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

2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
I suppose it is normal to see this book as a story of teenage angst and disorientation, but my views are somewhat different. In considering the behavior of Holden Caulfield, I tried to…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.4% of users find it useful
2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT"

Dear Mr. Salinger, I am writing you to share some of my thoughts about your novel, The Catcher in the Rye. I suppose it is normal to see this book as a story of teenage angst and disorientation, but my views are somewhat different. In considering the behavior of Holden Caulfield, I tried to imagine living back in the 1940’s and being around him. I don’t think I would have liked him. Holden seems to lack to respect for anyone he comes in contact with, which at times is very confusing since he claims to have fond feelings for a few people in the story.

Holden constantly criticizes people for their phoniness and petty behavior, but his is no different from theirs. He claimed he had a true love for his younger brother Allie, who died, but uses the story of Allie’s baseball glove for a fellow student he himself has already recognized to be shallow and uncaring and self absorbed. When Stradlater rejected the paper about the glove, what other response was Holden expecting? A memory so sacred as that would not have been wasted on someone like Stradlater.

Secondly, when Holden returns home and meets up with his sister Phoebe, he jumps in the closet and allows her to take the blame for smoking from their parents. Is this the way you treat someone you have respect for? I don’t think so. Holden seems to have regard for certain people when it’s convenient for him to do so, but the moment he is expected to put any part of himself on the line, he backs away, and immediately finds something at fault about the other person. This is not only the behavior of someone who is inconsiderate, but someone who is willingly immature; and I say willingly, because he clearly admits to being a liar and fabricator early on in the novel, so he knows his behavior is inappropriate, but he simply doesn’t care.

I understand that Holden was living in a time of social change, but so was everyone else. The thing that sets Holden apart from the others is that he refused to allow anyone to help him grow up. Once you grow up, you can no longer make excuses for bad behavior, or alienate yourself from society because there are rules to follow. Holden Caulfield, as poetically as he may be on paper, in life, is an inconsiderate brat. Catcher in the Rye - Part BQuestion 1: Holden, you often seem to be quite angry, what is the source of your anger?

Answer: I’m angry and frustrated at all of the phony people around me who think that they are so much better and superior to others, and feel that they can get away with anything. I hate that fact that having money and material goods somehow makes you someone important in this world, and gives you the right to step on others. Question 2: Holden, you have identified hypocrisy in others, but can you identify it in yourself, as well? Answer: I know that I lie and make things up, and I also exaggerate things from time to time, but I’m only dealing with phony people on their own level.

People like that are not ready to hear the truth, and resent anyone for trying to tell it to them. I’m not doing anymore than telling people what they’re only prepared to hear. Maybe I make things up and lie to certain people, because the hypocrites of the world don’t deserve an honest encounter.Question 3: Holden, what does conformity mean to you?Answer: Conformity means giving up on what is real and important, and giving in to being like everyone else. Conformity is being willing to sell yourself out for whatever is popular or socially acceptable at the moment, all so you can fit in and be considered normal, whatever that means.

Conformity is the ultimate denial of the self; it’s like announcing to the world that you don’t matter, and that the only thing that does matter is fitting in and not rocking the boat. People who conform have no will power, no sense of what is real and truly important, and no respect for themselves. And if they don’t respect themselves, why should we?Question 4: Holden, how do you feel about your ability to relate to other people?Answer: I can relate to people who are real and authentic, but I don’t like people who are phony or not in touch with the truth, and so I guess I don’t relate to them as well.

For instance, when I meet up with Sally, I tried to talk to her, but found that she is so shallow and starved for attention; we had nothing in common to talk about. She reminds me a lot of Stradlater. I tried also to talk to Ernie’s mother, but had a hard time relating to her, because she couldn’t see her son for who and what he really is. And maybe she doesn’t even know what he’s really like, but talking to her I discovered that she was intent on seeing him as the innocent that he is not.

On the other hand, I relate very well with my sister Phoebe. She and I are best friends, and although she is younger than I am, she understands things that are important to me; she gets me. I relate to Allie, even though he’s deceased now. Lately, I find myself calling out to him and relating to him more and more.Question 5: Holden, what do you mean when you say that you want to be the catcher in the rye?Answer: I mean that I want to be the one who saves the innocents of the world from all the bad stuff that goes on.

There’s a lot of pain in the world, and life is not always fair or kind, especially to innocents and kids. One minute you’re walking along, living your life and minding your own business, and the next minute, the rug gets pulled out from under you. One minute you’re on vacation with your family, and the next minute your brother is dead, and you don’t get to see him anymore, you don’t get to say goodbye or make things right or take things back. Or, one minute you’re a bright and innocent young girl, and the next minute some idiot or moron is running your name through the mud trying to make people believe you’re cheap and loose.

And when all of this stuff happens to you, there’s no one there to turn to; there’s no one there to catch your fall. For all of those thousands of kids and innocents running through the rye fields of life, I want to be the one who catches their fall.Works CitedSalinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. U.S.A: Little, Brown & Company, 1945.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1553549-2nd-catcher-in-the-rye-assignment
(2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1553549-2nd-catcher-in-the-rye-assignment.
“2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1553549-2nd-catcher-in-the-rye-assignment.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF 2nd Catcher in the Rye ASSIGNMENT

Compare and contrast

The two characters chose from Raisin in the Sun and catcher in the rye are struggling males that through the progression of the respective stories in order to become men.... hellip; The second character from the catcher in the rye is Holden.... Walter is making the transition from adult to man in Raisin in the Sun....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

Raymond Fanchers Francis Galton and Phrenology

Fancher considers the contradictions between his disdain for it on the one hand, and his use of it in the early part of his work on heredity.... The article basically posits that there are contradictions between the… The article looks at the life of Galton and focuses on his work related to the science of eugenics....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment

The Spirit Catches You and You fall down

Anne Fadiman evenhandedly presents a case between medical culture and the Hmong culture in her book, ‘The Spirit catches you and you fall down.... The Spirit catches you and you fall down is an analogy that represents epilepsy in the Hmong world.... Anne evenhandedly describes… conflict between the Hmong culture and the medical culture as she presents a case where Foua and Nao Kao Lee refuse to give their daughter the correct prescription of the medicine from the doctor on the perception that the medicine makes their child sicker while in reality, it The Spirit catches you and you fall down Anne Fadiman evenhandedly presents a case between medical culture and the Hmong culture in her book, ‘The Spirit catches you and you fall down....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

The Difference between Leadership and Management

Although management and leadership are two different issues, both are essential for accomplishment in an increasingly composite and unpredictable business… However, leadership and management must get along because they are essentially linked and any effort to separate the two is likely to cause more problems....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

Comparison of Stories Paul's Case by Willa Cather and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

The paper discusses two stories "Paul's Case' by W.... Cather, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Melville that to some extent they both deal with the problem of the person alienation in society.... The subject of comparison in the review is the protagonist isolation from the world and the people around them....
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment

Operating Segments that Comprise the Bulk of Alcoas Business

The quarterly sales numbers are taken as the total third party sales for the six product segments.... The total of these third party sales numbers differs slightly from the reported annual sales number.... The difference does not make a significant difference to the ROE… This improvement is from the higher Net Profit Margin of 8....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

Iraqs Attacks against ISIS Catches US by Surprise

The author analyzes the article "Iraq's Attacks against ISIS Catches US by Surprise" which tells that the Iraq forces have launched a military attack on ISIS stronghold in an attempt to recapture Tikrit.... Soldiers supported by the Iraq fighter jets have entered the town held by the terrorist group....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment
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