protagonist Holden Caulfield who is afraid of the reality of change since he was traumatized at a young age. Caulfield is a 17-year-old boy who lived with his parents as well as his two younger siblings, Phoebe, and Allie before being sent off to attend Pencey Prep, a boarding school. Whilst Holden was 13 years old and living with his family, his younger brother, Allie, who had been fighting Leukemia, was killed by the cancerous disease. After his brother’s
were vapid. Holden, the main character of the story, seemed out of his rightful mind and did not belong in college. Since Holden was failing out of Pencey Prep, it gave the story a vibe that there was something unsettling to where he could not concentrate on his schooling. As the story went on we got to see the full point of view on his life and how he handles vast complications. Holden Caulfield, who is a deranged and psychotic 17 year-old, seems to not be in the right state of mind. Holden acts around
form of death. In Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger takes his readers into the mind of Holden Caulfield who deals with his own loss of innocence starting at a young age to being a junior in high school. Holden first deals with the loss of innocence at a very young age: his brother’s, Allie’s death. As he gets older, he deals with not just his own lost innocence, but others’ lost innocence as well. Since Holden wants to go back to being innocent and having the purest of minds, like a child, he struggles
the Rye” It is even harder for the main character holden. Before the book begins his younger brother allie dies of leukemia. His death leads holden to be torn between becoming an adult and trying to hold onto his childhood. He tries to make himself look and feel like an adult even though inside he just wants to be a kid. Holden often uses cigarettes and alcohol to make him feel more like an adult even though he doesn't really want to use them. Holden often remarks on his smoking/drinking afterwards
In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield uses the ducks in central park as a motif all throughout the novel. Holden has never really gotten along or fit in with anyone and has always been an odd ball to his peers. After being kicked out of Pencey Prep, he asked the cabbie where the ducks in Central Park go for the winter; although, the cabbie takes it as a joke, it has a very significant meaning to the story. He connects with the ducks through the sense of not having anywhere else to go, not fitting
Through Holden we can see how much he wants to be like his sister Phoebe, he wants to stay young for as long as he can. He wants to run away with a girl named Sally. During a date they have Holden suggests “...tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts or Vermont...We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out, I
is perfect for Holden when he is saying goodbye to Pencey Prep forever, walking down the street of New York or feeling helpless and alone in a crowd. There are many lyrics in the “Lonely Street” that mirrors Holden’s personality and his catastrophic life experiences. Consider for example, “I've got a sad, sad tale to tell. I need a place to