Preview

The Theme Of Life In Catcher In The Rye

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
519 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Theme Of Life In Catcher In The Rye
Teenage life for Holden seems to be difficult because he truly believes that he has no connection with anyone. Due to that he alienates himself by not participating in school and that leads him into another hole due to the fact he's already been kicked out of other schools decides to try and take life by the hands and do whatever he wants. Teenage life hasn't really changed over the years. There are still a lot of things that are always going to be the same and Teenager hood is like that. People are always going to do stupid things that get them in trouble and make rash decisions. It’s a tenagers job to make mistake and then learn from those mistakes later on in life. Right from the beginning there are a lot of mistakes made by hoden. The very …show more content…
The fear of getting old is scary, but it's just one of those things that going to happen no matter what. Instead of freaking out about it more people try to enjoy their lives instead of trying to slow time down. Teenage life was hard for some people as shown for Holden. It was really hard for him to fit in and because of that he wasn’t able to focus like he should have and succeed like he should have. Something that never seems to change is love when it comes to teenagers. After finding out the girl he likes was with another guy Holden flips out and while that may seem like the wrong move to get into a fight with a guy that was with the girl you like. It’s actually a really common thing, nowadays there aren't really fights just more arguments about the matter but love is the one thing that won’t change. As Holden gets older he will finally understand to get the girl he's gotta be stable first and be kind. When he flipped out he flipped out because he let someone get under his skin. “He’s gonna screw your girlfriend!”. After Holden allows for them to get under his skin he’s gone. His innocence is gone in a way because a innocence boy wouldn't flip out on someone just for being with someone they

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Summary

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages

    "The Catcher in the Rye" opens with Holden Caulfield at Pency Prep, his high school, where he has just been kicked out for failing almost all of his classes. Holden, as a lost and frustrated teen, goes to his room for his last night before planning to run away from Pency Prep for some "alone time" before telling his parent he was kicked out of another school.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden said yes and lied about his age. The when the prostitute came to his room, he changed his mind and asked her to leave. Another example of Holden’s hypocrisy is that he criticizes people but still asks them to sit down and have a little drink and talk! The only good thing that he does is that he visits his sister Phoebe once in awhile. He says she’s the only person he truly loves. It doesn’t stop here, he made numerous mistakes throughout the novel. One mistake he made is, when he was kicked out of Pencey, he didn’t tell his parents and when the found out that he was kicked out, he got in more trouble. Thinking before making a decision is a good thing to do. Another example is when Sally was crying, he started laughing for no reason, and that made Sally feel even worst. He needs to think about the consequences before doing something…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For some reason holden having everything he could ever imagine he is still unhappy. He wastes his parents money that go towards to the prep schools that he fails out of. He doesnt want to tell his parents anything about him failing out of the school because hes afraid they will be mad. Holden doesnt have any friends that he hangs out with. The only person he really feels close to is his sister Pheobe. He tries to do everything he can to see her. with all that holden has in his life he still feels like he needs love or a substitute for love. The only person he is really in love with is jane who went out on a date with holdens roommate at pency.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One childhood aspect of Holden staying in between childhood and adulthood is how he is always trying to protect children from bad adult things in the real world. An example of this is when he is in the museum and he sees profanity written on the wall. This graffiti offends him, and he washes it off so no children have to see bad language like that at such a young age. This shows that he really does care for children and wants to protect them as much as he can. Holden also is constantly aware of the things he says…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Just like the lake in a midway transition, Holden is between childhood and adulthood, and cannot seem to let go of his younger years. This is regularly proven when something goes wrong and he does something more adult in Holden's mind view such as repaying the prostitute. After the events, he often thinks he deserved it or just wanted to end it all. It can be regularly seen when something does not go the way Holden intended, he will often verbally beat himself up about it which shows Holden does not have very good self-esteem at this age. Interestingly, Holden also mentions "I didn't give much of a damn any more if they caught me. I really didn't. I figured if they caught me, they caught me. I almost wished they did, in a way." This can be interpreted to mean perhaps Holden wanted to transition into adulthood, but the grief of Allie's death was holding him back too much. Although at the end of the book, Holden has a realization about adulthood. During the carousel scene with Pheobe, Holden realizes Instead, of trying to catch kids or his own self from going into adulthood, he should allow them to make their own mistakes. He says, “I was sort of afraid…but I didn’t say or do anything…If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (232). Comparatively, it took a while for Holden to come to this realization. Moreover, it also helped…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden is so caught up in all the “phonies” and people around him that annoy him ,and he ends up having a hard time focusing and taking care of himself. Everyone around him annoys him except for those who truly understand him, like Phoebe and Jane. Many people in the novel do not understand that Holden is not being raised in the environment he needs to actually learn to grow up. He requires a stable unchanging environment, in which he is not receiving because his parents are not around to guide him. Instead, they continue to send Holden to schools in which he cannot completely handle because he is surrounded by tons of people who irritate him. He latches on to his memories though, which is why he is thrilled when Stradlater has a date with Jane, because Jane means the world to him. Holden has a hard time accepting the fact things are constantly changing around him. Part of the reason for why Holden is caught in his childhood is for the reason that he wants to revisit all of the good times that he had with Allie. This is described in, “Like everybody else in the book, Antolini fails to see what ails Holden is the death of his brother, Allie, plus parental neglect. (Marks 507).…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The title, The Catcher in the Rye, directly indicates the reoccurring theme of the novel, to protect the innocence of the younger generations. The novel is structured on Holden’s desire to protect all the innocent children in the world from growing up because with age comes experiences that lead to corruption and the loss of innocence.…

    • 181 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though Holden needs closeness and love in order to renew his life, he keeps driving himself further away from it in order to avoid the inevitable loss. The more he wants to experience life, the more antisocial he becomes and the more he imagines death. This paradox is part of Holden’s life: there is pain in shutting down one's feelings, and there is pain in the risk of opening oneself up again. He impossibly tries to avoid pains that are inevitable for human mortals while they live. As he starts to become mature since he says “...I said, in this very mature voice and all "Oh, I have a few qualms, all right. Sure. . . but not too many. Not yet, anyway. I guess it hasn't really hit me yet. It takes things a while to hit me. All I'm doing right now is thinking about going home Wednesday. I'm a moron." "Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?" "Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure, I do." I thought about it for a minute. "But not too much, I guess. Not too much, I guess." "You will," old Spencer said. "You will, boy. You will when it's too late." (Page 17) Since this is the beginning of the story it does show a sense of maturity through education however another example was Holden's interactions with his little sister Phoebe show his "maturity". He acts as a role model to her, or at the least…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Themes

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the book, the theme of growing up is shown. Holden has observed adults as he goes from school to school. When he was in Elkton High almost everybody was a phony and Holden…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden feels that he must find himself alone with no one else's help. Holden expresses his rebellious side when he gets kicked out of school, again. Holden doesn't like school because he doesn't like doing activities that he loses patience for and sees no point in doing them. Holden also is rebellious in the way that he smokes and drinks when he is a minor. He is an excessive smoker and turns to alcohol to suppress his feelings of depression, which are signs of alcoholism. This behavior is not unheard of, but is rare for a 16-year-old to become an alcoholic. From this rebellious attitude Holden becomes isolated from those around him. His first act of isolation with a combination of rebellion is when Holden…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye, and the movie Dead Poets Society, there are many themes portrayed that the characters deal with and learn from. Of the many themes displayed in the movie and novel, three that stood out were loneliness, dealing with change, and the pain of growing up. These three themes are vital and important, and play a significant role in the characters throughout the novel and movie. The struggles of loneliness, dealing with change, and growing up are difficulties faced by the characters that are both similar and different in the movie and novel.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He hasn’t started being the catcher in the rye yet, but he has the power to save the youngsters. Overall, Holden is a normal teen like the others. Teenagers like to convey their thoughts, take risks, be kind towards others, and experience things. They want to reveal what they are thinking in an honest way. Furthermore, the advantages including the enjoyment from doing things is important to them, so they do whatever it takes to get them. Teenagers are eager in what they want to do, but don’t start until later. To conclude, a typical teenager like Holden has these…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Holden Caulfield's Journey

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When he is assigned to look after his schools fencing equipment, he leaves the equipment on the train. He does not care about what he has done and does not even want to go back and look for it. Also, his attitude towards learning are atrocious, and when he finally flunks out of school, he does not bother to tell his parents. Instead, he escapes to New York City where he begins to learn things about himself and about others. However before he goes, he decides to visit his social studies teacher, who flunked him, to say good-bye. Also, he visits his previous English teacher to tell him he has flunked out of yet another school. Maturity is evident because he is trying to maintain relationships with people he cares about. Along his journey, though, small changes suggest that Holden is growing up. He was once very selfish and did not like to share. However when he encounters two poor nuns traveling to another church, he gives them a large portion of his remaining money. This is a major step in Holdens own self discovery. Holden requires much help to come to terms with his maturity. Even though he constantly speaks as if he is experienced in connection and bonding, they were always just…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout the novel Holden fights to protect his innocence from the cruel society around him that is just so… phony. He hates all of society for the phony things it does, he hates sex because that may make him feel that he too is apart of the adult life, and he hates change because change is just a recipe for a child to step into the new life, the older more mature life. The one that comes with responsibilities that Holden is not ready to…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays