Structuralism, Holden Caulfield, And The Catcher In The R
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Structuralism, Holden Caulfield, and The Catcher in the Rye Many aspects of life cannot be isolated from one another; these ideas and structures can only be understood by looking inside the broader aspect of structures. This is the true meaning of structuralism. Holden Caulfield is a very unique character in the story The Catcher in the Rye. What separates him from everyone else is his personal aspect of life that thousands of people view differently after both reading and analyzing the story. Holden Caulfield creates a system of structuralism throughout The Catcher in the Rye that is hard to find anywhere else. A major theme of structuralism is how everything can be seen differently by different people. Holden Caulfield is a living example…show more content… Many of Holden’s peculiarities are very unusual, but by reviewing structuralism, everything can be seen through a different point of view.
The history of an individual’s life can actually change the way Holden’s strange personality can be recognized and analyzed; this is a perfect example of structuralism inside the story. Holden can be viewed as a very sad, pitiful individual, who has a very false view of human nature. My reasoning behind this is mainly because of how much of a one-sided person he actually is. He just can never understand other people’s reasoning. One of the most important aspects of life is being able to understand others and realize that no one is always right about
Hood 2 everything. It is very hard to…show more content… Holden was very fond of his younger brother, and whether or not Allie’s death still impacts Holden is a question many people still ask today. Was it really events that made Holden how he is in the story? Or was Holden born the way he is? These are some abstract ideas commonly questioned inside of structuralism. These tragedies throughout Holden’s lifetime may very well cause him to act like he does throughout the majority of the story. Maybe Holden is very insecure about himself and that is why he is so judgmental towards others. It could be very hard for us to ever find out if this is true because Holden is the one telling us the story; and he is very untrustworthy. Another subject to discuss is Holden’s favorite word throughout the majority of the book, “phony”. Near the beginning of the story Holden has an interesting conversation with Mr. Spencer and says “Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.” (Salinger 12) Holden uses this word to describe people he thinks are annoying or just very predictable. He does not appreciate how they act or what they say; and the majority of the time he decides to do this is based off of a first impression. Some people may understand this better than others, but this is outright ridiculous. Holden should stop worrying about other people and concentrate on some of his own problems; although he probably never will never realize his own problems. Holden only knows how to criticize other