StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The fundamentality of Holdens alienation-- a form of self protection to resist the process of maturity - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
When The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger first appeared in 1951 (Little, Brown and Company), it was received by critics and book reviewers as a literary sensation. The critics were almost uniform in their opinion. Clifton Fadiman called it "a rare miracle of fiction" (Cliff's Notes, 6)…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.3% of users find it useful
The fundamentality of Holdens alienation-- a form of self protection to resist the process of maturity
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The fundamentality of Holdens alienation-- a form of self protection to resist the process of maturity"

Download file to see previous pages

The book was banned in certain communities, however, because of Salinger's free language and frequent use of profanity. Catcher in the Rye is a book about an adolescent boy caught between desire to appear grown-up and suave, while at the same time being repulsed by what he feels is phoniness in the adult world. The novel represents Holden Caulfield's attempts to come to terms with both of these polarities. Throughout the novel, the reader is presented time and time again with Holden's revolving patterns-his attempt to connect and his habit of alienating himself both from the adult world and people he meets.

This essay will take a look at Holden's patterns of alienation, which in the writer's opinion represent his attempt to avoid the process of maturity. By constantly 'running away' Holden manages to evade the demands and pressures The novel describes a period of time of three days in Holden Caulfield's life. Holden sums it up in his talk with the psychiatrist: "I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.

" (The Catcher in the Rye, 1) "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth," (1) This first interaction that we witness already sets forth some of Holden's patterns. Holden anticipates what the psychiatrist will ask him, but has no desire to talk about details.

This is one of Holden's repeating patterns throughout the novel-he reveals only as much as he sees fit, but rarely does he tell the whole truth. He does not feel comfortable revealing his inner self to an adult, and we will see this again and again in the novel. But his attitude about sharing is not limited to adults only; Holden often "shoots the bull" with his peers as well, but his words are evasive. The bottom line of his resistance to self-disclosure is that he does not feel comfortable in the world.

In fact, he feels that he is a part of the world in which he feels he does not really belong. This is often a typical adolescent attitude, but what sets Holden apart from his peers is that he searches for the truth, the truth about himself and the truth connected to innocence. Holden's story starts on "the day [he] left Pencey Prep" (The Catcher in the Rye, 2). There is a football game going on, but Holden does not participate. He instead wishes to feel some kind of good-bye as he is leaving the school.

Holden is getting kicked out as he did not "apply [himself]" (4) enough to the subjects. His non-committal attitude towards the school work might be puzzling to the reader, as he is very bright, but it reveals his deep resistance to "play the game" of life by the rules set forth by others. He does not believe

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The fundamentality of Holdens alienation-- a form of self protection Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1508403-the-fundamentality-of-holdens-alienation-a-form-of-self-protection-to-resist-the-process-of-maturity
(The Fundamentality of Holdens Alienation-- a Form of Self Protection Essay)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1508403-the-fundamentality-of-holdens-alienation-a-form-of-self-protection-to-resist-the-process-of-maturity.
“The Fundamentality of Holdens Alienation-- a Form of Self Protection Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1508403-the-fundamentality-of-holdens-alienation-a-form-of-self-protection-to-resist-the-process-of-maturity.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The fundamentality of Holdens alienation-- a form of self protection to resist the process of maturity

Parental alienation syndrome

PAS emanates from a relationship attributed with conflicts and this causes a need for control by the alienators in the process of bringing up their children, after their separation.... Therefore, the situation is applied against their younger and passive children, though this is ineffective with grown-up children that are self-assured; thus, this paper explores parental alienation syndrome....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

Revolutionaries and Self Martyrs

In the paper “Revolutionaries and self Martyrs” the author analyzes the issues of Islamic fundamentalism.... Islamic fundamentalism have many similarities with revolutionary movements.... While revolutionary groups were motivated by political reasons, fundamentalist groups see the world in terms of religion....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

What Did Marx Mean by Alienation

This form of alienation originates from the bitterness developed by the social class structures of a status quo.... This form of alienation originates from the bitterness developed by the social class structures of a status quo.... He cleverly formulated the concept of alienation as a force serving as a big hindrance on the labor providers' realization of their true identity and self-worth.... Workers in this manner are restrained to realize their self-identity through their labor....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Religious Fundamentalism

This essay focuses on that many fundamentalist activities have done much damage to the world and humanity.... Wars have happened because of a fundamentalist approach taken to religious issues myriad times which is why a fundamentalist person is usually considered unpleasant.... hellip; Fundamentalists refuse to allow the idea of freedom or flexibility....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Marx on Alienation

Marx recognizes four kinds of alienation: alienation from product of his work; alienation from the activity of production leading to 'loss of self'; from his species-being and alienation from other men.... The Hegel's concept of alienation from which Marx borrows from is based on man as a self-conscious being.... That is, man knows the existence of other things but he does not relate to them objectively but only in the abstract form since they are just imagined things of philosophical mind which according to Hegel is “nothing but the alienated world-mind thinking within the bounds of its self-alienation”....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Social Psychology: Religious Fundamentalism

"Social Psychology: Religious Fundamentalism" paper states that religious fundamentalist trends of any kind and in any religion can easily be curbed if the political injustices are eradicated from the society, irrespective of whether these were caused by the people's society or by outside influence....
8 Pages (2000 words) Term Paper

The Rise of Fundamentalism

The paper "The Rise of Fundamentalism" describes that Christian Fundamentalism was a movement that took birth in the second half of the 19th century, grew to dominate liberalism in a few decades by becoming a political force, and again disappeared from the mainstream as a result of its own folly....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework

Marx's Theory of Alienation

n order to understand the relationship between alienation and exploitation one has to distinguish between the augmentation of production because of the societal process and the increase of production because of capitalist exploitation.... arx identified that most workers lacked control over the production process, Marx realized that most workers did not have a say on the way work was organized or the conditions in which they were to work.... The work process has been proved not only to be beyond the reach of the workers but also very hostile to the workers....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us