you and talking about stuff.? Holden gets very carried away when he thinks of how he wants Phoebe to be, especially to him. He says, ?I started thinking how old Phoebe would feel if I got Pneumonia and died. It was a childish way to think but I couldn?t stop myself. She?d feel pretty bad if something like that happened. She likes me a lot. I mean she?s quite fond of me.? Holden does not want kids to grow-up into the world that he sees as so horrible. He wants to keep children the way they are, and be the only adult to watch over them. Holden comments, ?Certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those cases and just leave them alone. I know that?s impossible, but it?s too bad anyway.? He almost has an obsession with children and how they should be, and grow-up.
The Review on Catcher In The Rye Holden Book World
The theme that the world has an outward appearance that seems fair and perfect but really they " re as Holden put it "phonies." This is shown countless amount of times in his journey through New York and even before he left. The setting is in the 1950's; so I'm pretty sure that he didn't encounter any transvestites, lesbians, or anything that extreme of phoniest. Or on the other hand he could have ...
Holden thinks that he can be the one to help the kids in the world and save them from the adults (phonies) around them. He becomes fixated with his idea of the ?catcher in the rye.? He states to Phoebe, ( ?You know what I?d like to be? I mean if I had my goddam choice? You know that song ?If a body catch a body coming through the rye? I?d like.? ?It?s if a body meet a body coming through the rye!? Phoebe said. ?It?s a poem, by Robert Burns.? ?I thought it was if a body catch a body,? I said. ?Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobodies around-nobody big I mean-except me. And I?m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff, I mean if they?re running and they don?t look where they?re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That?s all I?ll do all day, I?d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it?s crazy but, but that?s the only thing I?d really like to be. I know it?s crazy.?) So even when Holden is losing all mental capability being the idealist he is he, thinks that even though it is a crazy idea to be a ?catcher in the rye,? his decision is nurturing and San.
The Essay on Holden in “Catcher in the rye ” by J.R Salinger
Holden is a complex person with many conflicting characteristics. He has many ambitions and desires for his life but he is faced with the basic conflict in the story, corruption. This corruption is what drives him and at the same time restricts him Holden’s being surrounded by corruption disgusts him. There are a few main instances in which Holden encounters corruption directly. One type is ...
He wants desperately to be a role model to kids, but the truth is that Holden is a hypocrite. Holden thinks that he can go on forever, this is what leads to his breakdown. Holden starts to realize how crazy he is but tries desperately to hold it back. This is why he confides to Phoebe, she is the only one he can really talk to, and he has to confide in someone. He even thinks about committing suicide when he says, ?What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.? The reader can tell that Holden is going crazy when he talks to Sally, and says, ?I swear to God I?m crazy. I admit it and then goes on to tell her how much he hates everything when he says- Well, I hate it. Boy do I hate it. But it isn?t just that. It?s everything. I hate living in New York and all.? The reader sees that he not only hates the ?phonies? and the world in itself but he is also very un-happy with himself even though he tries to deny it. Holden begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation. Before finally declaring that his world is full of ?phonies? with each one out of their own phony gain, is Holden actually the one that is going insane, or is it society which has lost it?s mind for failing to see the hopelessness of their own lives.
Mr. Antolini, Holden?s English teacher from Elkton Hills, tries to help Holden. Even when the reader thinks that maybe this is the only adult that Holden might respect and look up to, he still turns out in the end to be just another depressing ?phony? to Holden. Mr. Antolini realizes Holden?s issues and tries to help Holden see how is life is spiraling out of control. Mr. Antolini says to Holden, ? I don?t want to scare you, but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, one way or another, for some highly unworthy cause. The mark of the immature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.? He tries to help Holden realize that he needs to seek help or else his life will end very shortly. He tells him that one-day he will have to find where it is that he wants to go, and then he can start going there. But that he?ll have to go immediately and that he cannot afford to lose a minute. Mr. Antolini gives Holden probably the greatest advice he?s ever been given when he says, ?Among other things you?ll find you?re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now.? He makes Holden see that he?s not alone, but because Holden at first thinks that he is okay he turns it around so that he does not trust Mr.Antolini. Holden thinks that he can go on forever, and that he will be fine.
The Essay on Pencey Prep Holden Phony Ernie
Everybody's A Phony By: Shelly L. McGill J. D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is a very well known piece of the twentieth century. It's a story about a seventeen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who experiences some interesting things and people upon his being expelled from Pencey Prep. School. From having breakfast with a couple of nuns on a bus, to spending an evening with a far from ...
Holden suggests that it?s okay to screw up. Your criticisms of the world are not valid and nothing you say or think is so bad that you need to represent. Ironically, this is not only something that is essential to survival (especially if you?re a teenager and desperately trying to maintain your lily-white self-image) but it is also key the key to ultimately becoming a decent caring human being. No one can grow up with the awful side of themselves that hates everything. To repress it is to give it power. To let it out to play is to learn to control that side. Yes, I know it?s a Freudian idea and Freud is out of favor at the moment, but it works in this case. (Reflections) When we are honest we can see within ourselves suppressed elements of the forces operating within Holden Caulfield. Because of that I would recommend this provoking novel as a fascinating enlightening description of the pure idea of the idealistic views of a young teens battle with his human condition. Through Holden?s story the reader sees Holden as and idealist. He thinks that he is an adult, when in fact he is just as childish as the children he sees are. He sees all adults as ?phony? when he is just as phony as the people he knows and sees are. He wants to be a role model to Phoebe and other children, when in actuality they must set the examples for Holden. He supervises children and continues to act on their level. He thinks that he is okay and mentally stable as he goes through his mental breakdown. Holden is an idealist, but seems to always become disillusioned by things that happen to him. The ending of the novel is very symbolic because Holden always thought that he didn?t need to share his depressing stories with other people. When it was just what he needed to discover his condition and truly find himself and his
The Essay on Catcher In The Rye Holden Children Fall
... elements, his dream of shielding all the innocent children from maturity is ruined. Holden? s attitude completely changes as he watches ... the average? phonies? in the world, the child pays no attention to them. When Holden sees that the little boy will ... carousel into the? phony? crowd. Holden finally believes that all children eventually lose their purity and virtue. Holden? s dreams of becoming ...
