The Catcher In the Rye.

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Gioia C Wu

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

 READING ANSWER

Holden Caulfield is in many ways a typical teenager, doubtful of all authority and with a bad-tempered attitude. Within the first several paragraphs he dismisses his parents as "touchy" and his brother as a sell out to Hollywood consumerism, yet provides no real description of their personality. Holden dislike every character he mentions and all of the actions they undertake. Apart from his younger sister Phoebe. Who he lavishes nearly unconditional praise on her, detailing without any sense of sarcasm of her intelligence and talents. He even appears charmed by her foibles, such as misspelling the name of her girl detective the fascination that Holden has for Phoebe seems part of a longing for childhood.' Significantly, Holden compares her to Allie, one of the few other characters for whom Holden does not express contempt. These two characters, along with Jane Gallagher, represent for Holden a sense of innocence and childhood. Phoebe is still a child, Allie never had the change to mature, and Jane exists for Holden as an innocent girl playing checkers.

The first major sign we get of the source of Holden Caulfield's psychological troubles is when he was describing the composition that he have to writes for Stradlater. But instead of writing about a room, he wrote about his brother Allie’s baseball mitt in it he tells us about his brother and how he died of leukaemia. This may be one of the events that has caused Holden's current psychological troubles, Whatever the cause of his difficulties, the paper does reveal that Allie's death is still a major concern for Holden and that the unpredictable and often violent behaviour that Holden demonstrates during the course of his tale has a precedent. This information, which he considered so private, emerges as part of an essay written for others, indicating that Holden has been repressing certain emotions concerning his brother’s death that may eventually emerge.

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When the prostitute questions Holden's age, just as others have done during the course of the novel, again proving that however old Holden thinks that he appears, he presents himself as a child to the adult characters around him.

Al

Holden’s behaviour becomes increasingly self-destructive as this chapter progresses. Although he knows that Maurice and Sunny are threatening him, he persists in arguing with them, even though it is only over a five-dollar charge and he believes that he is in serious danger. During this encounter Holden once again reveals himself to be a child, breaking down into ...

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