Holden’s alienation is a form of protecting himself but by doing it also makes him very lonely. Throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye we can see that Holden finds himself as an outcast, and because he isolates himself it makes him even more lonely. All he needs to do is build a relationship with someone, and put himself out there. This is hard to do when you are someone who can open up and tell the truth to people.
I think Holden is afraid that being social will hurt him. He already thinks of himself as an outcast which makes him insecure. I think Holden thinks that by going out into the world and being social will make him a phony. By not going out he is only making himself more sad and depressed. “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game… I remember around three o’clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill… You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place…You could hear them all yelling.”(Pg3) Holden clues us in right away. While everyone else is off at the game, he’s isolated, very distant, and watching people instead of connecting with them.
We can see that Holden will only open up to certain people, and lies about a lot of things to protect himself from getting hurt. Towards the end of the book he realizes that relationships are a key point to life. All he tries to do is find someone who will listen to him and someone he can open up to. “Well – take me to the Edmont then,” I said. “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me, I’m loaded.” (chp 9) Holden is so desperate for someone to talk to that he tries inviting the cabbie out for a drink.
The Essay on Sympathetic Character Holden Make People
The World Through Holden Caulfield s Eyes When writing a novel, the author has the option of using the first or third person narrative. In The Catcher in the Rye, J. K. Salinger creates Holden Caulfield in the first person. As we go from one adventure to the next, we see everything that happens from Holden s point of view. This helps to make him a sympathetic character. Throughout the novel, ...
When Holden is left alone to think about things this tends to also make him feel alone. You could say that in a way Holden is his own worst enemy. If he spent time with others then he wouldn’t have time or want to think about what happened him in the past. “ I just kept lying there on Ely’s bed, thinking about Jane and all.”(Pg 48) Instead of dwelling on the past Holden needs to move on and not overthink things or people from the past. This will make him a happier person in the end.
Although Holden is lonely, he chooses to be. He is his own worst enemy, and until he can except the fact that he needs relationships with people he will forever be an outcast. Being social and putting himself out there into the world isn’t all that bad. At the very end of the book he does realize that relationships are beneficial he realizes that he’s not lonely anymore.
