Catcher In The Rye :: essays research papers

Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old prep school student who has flunked come out of the closet of school the week before Christmas. Several days before hes pass judgment home for Christmas vacation, he leaves school, planning to spend some time on his own in New York City where he lives. Though Holden is favourable with m some(prenominal) people at school, and though he has several friends in New York, hes constantly lonesome and in need of someone who go away sympathize with his feelings of alienation. The person Holden feels closest to is his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, but he cant call her for affright of letting his parents know he has left school. He spends his time with a variety of people, but he cant make meaningful contact with any of them. After a day of this futility, he sneaks into his home to see Phoebe, but she disappoints him by being annoyed at his being expelled from still some other school. Holden decides that the only solution to his overwhelming probl em is to run away and consecrate a new identity as a deaf unverbalised who will not need to communicate with anyone. On the verge of a nervous collapse, Holden changes his mind and decides to rejoin his family. He then enters a hospital or rest home not far from Hollywood, California, and he is sexual relation us his account while in this institution. At the novels close, Holden isnt sure whether hell be able to handle things better when he leaves the institution, and hes sorry he told his story at all. Catcher in the Rye is a rich mental portrait of a boy whos frightened at the prospect of development up, a boy who has few of the tools necessary to face the world on his own.