Order original essay. When remembering his visit to Mr. He was alienated from the society. Holden is a character who is said to be motivated by his hormones and his own personal opinions alone. Favorite Quote: Afterism n - A concise, clever statement you don't think of until it's too late. It forces the reassessment of personal narratives, prejudices, and desideria.
Related topics
Teenage years; a quest for self identity, a sense of self. Teenagers use vulgar language, and are more rebellious than they were in their earlier years. In the essay on Catcher in the Ryea 16 year old boy by the name of Holden tells his narrative from the lonely walls of a sanatorium. Holden tells about his journey with sex, smoking, drinking, depression, and sexual abuse. However, A Catcher in the Rye deals with problems teenagers face on a daily basis, it teaches a valuable lesson, and students are able to reason with the novel. Therefore, this novel should not be banned. In A Catcher in the Rye, Holden experiences problems that many teenagers experience on a day to day basis.
Additionally, teens abuse alcohol more than any other drug. Also, according to ranin, catcher in the rye theme essay. org, 1 out of 9 females under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse and 1 out of 53 males under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse. How it works. Although he feels lonesome, catcher in the rye theme essay, neglected, alienated and depressed, he never reached out for help. His depression even catcher in the rye theme essay to a point where he was violent. Holden smashed windows and screamed at his friends. He became distant with his family. However, only thirty percent of those teens seek treatment. Teens feel many of the emotions that Holden feels. Teenagers also express themselves in the way that Holden does. In a final analysis, this novel should not be banned.
A Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel that deals with real world problems, despite how harsh it may seem. Holden experiences the emotions and problems that many teenagers face, his situation could be a lesson to the students going through similar tribulations, and the students reading the novel can relate to him. Need a custom essay on the same topic? Our writers can help you with any type of essay. For any subject Get your price How it works.
generation differences essay
Thus, sex, one of the romantic aspects of human life, is used in the adult world as a means of profit-making, so Holden feels to great extent disgusted by this tendency to capitalizing on the intimate relationships, which should stem from true feeling. Irony is used to show that the main character is also learning to deceive, as he often hides his true identity and refers to religion first with hatred and further with admiration so that his relationships with God are not clear. Need a custom Essay sample written from scratch by professional specifically for you? certified writers online. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible.
If you continue, we will assume that you agree to our Cookies Policy. Learn More. Salinger was written and submitted by your fellow student. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. Removal Request. If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. GET WRITING HELP. Cite This paper. Select a referencing style:. Copy to Clipboard Copied! APA-6 MLA-8 Chicago N-B Chicago A-D Harvard. Favorite Quote: Afterism n - A concise, clever statement you don't think of until it's too late.
There is a singular event that unites every single human being on the planet. Not everyone can say it is a pleasant experience, but no one can deny that it happened. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing, often uncovering questions that cannot be answered. During the process the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we become members of a cruel, unjust society can the blissful ignorance of childhood be appreciated and missed. The novel Catcher in the Rye explores how adult life appears complex and incomprehensible to teenagers on the brink of entering it.
Through the main protagonist Holden Caulfield, J. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society. When Holden Caulfield is first introduced as a character he appears to be a fairly typical, normal teenager. The natural human response to a threatening situation is either fight or flight. The museum serves as his escape from complicated adult life because unlike reality, the museum remains unchanged. Holden wants to find security and the museum offers him a simplified version of life he desperately craves. The author uses the cliff to symbolically refer to a child losing his or her innocence and becoming an adult. The fact that Holden feels he wants to prevent children from falling into adulthood gives the reader an insight into his own mind.
He is clearly scared and not emotionally ready to grow up and complete his transition from a child to an adult. When Holden visits Mr. Spencer has a far superior knowledge of how the world functions due to his age. His message to Holden is to become socially intelligent and to take a broad view of how his actions affect the world. He is also unable to make clear, rational decisions. Holden is very impulsive and can only think within the moment. The way in which Holden makes snap decisions insinuates that he is very confused and unable to organise his thoughts in a mature fashion, exposing that his child-like state of mind still dominates the more logical and mature part of his brain.
Holden begins to show signs of withdrawal from society immediately after leaving Pencey Prep. He daydreams about being alone and being independent. Holden would prefer to live in isolation where no one expects anything of him, rather than face the fact he is gradually becoming part of a society where he is expected to contribute his efforts. Anyone who Holden perceives to have affectations, he deems to be different from him. These people appear to be socially intelligent and are generally accepted into society, unlike Holden. He is perceptive enough to recognise the faults of society and expresses this knowledge by resisting the call of adulthood.
Yet several times during the novel Holden contradicts himself by acting decidedly phony. Although this behaviour depicts Holden as being once again very immature, in actual fact the recognition that he needed to be false in order to avoid conflict with another being shows that as a person he is beginning to evolve. For Holden it appears his priority, though subconsciously perhaps, is to discover where he belongs. Holden finds himself in this catch situation and unable to see a way out. Holden obviously draws a parallel between his life and the life of the ducks.
Holden has a limited number of emotional relationships with anyone his age, revealing his struggle to connect with the rest of the world. Holden also knows that one of the aspects of adulthood is having physical relationships with people. During his time in New York, Holden pushes his personal boundaries regarding the degree of social interactions he is comfortable with. He feels that if he fulfils the sexual component of adulthood, he will become one step closer to finding the place he belongs. He oscillates from one extreme to the other- trying to remain a child and trying to reach a level of maturity he is currently not capable of.
Throughout the duration of the book, Holden seems to make little progress in his personal growth, although for brief periods of time it appears he is closer to adulthood than what the reader is lead to believe. At the end of the novel Holden appears to have more acceptance of the idea of growing up. Holden now understands that growing up is inevitable and fighting it is useless. However, regardless of this new found clarity, he still obsesses about living in an uncomplicated world. It would seem that even though he has made progress, Holden still struggles with letting go of the life he wishes were possible. Whether growing up was a pleasant experience or not, we all look back on our teenagers years, be it to learn from our mistakes, or reminisce our glory days.
Salinger structured Catcher in the Rye specifically to create an overall reflective tone. The novel opening suggests that the story is in fact being retold by who the reader learns is Holden Caulfield. The significance of Holden recounting his story as one flashback is that it shows that time has passed and he no longer feels connected to the incident, indicating Holden has in fact changed since this time. There are parts of his story where the present day Holden interjects his own thoughts suggesting he has more clarity and knowledge than he did in his past. When remembering his visit to Mr. This gives Holden depth as a character and shows he can now recognise his own faults where previously he may have been able to.
The language used by Holden is also significant because it allows the reader to depict the character more vividly. Holden is constantly using crude phrases that would have shocked the original readers of the book. Holden Caulfield is one of the many teenagers who, in a fit of frustration lost the map to life, hence left with no choice but to run around in aimless circles. Throughout the novel it becomes clear that Holden is finding the transition between childhood and adulthood extremely difficult. He is plagued with conflicting emotions of wanting to grow up and be a valued member of society, versus wanting to escape into his own simple and controllable world.
Eventually the pressure of having to choose one over the other overwhelms Holden to the point where he is mentally unstable. Although this is an extreme exaggeration of what most normal teenagers experience, it effectively highlights the difficulties and confusion that young people face when on the brink of adulthood. The ending of the novel provides little more clarity than the beginning. What the reader can be sure of is thus far in the history of the human race, no one has bypassed the embarrassing, confusing but occasionally fantastic experience of growing up; therefore it is logical to assume that Holden will be no exception to this rule and in time will also proceed to grow up. Thank you for sharing this page with a friend!
Which of your works would you like to tell your friends about? These links will automatically appear in your email. If you have a suggestion about this website or are experiencing a problem with it, or if you need to report abuse on the site, please let us know. We try to make TeenInk. com the best site it can be, and we take your feedback very seriously. Please note that while we value your input, we cannot respond to every message. Also, if you have a comment about a particular piece of work on this website, please go to the page where that work is displayed and post a comment on it. Thank you! Don't have an account? Sign up for free. Wrong email address or password! Email address. Password Forgot password? Remember me. Sign In. Forgotten password. Invalid email address!
No comments:
Post a Comment