Catcher in the Rye Argumentative
Fear of growing up. Change. Innocence. These are all relatable traits that most people can understand as a teenager. Nineteen year old Holden Caulfield, the main character from J.D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, possess all of these traits. I think there's a little bit of Holden Caufield in all of us. People who are resentful and afraid of the ever growing world around us, but still all the same try to grow up a little bit too fast. As well as, people who try to retain any innocence they have. All of this and more is why J.D Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye is still very relevant today. To begin, Holden Caulfield is a character who tries to act tough and know what he is doing at all times. However,
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While some people may be eager to get out in the world, they are still all the same afraid of leaving behind something. In the instance in the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is afraid of changing. Notably, Holden reveals fear of change when he goes to the museum and comments that “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move” (121). Holden is afraid of change because he specifically states that the best thing about a museum is that “nothing moved”. Holden's preference on nothing moving is significant because it implies that he is afraid of things changing on him. This is relatable because it is sad when something that you hold dear suddenly changes. It is tough to face the fact that things always change, and that you will have to let go of things that you used to hold dear. While the times have changed the strong emotions we feel hasn’t, teens are and will always be afraid of change thus, making this novel very relevant today. Another example, which is probably the most momentous line in the whole book, particularly because it is in the title of the book. Holden refers to himself as the catcher in the rye saying that, “Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're …show more content…
First of all, Anastasia Goodstein claims that today's teens are “never really alone”(Goodstein n.p). Basically, she’s saying that just because we’re wired and have the internet means that we will never be alone. Goldsteins claim that teenager’s are never really alone rests on the questionable assumption that we are always talking to and getting talked to by others. While on one hand she’s partially right, that we can message each other and get messages whenever. What she doesn't understand is that not all teenagers actually receive messages from each other and still get alienated by others. Which means that the presence of loneliness is still very much present. Teenagers can still have empathy for Holden today because the presence of loneliness and the fear of being alone is still currently affecting teens thus, people can align themselves with Holden making the book still relatable today. Other critics say that the reason that the book is irrelevant is that the language is outdated. For example, when he’s waiting at the bar for Carl, he describes other men at the bar as “flitty-looking”(142). Although much of what the opposition says makes sense, however his final conclusion that the reason the book is irrelevant today is because the language is not the same is flawed in that the English language is constantly
Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel, “The Catcher In The Rye.” He has changed dramatically since he left Pencey Prep. At the beginning of the book. Where he started to tell what happened in his life, at the beginning he was Rebellious and didn’t seem to care about what was going to happen to his future. An example of this is when Mr. Spencer sat Holden down on the bed and gave him a lecture on why he flunked and that he should care about his future, but you could tell that he could care less. However Holden appreciated the help Mr. Spencer was trying to give him. Another example of Holden being Rebellious is when Stradler was joking about having sex with one of Holden’s friends and he thought “I’m going to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it will split his goddam throat open.” Then after he was pinned by Stradler Holden kept calling him a moron even though he was told to stop multiple times and it resulted in Holden getting punched in the face and nearly knocked out.
Essay In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, the person telling the story, Holden Caulfield, talks about a part of his life when he becomes lonesome and how he wanted someone to approch and have a good comunication about how he views life. Throughout the story, Holden talks about the characters in the book whom he comes across and how Earth is filled with “phonies”. Today's teenagers can relate to Holden in some way because being a teenager myself, sometimes feel like there is no one I can talk to or no one to relate to. Many teens today only want someone who they can be open to, perhaps someone congenial.
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.
“ The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. The narrator, Holden Caulfield, is a sixteen-year-old boy whose life is filled with family issues, peer pressure and high school problems. I think that Holden Caulfield is both relevant and irrelevant in today’s society. I believe that many kids can relate to him and the things he does as a teenager, making him relevant. I also believe that with all of the technology, some of the things he does would be irrelevant. “The Catcher in the Rye” is a great book and it shows how Holden Caulfield is both relevant and irrelevant today.
Yet another issue Holden endures throughout this novel is loneliness . There are many reasons that he is very lonely all throughout the novel. The biggest reason he doesn't talk to anybody is because he is afraid he is going to get hurt emotionally. For example he is scared to call Jane and is scared to let her in his heart because he doesn't want to loose another person he loves, like his deceased brother Allie. Another example of his loneliness is when he meets the prostitute in the hotel. Holden knows that he can have the comfort of another human for a little while, but he doesn't want to do anything with her because he knows she will just leave after they are done having sex. In a way he is looking for something that will last longer, like a relationship, but he is too scared of being hurt . Although, “loneliness is difficult to fess up
The book “The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel by J.D Salinger, this book taps into the mind of many teens across America, some can even relate to the main character. The book itself is band because it shows what real life is actually like for teens, it’s unfair and unpredictable. Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of this novel and life for him isn’t going the way he wants. Do I think that this novel is still relevant today, yes I think it is, many teens today are stressed out and have many problems to deal with, the story of Holden Caulfield is full of “phonies” as holden calls everyone that he him doesn’t like. This novel has characters that are very relatable even to today’s generation, It’s like Salinger could see the future this book is still relevant today.
“Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization” (Bennent). In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher In The Rye, a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield has to go through a plethora of different turbulent obstacles that no other normal kid his age would ever have to go through. He has flunked out of five schools, has had to cope with his younger brother Allie’s death and just never ever gets along with anyone. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden has the fear of losing innocence. This is shown through the curse on the wall, the Little Shirley Beans record and finally the incident
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.
In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.
Childhood is a miraculous thing, and gaining maturity is one of the most important things in childhood. J.D. Salinger displays this perfectly with his coming of age novel The Catcher in the Rye. This coming of age novel has set the tone for many other novels of the like. The main crux of the novel focuses on maturity and how it affects the characters. This is very apparent with the main character Holden Caulfield, and Salinger uses this character to subtly create a commentary on maturity. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is not the only character who demonstrates this claim, but he is the best example. As the novel progresses the reader can see shifts and changes in Holden’s character, and these shifts are what make The Catcher in
After reading The Catcher in the Rye, I feel the main theme of this novel is the relatable fear of going into adulthood. To start with, Holden’s goal is not trying to achieve maturity like most protagonists of a novel if anything it is to avoid maturity at all costs. For example, when Holden goes to the National Museum of History his thoughts about the Exhibits in the museum goes to show his fear of complexity, he continues explaining in detail that no matter how many times you go the Exhibits don't change at all but the person does and he wonders if it's the same for his sister Phoebe as it was for him also thinking he isn't depressed about that but he isn't happy about his sister having to grow up either as well as “Certain things
Fear is the demon that destroys the minds of the young and the old. Fear is the hardest emotion that alters a person’s reality. The dark deeds done in this world can create this growing fear. J.D. Salinger is an author that brings out most realistic human traits, such as fear, and displays them in his writings as his characters or certain sections of his plot. In the novel, Salinger displays the fears and exploitations in the teenage world that are affected by the adult world and that can affect the world of children.In The Catcher and the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses the loss of innocence as a result of the adult world to portray youth's reluctance to grow up. Holden is a trouble child at 16, he has been kicked out of many different schools and
Life is a lot more different nowadays. With all of the new technology and discoveries, today's society has made a teenagers life harder. The standards of themselves and their parents have risen adding more pressure to their day to day life. To go further in your education you must learn harder material and pay more to get into a university or college. The biggest change though is social media. Social Media makes teens feel exposed whenever they are with other people, and they can talk to whoever they want. When you compare today's world to Holden's, it's an enormous difference. Nobody can compare our time with Holden’s on the same scale because our life now is a lot more harder for teens than