Holden Caulfield Realism

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“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 277). Through this quote, JD Salinger, the brilliant author behind The Catcher in the Rye, gives us a deep perspective about his novel by showing the true feelings behind the complex character who is Holden Caulfield. Salinger was born on January 1, 1919 in New York City and became a world renowned author after the creation of his first novel, The Catcher in the Rye. In 1942, Salinger was drafted into the army after the invasion of Pearl Harbor where he devised multiple chapters about Holden Caulfield’s character. Although Salinger employed many effective themes throughout the novel, we would discourage someone from reading this book because of the confusing…show more content…
Throughout the novel, Holden always looks at things the way they are. For example, after all of the problems he encountered in the novel, Holden realizes his life has a new beginning towards the end of the story. Moreover, Holden constantly refers to people he encounters the way they actually behave, and never sugarcoats any of his descriptions, which sometimes benefits him, and sometimes hurts him. An example of Holden’s realism is shown in the quote, “I mean most girls are so dumb and all. After you neck them for a while, you can really watch them losing their brains. You take a girl when she really gets passionate, she just hasn't any brains” (Salinger 121). Holden clearly exhibits realism in this quote as he provides a blunt and cynical description of someone, with little care for pointing out any positive…show more content…
For example, Holden attempts to run away to California when things do not go his way, rather than attempting to solve his depression by getting help. This is also evident when Holden goes to a hotel in New York instead of going to his parent’s house, in order to avoid their criticism over being expelled from Pencey. Lastly, many of Holden’s actions result in more conflicts, rather than solutions. One of Holden’s first instincts is to always cover up his problems, which in turn creates further problems for him in the future. For example, Holden believes that if he lets his parents process the fact that he got expelled from school, they would not punish him as harshly. As a result, he runs away to New York where he encounters even more problems that range from his drunken escapades to his decision to run away from

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