Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

When one’s imagination becomes the director and producer of his thoughts and actions, he loses touch with reality. The ideas and plans are in a chaotic time slot; loneliness becomes the major factor in forming erratic thoughts and actions. In the novel A Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger gives insight to the protagonist’s thoughts, experiences, and frustrations in his world. Holden Caulfield’s instinctive desire to be a savior of the innocents evolves, and many times in the story, he faces disappointment. The internal struggles arise when his imagination draws him into situations in which he is unable, but wants desperately to be the hero. The world around him including his peers, family, and random encounters, are those conflicts,†¦show more content†¦Pencey’s ads in papers or magazines featured boys playing polo, but Holden has never seen a horse on Pencey’s campus. The phoniness, for which Holden is constantly seeing and judging, i s obvious through Pencey’s polo ads. Pencey, in Holden’s view, is a place of phoniness; therefore he is not going to give his all in participation at the school academically, socially, or athletically. Salinger uses Pencey as a constant example of Holden’s outward conflicts between Holden and Pencey, which has become his present society. Brian Way writes, â€Å"School is the agency by which America more than most countries consciously socializes the immature for entry into the approved adult activities; and so a boy’s relation to his school becomes a microcosm of the individual’s relation to his society† (34-35). Holden has never really fit into the school because he sees it as the same as he sees his outside world. Holden’s unchanging view of the world as being full of phonies and phony things is present here at Pencey. Holden is the source of his own failure; he truly does not conceive of himself as being a phony at all, but is persistently finding phoniness in the world around him. Holden’s inner conflicts cause illusions, and tremendous amounts anguish. Holden wants to be a protector, but he is experiencing the same problems, and must mature in order to be this â€Å"guardian angel† which is hisShow MoreRelatedHolden Caulfield and the Pressures of Society: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger1286 Words   |  6 Pages The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, characterization is often found, especially regarding the protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Salinger also includes many themes in his novel relating to growing up in a corrupt society. Hence, this paper will compare, contrast, and evaluate literary criticisms regarding the themes and characterization of J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. 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