a letter to holden caulfield
Catcher in the Rye Dear Mr. Holden Caulfield, You broke the ice in my soul. I see the world differently after I read your diary. I was too much of a wimp before this but as the bible says "whereas until now I was blind, but now I see". I consider myself kind of lucky to have found the personal diary of a high school student, a year back, just before I was to get admitted into one. I really was quite a wimp before this and perceived myself to be in the company of dominating buddies, who'd hang in popular circles, whom I'd have to devote my honest friendship to, just so that I could earn my share of popularity. But your diary altered my wimpy perception and served to be a good sign of the rather depressing life that was coming my way. I can relate quite a lot to your high school experiences and must admit I find it comfortable thinking the "Holden Caulifield" way. We seem to have already shared a similar pre high school life considering my mom died when I was five. By the way, let me introduce myself, I'm just another high school "phony", as you may find me. I too have a little sister, whom I share my problems with. Speaking of problems, I think we share some common ones like dropping out of school, only once in my case though, and issues with parents, but for different reasons. A notable difference though is that I am much better than you at academics, especially math. I
The Catcher in the Rye Essay
English 3201 January 4, 2006 The Catcher in the Rye Essay Serena Lambe In the 1994 Washington Post critical review "J.D, Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly," Jonathon Yardley asserts that The Catcher in the Rye is "an essential document of American adolescence," and that there can be "no question about its popularity and influence." Although this book has been heavily criticised and condemned over the years for being "obscene," having an "excess of vulgar language, sexual scenes, and things concerning moral issues," it is now accepted as a classic piece of literature. The experiences of Holden Caulfield in this novel still resonate with teenagers of today, causing it to be a popular choice of reading material in high schools. Teenagers can relate to Holden's difficulties with growing up and his feelings of lonliness. Furthermore, most teens use their own slang and profanities during conversations and many have to deal with temptations such as alcohol and tobacco. Because of the timeless themes that relate to any typical teenager, this book has endured many years and will continue to do so for a long time. The difficulties which Holden faces due to growing up are universal among all teenagers. As teens
Catcher In The Rye - review.
Mark Barton 12TT 8TH September 2003 Catcher In The Rye When the Catcher In The Rye was first published it became steeped in an overwhelming amount of controversy and was consequently banned in America after it's first publication. John Lennon's assassin, Mark Chapman, asked the former Beatle to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning of the day that he murdered Lennon. Police found the book in his possession upon apprehending the psychologically disturbed Chapman. However, the book itself contains nothing that could be associated with leading Chapman to act as he did, it could have been any book that he was reading the day he decided to kill John Lennon, and as a result of the fact that it was The Catcher in the Rye, a book describing a nervous breakdown, the media picked up on the "connection". This gave the book even more intrigue, as in the world we live in, any bad news is good news, and unfortunately The Catcher In The Rye was associated with this bad news, and was unfortunately banned, but re-released seven years after the incident in 1958. The book describes the story of Holden Caulfield, a teenager growing up in 1950s New York, who has been expelled from his "prep" school for poor achievement once again. Holden has been expelled from many schools previously as a result of his poor achievement, which is a possible
The Catcher in the Rye - Consider and discuss 5 or 6 episodes in the book, which reveal different aspects of Holden Caulfield's character
2/2/2001 Coursework essay: The Catcher in the Rye Consider and discuss 5 or 6 episodes in the book, which reveal different aspects of Holden Caulfield's character By Felix Crosse The Catcher in the Rye is a story surrounding about three days of the main character's (Holden Caulfield) life. The story is written from the point of view of Holden Caulfield, but in the past tense, so it seems that Holden is telling the story from past experience. Using that way of describing the events creates a very potent point of view for the story, resulting in what can only be described as an excellent read. In this essay, I will write about a number of passages or episodes from the book, in relation to Holden, his character, and all the other characters featured. Holden, in his narration reveals a lot of details during conversations, and that is one of many reasons why I have chosen passages to do with conversations (to use in the essay). Possibly the most important part of the essay is the choice of passages. Each section shows individual points about Holden's character, and it is important to portray as much of him as is possible. Holden seems to be a very curious personality. Throughout the book, he seems to be full of confidence, however, at the same time; he appears to be an introvert with his real personality, and feelings, never showing how he really feels. In the whole book, he
Normalcy in The Catcher in the Rye
Normalcy in The Catcher in the Rye. Rebellion is when one refuses to accept authority. The transition of childhood into adulthood is most often represented by actions of rebellious nature. Quentin Crisp, an English writer once said, "The young always have the same problem-how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another." Crisp is explaining how teenagers think they rebel in groups, when in reality they conforming because they are all following one another. The average teen is always looking for away to escape conformity. Two works that express a common theme of rebellion vs. conformity are The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and "Prayer of the Refuge" by Rise Against. They express this common theme through external conflict and imagery. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye the main character, Holden Caulfield, goes through many hardships in trying to search for his place in society. Holden rebels throughout the whole book against rules, schools, and people that he encountered. In the early 1950's it was very difficult to be unique during this time of conformity. An example of external conflict was Holden's date with sally. At the end of their date, Holden shares a dream of running away with her to escape the normalcy in everyday society, "I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take
J.D Salinger, the author of 'The catcher in the Rye', this novel is about a boy named Holden Caulfield who wants to save the children in the field from falling off the cliff into adulthood. I
The Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger, the author of 'The catcher in the Rye', this novel is about a boy named Holden Caulfield who wants to save the children in the field from falling off the cliff into adulthood. I always ask myself "why does he want to do this?" I think that Holden Caulfield thinks that adulthood is bad; people won't say something is bad unless they have experienced it themselves, but I think that the only reason why Holden thinks adulthood is bad is because of his lack of faith in life. At the beginning of this interesting novel, Holden was a very sarcastic person towards everything. He was also cynical and has a hopeless outlook on life. Holden has been kicked out of Pencey Prep for failing all of his subjects. Holden went to his history teacher who began lecturing Holden on his lousy term paper. Holden, however, saw only the comical part, "he was holding my paper like it was a turd or something," Holden believes that everyone and everything is 'fake and phony'. In one of the chapters Holden took train ride to New York, Holden meets one of his classmate's mothers. He began to talk to the mother and started to lie to her and says how nice her son is in school. "That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a god dam toilet seat," Holden thinks that it is ridiculous that parents don't pay enough attention to their kid's personality to know when someone is
What does Chapter One of The Catcher in the Rye tell us about the character Holden Caulfield?
What does Chapter One of The Catcher in the Rye tell us about the character Holden Caulfield? The main character in The Catcher in the Rye is a seemingly pessimistic sixteen year old named Holden Caulfield. Chapter One of this novel tells us of Holden's attitude and thoughts on various occasions and in a variety of situations. Holden is the narrator of the story. This enables readers to enter Holden's thoughts and see the world from his perspective. He is a very multifarious character. The first chapter presents the readers with background information on Holden. He has an older brother, D.B. who he expresses his views on his chosen lifestyle as "Now he's out in Hollywood...being a prostitute"; meaning Holden does not agree that D.B. should write what people tell him to write for money (like a prostitute). Readers also discover that Holden has been kicked out of school for failing four out of five of his classes. The first two sentences of the novel already give readers a perception of what Holden Caulfield is like. He rejects the habitual manner of narrating a story, and opts for his own more casual approach. Furthermore, he says "...but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth". This connotes that Holden sets his own rules, he will tell what he wishes to tell, and is fairly insubordinate to customary practices in various situations. One of these
A Rebel on His Way to Adulthood : 'Me, myself and I' vs 'The Catcher in the Rye '
Petia Ivanova Tzvetkova, Eph, 4th year, 41263 A Rebel on His Way to Adulthood 'Me, myself and I' vs 'The Catcher in the Rye' Ever since I read 'The Catcher in the Rye' - I was 17 then - I have tried to explain myself why this book is so significant. Why is it so hated and adored at the same time? I must confess I hadn't heard anything about Salinger till I watched 'Conspiracy Theory'. If you don't remember I'll tell you that the movie was about this taxi driver Jerry Fletcher who traced conspiracy in everything and all of sudden one of his theories came to be true. Mel Gibson was incredible playing a man who was funny and serious, brilliant and a bid mad. And this queer person couldn't feel 'normal' if he didn't buy a copy of 'The Catcher in the Rye' every day. And that impressed me so much that after that I bought the book myself. I don't know why I did it. Generally, I hate to be told what to do, less what to read. But at that time perhaps I needed to feel 'normal' too. Now, four years later, I read it again. And I was a bit nervous about it. After all there is this disaster called 'time' and we are all infected by it but there is no cure. The symptom is that we change but not only physically. Our points of view, ideals and beliefs also change. That is why I was so anxious about reading the book again but at the same time I was curious to find out how much I have
The Catcher in The Rye - How does Salinger present the character of Holden in the opening pages of the text?
How does Salinger present the character of Holden in the opening pages of the text? Salinger uses a variety of linguistic and literary techniques to create a realistic voice for the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, and to give the reader an idea of how this is achieved and presents the major concerns and thoughts of the character and the novel through these techniques. Salinger attempts to create the voice of a contemporary teenager through writing in the vernacular of this intended voice - the use of crude, colloquial lexis that Holden uses resembles this through his repetitive and continuous use of “phony” throughout the novel, for example “what a phony slob he is.” The use of colloquial language, coupled with the protagonists conditional direct address to the reader “If you really want to know”, is used by Salinger as an allusion to Holden being somewhat reluctant to telling us about himself and his past which leans the reader towards thinking that Holden is not well and that there may be something in his past which has caused Holden to be the way he is. The conditional also suggests that Holden views his life as boring and uninteresting, ergo the intensifier “really” and the conditional “if” are used by Salinger to convey Holden’s minor reluctance. In addition, the direct address also creates an immediate tenor with the audience which is engaging for
Characteristics of Young-Adult Books and Its Relations to Catcher in the Rye
Lily Luo 9 December 2002 Language Arts/ Period 3 Mrs. Ethridge Characteristics of Young-Adult Books and Its Relations to Catcher in the Rye Catcher in the Rye contains many characteristics of a young-adult book. The character, Holden, in the novel, has many characteristics that the main character has in a young-adult book. For example, he is young, only 17-years-old. He is also realistic because many teenagers go through the same situations as he goes through. Many teens are depressed and feel as if nothing in the world matters. Holden also has a lack of self-confidence. For example, he says, "My brother D.B.'s a writer and all, and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. I'm the only really dumb one." Most teenagers, who also have a lack of self-confidence, can place themselves in Holden's shoes. Also, the other minor characters in the book have the traits that characters in a young-adult book possess. Similar to other young-adult book characters, Holden's parents are undeveloped and are essentially out of the picture. In addition, other adults serve as the mentor for Holden, such as Mr. Spencer, who tells him "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." Another adult, Mr. Antolini, also serves as a mentor. For example, he knows that something terrible will happen to Holden soon and even says, "I have a
