In a well-written paragraph of 300 words, take a position on Holden's frailties. What's his biggest problem? Name it, then support it from the text.
Remember the 5 themes we have studied throughout this novel. They might help you with this assignment.
MARKING SCHEME:
Analysis is thoughtful and explores the significance of the topic:
10 12 14 16 18 20
Quotation is included and supports your analysis:
5 6 7 8 9 10
Mechanics are fluid and sophisticated; Wording is formal.
5 6 7 8 9 10
J.D. Salinger’s portrayal of Holden Caufield in his iconic coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is widely regarded as the epitome of teen angst. After its initial publication in 1945, many writers refused to write teenaged characters, as they felt the full analysis of the teenage psyche had already been achieved through Salinger’s work. That being said, Holden is portrayed as an anxious, severely depressed character who displays bipolar tendencies and consistent mistrust of the world and people around him. His biggest flaw, however, would be his insistence on passivity and inertia. Holden’s distinct inability to move forward into the present or forget the past is crucial to his systematic isolation from those around him. He openly admits to not feeling concern about his future (Salinger 14); and the only times he removes himself from his depressive and passive language style is when discussing childhood or his siblings, such as on page 119 when he meets a young girl in Central Park: “God, I love it when a kid’s nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something.” Holden rarely admits to loving anything, frequently condemning those around him as “phony” and “corny” (Salinger 16, 50). He lives in the past, frequently relying on the memory of his dead younger brother Allie to get him through rough experiences, and living vicariously through Allie’s inability to grow older and be forced to take on responsibilities of adulthood (Salinger 38, 156). The most quintessential example of Holden’s inertia, however, is the symbol of the Museum of Natural History, a place he cites frequently as one of his favourite places. This is because the Museum represents Holden’s own passivity and fear of the future: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was...The only thing that’d be different was you,” (Salinger 121). Holden, as mentally ill as he is, finds his fatal flaw in his ability to adapt: if he could change his behaviours, or even outlook, to a more positive angle, he might be able to move forward. His absolute inability to move away from his past, and his petrifying fear of the future create for him a vicious cycle of inertia that his is ultimately unable to escape.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the whole story, I found myself either feeling sorry for Holden Caulfield, or wanting to tell him to stop taking everything so seriously. It is clear to see that there are some deep rooted issues there, but what exactly is his problem? Other than him being insanely emotional and sensitive, he also has impossibly high standards. He is desperately searching for someone to connect with, but it seems as though his ‘friends’ are either phonies, or just trying to take advantage of him . Whether he’s lending out his type writer or his turtleneck sweater, or writing a composition for an unthankful phony like Stradlater, Holden’s heart is in the right place- however, as a result of being unappreciated too many times, Holden has a disheartening perspective on most situations and on life in general. Usually, there are specific reasons for people to feel this way. It was made clear that Allie’s death was hugely significant for Holden. Allie finds a way to pop up over and over again. When Phoebe asks Holden to name something he likes, the first, if not only, thing he can think of is Allie. “I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake – especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all.” Allie is potentially the reason Holden has a strong love for kids and innocence, but his reasoning for disliking adults or teenagers is unknown to me. He is morally conflicted- he rebels because he does not want to participate in the materialistic adult world that is being forced upon him. Holden Caulfield has several potential psychological problems that can be observed throughout the course of the novel. Depression, social anxiety, sexuality unawareness, or just afraid to grow up, Holden is just a teen who is lonely and unsure of where he’s going in life.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Papetti
Holden Caulfield’s biggest problem is that he is unable to mature, and wants to stay innocent like a child. Many things factor into his desires to stay young, and it is evident throughout the book that Holden has a reverence for children and their innocence, and that he doesn’t want to face the responsibilities he has as an adult. Holden is inevitably stuck between being a child and becoming an adult. He tries to act mature by doing this such as smoking and drinking, but acts childish in his nature. Whenever Holden attempts to grow up, such as hiring a prostitute, he always backs out in the end and fails to go through with his intentions. “I also say ‘Boy!’ quite a lot. Partly because I have a lousy vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age sometimes.” (2.22) Holden himself that he does act childish, but later contradicts his statement by saying that everyone just thinks he acts young, yet he acts old for his age when no one is around. He also says that he gets bored when people try to tell him to act his age, so his resent to grow up may come from his inability to trust adults. Part of Holden’s desire to stay young may come from the fact that his brother, Allie, never got to. Holden idolizes Allie and wants to be like him, preserved as an innocent child forever. “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway.” (16.25). Overall, Holden is simply not prepared to deal with the stress and hardships that come with adulthood. He is hostile to the idea of change, and wants everything to stay the same.
ReplyDeleteLaura Martel
It doesn’t take us long to figure out that Holden Caulfield is a very downhearted young man. After his many breakdowns and obstacles we start to piece together that Holden is an over all clinically depressed person, in fact, he doesn’t try to hide it in his narration. We see throughout the novel that Holden has a negative outlook on pretty much every situation he is put in.
ReplyDeleteBy definition, depression is a mental illness in which one simply cannot find the joy in life, where he or she is constantly feeling in a low mood. If this doesn’t scream Holden then I don’t know what does. Holden displays his negativity many different times in the novel. To begin with, he speaks several times in the novel about how “preppy” and “dumb” his school is along with most people attending. His only friends Ackley and Stradlater he even constantly talks down to. This was shown in chapter six when an argument erupted between Stradlater and Holden.
“You’re a dirty stupid sonuvabitch of a moron” (Salinger, 44)Holden would repeat to Stradlater, knowing he is very annoyed by it. He also continued to call Ackley, “Ackley Kid” because he knew how much Ackley hated when he did.
We also see many occurrences where Holden mentions suicide. An example would be in chapter 14 when Holden says,
“What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (Salinger, 104).
There are many possible reasons as to why Holden is so bitter and depressed. Could it be the death of his brother? Or maybe the isolation he feels from his parents? Whatever it is, he doesn’t hide that it affects his life.
- Olivia Pollock
The problem with Holden Caufield is that he has a cloudy judgement on society and the people within it. He is prejudice against those he knows nothing about and even though he is fully aware of his accusations, he will continue to make them. This is evident when he sees the nuns at the train station carrying 'very inexpensive-looking suitcases', and is repulsed by their appearance. "It isn't important, I know, but I hate it when somebody has cheap suitcases. It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get to hate somebody, just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases with them"(15.108). Ironically Holden says he hates the way suitcases define people, but is guilty because of this judgement. Before even getting to know these nuns he is judging them by their financial class. He is unable to accept the fact that he is a flaw himself, so instead he projects it onto strangers so he can accept himself as a person. By Holden's favourite word 'phony', he fits well to it's description; a person who is deceptive, shallow, superficial or dishonest. He is the representation of shallowness. With the way he treats these women by criticizing their appearance, his analysis is very superficial and unfair towards them. He has little intelligence on their situation and what they actually do, yet he still decides to state his opinion no matter how wrong it may be. After getting to know the nuns he realizes they are good people and ends up liking them so much that when Phoebe asks Holden to name one thing he likes later that day, he mentions the nuns. This goes to show that by constantly labeling others as 'phonies', he is projecting his hypocrisy to the readers of this novel and other characters in the story.
ReplyDelete- Chloe Charlton
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield expresses the problems he faces in the world to the reader. Holden is an idealist, clinging to the notion that he is superior to the “phonies” of society. He also displays symptoms of depression, a cynical outlook, and a disquieted emanation, which make his character both intriguing and of questionable dependability. Holden struggles through many inner conflicts over the duration of the novel, often to no resolve, but his fatal flaw and the root of most of his problems is his inability to understand his own feelings. To the reader, Holden is clearly resistant of maturing and growing up, and begrudges adults because of their corruption, in-authenticity, and loss of innocence. On the other hand, Holden places children on a pedestal, because they are untainted by society. An example of this is Holden’s brother Allie, who dies before he can be influenced by the adult world, so his memory remains eternally childlike and one of purity and virtue. Whenever Holden is in an uncomfortable situation, he evades it by shielding himself with pleasant memories of his youthful brother. These memories give him comfort because they epitomize what is right in the world, and give Holden a false impression that he too can forever stay a child. Holden does not say it outright, but he hints at his inherent strife with the perils of maturation. He says, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you” (Salinger 121). Holden wants his life to stay unchanged, just like the displays in The Museum of Natural History, and for this to happen Holden cannot grow old. Holden opposes things that are associated with happiness or success, as he sees corruption at their origin. Holden repeatedly describes these things as “phony”, because he doesn’t know how to communicate his feelings that in reality he dislikes the artificial success and triumph that often comes along with adulthood. Holden is desperate to escape the system of human development, in order to avoid becoming another phony, concerned with money and social expectations. Holden conveys his emotions on corruption in the adult world during a conversation on his future with Sally, when he says, “I said no, there wouldn't be marvelous places to go to after I went to college and all. Open your ears. It'd be entirely different … It wouldn't be the same at all” (Salinger 133).Whether Holden is frightened, nervous, or actually repulsed by being an adult, he does not know how to properly express these feelings, due to a combination of factors such as his battle with mental illness, and traumatic childhood events like the death of Allie or his suggested experience of sexual abuse. These factors prompt Holden’s psychological confusion, his ultimate fatal flaw, and his total ineptitude for advancement.
ReplyDelete-Annelise P.
Holden is the main character of Catcher in the Rye. As we observe him, we see that he suffers from many problems, eventually leading him into the mental hospital. However, the biggest problem Holden suffers from is his hypocritical behaviour. This is shown in several parts of the novel. For example Holden says “Anybody else except Ackley would’ve taken the goddamn hint. Not him, though....... He kept standing there. He was exactly the kind of a guy that wouldn’t get out of your light when you asked him to. He’d do it, finally, but it took him a lot longer if you asked him to.” (Golding 20-21). Holden is explaining to the readers that he hates how Ackley doesn’t listen to him when he has a request. In this case, being in front of his reading light. However, Holden himself is no better, as he does the same thing to Luce when they went drinking. Luce says to Holden “‘Let’s drop it,’ old Luce said. ‘Do you mind?’ ‘All right, but listen. Take you and this Chinese babe. What’s so good about you two?’ ‘Drop it, I said.’” (Golding 147). These two are classic examples of Holden contradicting himself. Holden gets mad at Ackley for not listening to his request, just as he himself won’t listen to Luce about dropping the subject of Luce being with the Chinese woman, and discussing their sex life. Holden himself doesn't realize that he is doing the exact thing that he hates people doing to him. Holden’s hypocritical behaviour is constantly shown in the novel, this being only one example of it. And usually when hypocritical behaviour is shown, we tend not to like that person. Holden is not liked by others because of this, and causes several other problems in his life, such as loneliness and poor communication. Therefore, Holden’s main problem is his hypocritical behaviour.
ReplyDeleteKim Desharnais
Holden's largest problem is his inability to realize that he is the embodiment of what he detests most in life. Throughout the entirety of the book he spends his time judging others based on their behaviors. He takes all of this information into account and creates for himself, an image of how he thinks they truly are. He considers these people phony because of the “shell's” they wear to hide their true sentiments. What he doesn't realize is that he is also one of those phonies he hates so much. Near the beginning of the book he calls himself “THE MOST terrific liar you ever saw in your life”(salinger 16). This is an evident contradiction in Holden's beliefs, ones he believes to be very solid. Holden hates it when anyone is insincere or less than truthful with him, but he tells lies throughout the book to almost everyone he meets. For example, Holden makes up a random excuse to leave Mr. Antilonis home,etc...We also see this weakness in character while he is acting as the narrator. A prime example of this is when he is speaking with Sally Hayes. He attempts to put himself in moral power with his narration even though his reasoning is not justified. Sally says "Stop screaming at me, please,"and Holden responds by telling the reader that her statement was crap because he didnt even yell at her. He uses his power as the narrator to make himself seem like the good guy. These are only some of several examples that depict holdens true nature, there are several others that can further elaborate on this point.
ReplyDeleteAser El.Sharkawy
Holden’s biggest problem is that he is going to have to grow up. His disconnect with adult lifestyle allows him to push aside his stresses associated with growing up. When Holden is speaking to Bernice they say: “‘It's immaterial to me,’ she said. ‘Hey—how old are you, anyhow?’ That annoyed me, for some reason. ‘Oh, Christ. Don't spoil it,’ I said. ‘I'm twelve, for Chrissake. I'm big for my age’” (Salinger 72). When Holden becomes annoyed when he is asked about age he lies and says he is twelve when he is sixteen. His inability to be truthful about his age displays that he is unready to grow up. Holden is willing to admit that he acts young for his age because he wants people to accept it. One example of this is when he talks about the grey hairs on his head: “The one side of my head – the right side – is full of millions of gray hairs. I've had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve” (9). Growing up will prove difficult for Holden because he does not want to accept change relative to adulthood, but he wants certain aspects of adult life. He wants to drink, smoke, and have control in his life but still criticizes adult life. One example of this is when he sees Phoebe when she sleeps: “Old Phoebe didn't even wake up. When the light was on and all, I sort of looked at her for a while. She was laying there asleep, with her face sort of on the side of the pillow. You take adults, they look lousy when they're asleep, but kids don't. Kids look all right. They can even spit all over the pillow and they still look all right” (159). Holden’s biggest problem is his inability to grow up. His criticism, miscomprehension, and annoyance allow him to neglect age though he enjoys many aspects of adult lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteKestra Harris
J.D. Salinger does a great job of portraying a depressed character, Holden is negative, draining, and isolated. His emotions are all over the place and so are his thoughts. Holden is the epitome of a depressed character, but this is also his greatest frailty. He is inconsistent and he is an unreliable narrator, which makes the book exhausting to read. Holden is unable to see anything as entirely good, but plenty of things can be entirely bad. For example, when he goes on his date with Sally, he says many times that he doesn't really like her but she will do to pass the time. A few hours into their date though, he is asking her to run away with him and live in the woods and declaring his love. Moments later, he tells her "'You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth,'" (Salinger 133).His wild emotional ups and downs drive people away. He has no energy most of the time because he uses all his energy pretending he is a nonchalant person. In reality, Holden feels everything so acutely and extremely that it is his greatest downfall.
ReplyDeleteJoelle Penner
In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, has a variety of weaknesses. One of his biggest weaknesses is that he’s stubborn, and the fact that he never considers other people’s ideas which results in him never learning his lesson. Holden is also a lonely and isolated character, seeing as he often alienates himself as a form of self protection and even admits it to the reader several times. He’s desperate to interact with others so that he can fulfill his desire of talking to someone he enjoys being with. He’s so desperate that he finds himself asking cab drivers to spend some time with him. "Well – take me to the Edmont then," I said. "Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me, I'm loaded" (Salinger 60). Holden is also a very irresponsible character. He’s been kicked out of school numerous times as he admitted to Mr. Spencer in chapter 2: “This is about the fourth school I’ve gone to” (Salinger 9), and he does not learn how to think his decisions out carefully. Another example of Holden’s irresponsibility is when he forgets the fencing team’s equipment on the subway causing them to forfeit the match. Upon doing so, Holden blames the incident on the fencing team for making him take the wrong subway which was his fault in the first place. This is another example of Holden’s frailties; he blames his wrong-doings on others even when it’s his fault. He also accuses his brother, D.B., of selling out when he chooses to be a screenwriter, rather than being a poor novelist: “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me” (Salinger 2). In the end Holden is a character who becomes overwhelmed by the number of weaknesses he possesses, resulting in him never finding a straight path in life.
ReplyDelete-Dylan Dean
One major adolescent issue that Holden faces in the novel is dealing with his sexuality. Near the end of the book, Holden assumes that Mr. Antolini is trying to make a sexual move on him, and he says that these types of things have happened to him many times before. It is unclear if Holden means that he has been molested in the past or whether he has received advances by other males in the past. In either case, the experience with Mr. Antolini makes Holden uncomfortable at the moment when it happens. “I felt something on my head, some guy's hand. Boy, it really scared hell out of me. What it was, it was Mr. Antolini's hand. What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head"(Salinger 83). This surprises Holden and puts him in a state of shock. He is unsure what Mr. Antolini is doing causing a huge unease from then on. Also, earlier in the novel, Holden displays his inexperience with women. Even though he talks a great deal about making out with girls, when he invites Sunny to his room, he does not have sex with her. He claims that he realized he was not in the mood, but he often says this to cover up his true intentions. He also used this line to get out of speaking to Jane when she went on a date with Stradlater. Once again, he shows to be very distant in regards to sexual activities unlike most teenage boys. Holden is having a hard time facing the realization of growing up and he doesn’t want to. He is still caught in his desire to go back to his childhood, so his adolescent sexuality is an issue that he is not prepared to address.
ReplyDelete- Caitlyn Graves
Holden's biggest problem is that he fails to realize that he is his own problem. He constantly want to connect with people throughout the book but because he doesn't understand them he calls them phonies. When he arrives in New York he makes a date with Sally Hayes; a girl he used to go out with. During the date they rent skates and he starts asking her about school. "'Its a terrific bore' 'I mean do you hate it? I know it’s a terrific bore, but do you hate it, is what I mean.' 'Well, I don't exactly hate it. You always have to-' 'Well I hate it. Boy, do I hate it"'(Salinger 130). Since Sally doesn't immediately say what he wants to hear he interrupts her and gives her a big speel about why he hates school. Sally also tells him to stop screaming at her but Holden dismisses it became “ he wasn’t screaming at her”. He goes on to be quite angry with her, calling her a royal pain in the behind. Holden fails to realize that he is being a pain for her, because he is being so rude to her and not listening. He seeks her understanding of his problems but fails to realize that he is the reason that she doesn't. Holden fails to realize that he is the one being the problem, not everyone else and that everyone isn’t the problem because they’re not like him or they act differently than him. Perhaps if Holden could have realized that he was his own problem he could have changed his actions and instead of blaming everyone else for his problems he could have fixed them himself or looked for adequate help.
ReplyDeleteTravis Gough
In “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Sallinger the protagonist Holden Claufield has many problems and is a strange kid but his biggest problem is that he doesn’t know when he is the problem. He often judges people for things that he does himself, this makes him kind of a hypocrite. He will usually criticize someone for something they did but really he would do the same thing. For example when he is making a big deal to sally to go away with her he says, “You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth”(Salinger ). Holden says that Sally is being a royal pain in the ass but really he is because he is making a big deal about leaving when she clearly said she didn't want to. Even tho she said that she didn't want to he kept on her and he really did not care about what she thought. Holden often thinks he's right about things when he really isn't and doesn't know when he is the problem. Holden often doesn’t know when he is wrong about something and he might even end up arguing with you about it. When he is speaking to sally he starts to yell at her but doesn't realize, “don't shout please,” old sally said. Which was funny, because i wasn't even shouting. Since Holden is the narrator he says he doesn't shout when he really does because its implied. This shows that Holden is the problem in this situation and he is to blind to see it. Whenever Holden has a problem or is the problem he often finds someone to blame it on. In this case it is sally because she refuses to go on with Holden's farfetched plan and run away with him. Most of the time Holden can't understand why people think in different ways than him. Throughout the book he expects people to understand his line of thinking and if they don't he makes them the one to blame it on and makes it seem that they are the problem when in reality he is. This is why it is Holden's biggest problem and why he will remain strange in many peoples eyes.
ReplyDeleteZack Demont
Throughout Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger explores Holden’s psychology. He portrays Holden as a teenager with many issues and social problems. Our ability to look at the world in the novel through Holden’s eyes, lets us know how unstable Holden truly is.His greatest flaw would be his inability to grow up. Holden has had copious amount of problems with not wanting to become an adult. He likes to think that he is younger than he actually is. “...I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen. It's really ironical, because I'm six foot two and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head – the right side – is full of millions of gray hairs. I've had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve” (Salinger 9). This shows that he doesn’t like how he's getting older. He wants to stay young and for things to stay how they were when he was a kid. This inability to accept adulthood has created problems in Holden's life. For example, Holden doesn't try to finish his education by doing his work and graduating. This is because society has an expectancy that when kids graduate is another step towards adulthood. This scares Holden. Without him graduating, he can't get a job or make a living. Even if he wants to stay young, adulthood will catch up to him and he’ll have to look after himself. Just like every other adult. He will have to work for money somehow, which is a responsibility and necessity that an adult has. Since money is a big part of adulthood, Holden doesn't like that aswell. "Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell." ( Salinger 113). That being said, Holden has to face adulthood eventually. Before it hits him by surprise.
ReplyDelete-Diego Vergara