Sterforth asks Dave many questions about his feelings and needs, trying to help him out,
“ Perhaps you’d like to spend a couple of shillings or so, in a bottle of current wine…”
Stradlater also made a good first appearance in the book, however he soon turned out to be a arrogant person who Holden was jealous off.
“ Stradlater was a good guy I suppose…”
However, these character’s end up being very mean and inconsiderate people. First of all, the above quotation shows the kindness of both Sterforth and Stradlater.
“ Sit down yourself… where is this gentlemen.”
Here Sterforth is clearly insulting Mr Mell and indirectly implying that he is not a gentleman. This is considered to be very rude and insolent, as Mr Mell is much older than he is, and Sterforth should respect him.
“ Stradlater said okay, but I knew he probably wouldn’t.”
This quotation shows that Stradlater is clearly very ignorant and does respect Holdens feelings towards other people. He lies to Holden, which good friends don’t really do.
Holdens relationship with Ackly
Holden's kindness to Ackley in Chapter 5 comes as a surprise after the disdain that Holden has displayed for him in the previous two chapters. Though he continues to complain about Ackley, the sympathy he feels for his next-door neighbour is evident when he convinces Mal Brossard to let Ackley join them at the movies. Equally surprising is Holden's willingness to go to the movies after his diatribes against their superficiality. Holden's actions are inconsistent with his opinions, but instead of making him seem like a hypocrite, this makes him more likeable: he is kind to Ackley without commenting on it, and he shows himself capable of going to the movies with his friends like a normal teenager.
Holden's interactions also reveal how lonely he is. He describes Ackley as isolated and ostracized, but it's easy to see the parallel between Ackley's and Holden's situations. Holden notes that he and Ackley are the only two guys not at the football game. Both are isolated, and both maintain a bitter, critical exterior in order to shield themselves from the world that assaults them. In Ackley especially, we can see the cruelty of the situation. Ackley's isolation is perpetuated by his annoying habits, but his annoying habits protect him from the dangers of interaction and intimacy. Ackley's situation greatly illuminates Holden's own inner landscape: intimacy and interaction are what he needs and fears most.
Holden cannot get a moment alone; Ackley continues to barge in with his made-up sex stories, and when Holden writes the very personal composition about his brother Allie, Stradlater then criticizes it.. When Holden finally snaps and attacks his roommate, Stradlater easily overpowers him, and when he tries to seek refuge in Ackley's room, Ackley is so unpleasant that Holden cannot relax. He leaves abruptly, as though trying to escape the torment of his environment. I think that these two character have a somewhat capacitor relationship. Holden, from time to time, is either exceptionally kind to Ackly or alarmingly awful to him.
David’s relationship with tradles
Holdens relationship with Stradlater
The most important revelation in these chapters comes about when Holden writes the composition for Stradlater, divulging that his brother Allie died of leukaemia several years before. Holden idealizes Allie, praising his intelligence and sensitivity—the poem-covered baseball glove is a perfect emblem for both—but remaining relatively silent about his emotional reaction to Allie's death. He eludes to his behaviour almost in passing, saying that he slept in the garage on the night of Allie's death and broke all the windows with his bare hands, "just for the hell of it." He tried to break the car windows as well, but could not because his hand was already fractured from smashing the garage windows. Throughout the novel, it becomes increasingly clear that Allie's death was one of the most traumatic experiences of Holden's life and may play a major role in his current psychological breakdown. Indeed, the cynicism that Holden uses to avoid expressing his feelings may result from Allie's death. After writing this very deep, emotional piece of writing, Stradlater seems ungrateful and insults Holden. Allie’s death left Holden traumatised, and Stradlater didn’t think twice before he said the writing was unacceptable.
“ For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddam baseball glove… you always do everything backasswards.”
Stradlater also takes advantage of Holden, asking him do some things that he can get away with.
“ How ‘bout lending me your hound’s tooth jacket…you gonna use your hound’s tooth or not ?”
He Stradlater is clearly harassing Holden and keeps asking him if he could use his hound’s tooth jacket, which he knows he can get.
“ How ‘bout writing an essay for me, for English ? “
Sradlater also asks Holden do an essay for him. This is both inconsiderate and ill mannered as he is trying to take advantage of him. Both of these quotations evidently show us that Stradlater is self-fish and irresponsible person.
However Holden actually shows Stradlater that he is angry and is not standing for anything else like that. This is a very crucial part of their relationship as it shows Holden is standing up for himself. In contrast, Davey knows that Sterforth is in the wrong, but does seem to do anything about it. This shows us that Holden is not afraid of Stradlater, although he posses a huge amount of physically powerful.
“ I went over and pulled it right out of his goddam hand. Then I tore it up.”
Davids relationship with Sterforth
Comparison of the relationships between teachers and pupils
Mr Thurmer and Mr Creakle are surprisingly similar; they both are very strict individuals.
