Catcher in the Rye Thesis Essay

7) Page 14: Notice how Holden is disgusted or annoyed by all the aspects of Spencer that demonstrate his old age: “the bumpy chest”, the “house smelling like Vicks”, the man not being able to “flick a book on a bed”, his “stooped figure”. In the beginning of the chapter he wonders what purpose Spencer even has in still being alive.

In the beginning of Catcher in the Rye, Holden was extremely selfish and didn’t ever consider other people’s opinions and how they might feel. As the story has gone he has continued to move along he has failed to realize that not all people are phony and mean. He goes on the date and as they are going in to a cab he thinks, “I sort of hated old Sally by the time we got into the cab, after listening to phony Andover bastard for about ten hours” (140). Holden is trying to be friends with Sally, but realizes that it’s not going over well. Holden is beginning to realize that the people he is trying to be friends with are not working out for him because he does not allow himself to blend with people. He is getting himself deeper into isolation and

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

He instantly starts getting ideas about working and earning a living on his own. Holden says, “I’d get a job. I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people’s cars… Just so people didn’t know me and I didn’t know anybody” (257). He understands that independence is significant in maturing and leaving behind the pacifier of his hat; and symbolically, his comfort. Holden wants to move away and find a way to work and support himself. He grows tired of people easily, but he would rather be in isolation and be supporting himself than running away from his internal

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationship he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.

Alienation is Holden’s solution to protect himself from others and adulthood. He constantly isolates himself to protect his innocence and not get affected by phony adults. However, Holden desperately wants to be loved and cared for. A sign of immaturity has shown in him because Holden instead of facing responsibilities he avoids it. Holden isolates himself from the people at Percy and purposely fails in almost all his courses and flunks out of school. Holden mentions that “They kicked [him] out… on account of [he] was flunking four subjects.” (4) Holden intentionally failed his courses do that he would be kicked out of school. Holden believes that

In the scope of things, Holden’s actions to alienate himself perpetuated his depression and triggered his downward spiral and mental decline. There was a clear internal conflict between his need to protect himself from the pain others cause and, his intrinsic need for companionship. A self-destructive cycle was born out of this conflict. Holden would alienate himself for protection, this resulted in him feeling lonely and depressed, this resulted in his reaching out to others, the interactions lead him to believe that people are destructive which ultimately leads to him alienating

Holden seems to have the most scorn for people who think or try to act as if they are something they're not. His bitterness, which stems from his need for a perfect and simple world, is directed towards people who hide their true personalities behind masks thus shattering his dream of a "black and white" society. Holden's need for a society devoid of complications and surprises is made evident when he visits the Museum of Natural History. Holden loves going to the Museum of Natural History because it symbolizes the ideal world he wants to live in; a world that never changes, where everything is plain and simple, and easily understandable. When external forces force Holden to see reality, that the world is a very complicated and ever changing entity, Holden rejects it as a form of phoniness. However, in his constant search for the infinite imperfections of his world, Holden fails to realize that he too is a phony. Holden admits to being a compulsive liar and also has a habit of being needlessly cruel. When Holden meets Mrs. Morrow, a classmates mother, on the train, he purposefully feeds her misleading information about her son Ernest. Holden tells her that, "[Ernest] is one of the most popular boys at Pencey," when he actually believes that "her son was ... the

            Holden is quite skilled at citing exactly what is wrong with other people.  However he never acknowledges his own faults.  He was sure the entire world was out of step with him.  As Alan Stewart explains, ?Holden seemed to divide the world into two groups.  He was in one group, along with a few other people such as his little sister, Phoebe, and

Holden has several insecurities that are displayed throughout the book that hint at his condition.

Holden’s alienation is a result of how he wants to avoid the problems in his life and how he doesn 't want to acknowledge them.This character of a brooding adolescent is created to show the physical effects of events in his life. Throughout the chapters he frequently refers to the hardships in his life.These hardships include his brother’s death at a young age, his intimacy issues, and inability to form healthy relationships.Holden’s innocent manner therefore is caused by the impression that his brother’s death left on him.His unknown sense of identity has subsequently made him feel detached from his own family. As his elder brother and younger sister are considerably successful,Their successes have made the recently kicked out Holden feel

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is the story of Holden, a boy who struggles with emotions and how to tell his parents he got kicked out of school, again. He is always travelling around New York trying to find something to entertain himself and have fun. But you can tell by the subtle hints he drops throughout the entire book he hates change. As he tries to tell people about how he feels he finds himself alone and isolated. Throughout the course of Holden’s journey we clearly see he struggles with isolation as he tries to find comfort in different people, all he can find comfort in is his red hat and Phoebe.

To begin with, Holden has isolated himself from the world, much like many adolescents who have created their own alienation from society to deal with their dilemmas. Social alienation is a condition reflected by low common values when one feels, isolation from a human is the end result they believe they need. “I felt like giving someone a buzz. My brother, My sister, Jane Gallagher's mother, Sally Hayes, Carl Luce. So I ended up not calling anybody.” (Salinger, 77) These are the words of Holden which reflected his current state. Here, one can see, Holden has options to talk to someone and interact but refuses. For many people, alienation can be both a good and bad state, It prevents one from getting hurt or losing people because

Isolation because of fear makes relating to others very difficult. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield isolates himself throughout the book because of his many fears such as growing up, lack of companionship, and his views of authenticity. To begin with, Holden Caulfield struggles with the reality of growing up during the course of the novel. In example, Holden erases all the swear words on the school wall in attempt to preserve innocence.

He isolates himself as he believes that staying away from the phonies is better than pretending to like them. He surmises individuals are phonies because they have been exposed to the world of adulthood, which in this case Holden is trying to avoid. In addition, Holden’s struggle to call his old friend, Jane Gallagher, reveals he is worried about the way people view him. Holden debates with himself about getting in contact with Jane by phoning her to reunite. Although he wants to talk to her, he constantly makes excuses for not calling.