Catcher in the Rye Judgment Paper
Judging someone based on appearance or a first impression usually isn’t an accurate depiction of the person’s true personality. But to Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, first impressions are concrete in his mind. Because he is so judgmental, he doesn’t have any friends and eventually goes insane seeing as human nature is to communicate and interact and he doesn’t have anyone to interact with. J.D. Salinger argued in the catcher in the rye that being judgmental isn’t beneficial to ones well-being or success in life and this is seen as Holden Caulfield judges everyone and pushed most away when in reality he longed for anyone to be close with.
In the novel, Holden got kicked out of Pencey Prep for failing four of five classes. On his way out, he decides to pay Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, a visit. They sit down and Mr. Spencer begins to lecture Holden about his effort in school and his future, but Holden refuses to listen to Mr. Spencer criticize his life. Holden abruptly left Mr. Spencer’s house because he viewed Mr. Spencer only as a man trying to criticize him, and not a man trying to help him. “You will,’ Old Spencer said. ‘You will, boy. You will when it’s too late.’ I didn’t like hearing him say that. It made me sound dead or something” (14) When Mr. Spencer says this to Holden, he is saying how it’ll be too late when Holden finally wakes up to reality. Holden strongly dislikes this and that’s the reason he left. That is one of the first instances of Holden judging and pushing away those around him. He then returns to his dormitory and his neighbor, Ackley, stops by. Ackley is described as a pimply nerd and that is the first impression of Ackley, solely his physical description. Holden focuses on his pimples, and his nail-clipping, and his mannerisms to portray Ackley as a disgusting human instead of focusing on who he is as a person. Because Holden is the narrator, his view of Ackley is easily seen as shallow and it makes Ackley look like an
In the novel, Holden got kicked out of Pencey Prep for failing four of five classes. On his way out, he decides to pay Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, a visit. They sit down and Mr. Spencer begins to lecture Holden about his effort in school and his future, but Holden refuses to listen to Mr. Spencer criticize his life. Holden abruptly left Mr. Spencer’s house because he viewed Mr. Spencer only as a man trying to criticize him, and not a man trying to help him. “You will,’ Old Spencer said. ‘You will, boy. You will when it’s too late.’ I didn’t like hearing him say that. It made me sound dead or something” (14) When Mr. Spencer says this to Holden, he is saying how it’ll be too late when Holden finally wakes up to reality. Holden strongly dislikes this and that’s the reason he left. That is one of the first instances of Holden judging and pushing away those around him. He then returns to his dormitory and his neighbor, Ackley, stops by. Ackley is described as a pimply nerd and that is the first impression of Ackley, solely his physical description. Holden focuses on his pimples, and his nail-clipping, and his mannerisms to portray Ackley as a disgusting human instead of focusing on who he is as a person. Because Holden is the narrator, his view of Ackley is easily seen as shallow and it makes Ackley look like an