The mental descent of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye begins with the death of his brother Allie several years before the novel begins. To Holden, Allie maintained these qualities: he was "nicest" in the family, was more "intelligent" than Holden, and "had very red hair." When he died of Leukemia, Holden lost his mind and "broke all the goddam windows [in the garage]" with his fist, "just for the hell of it."
In the novel, Holden also clings to his 10-year-old sister Phoebe, whom he says, "[S]he knows exactly what the hell you're talking about." It's Phoebe's love for Holden that keeps him going off the rails. He wants to see her and even buys her a record. It's her threat to run away with him that knocks some sense back into Holden.
One important factor about family to consider is the absence of Holden's father. He continues to send Holden to boarding schools despite the fact that Holden seems to be failing at every turn. When Holden does return home, they are noticeably absent with Phoebe's repetition of "Daddy's going to kill you" being the only reminder of him. Holden also mentions that his father is a corporate lawyer, but Holden doesn't really want to be like him.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
How, and to what ends, has J.D Salinger incorporated family relationships into The Catcher in the Rye?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Why is the fact that the Americans are helping the Russians important?
In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...
-
There are a plethora of rules that Jonas and the other citizens must follow. Again, page numbers will vary given the edition of the book tha...
-
The poem contrasts the nighttime, imaginative world of a child with his daytime, prosaic world. In the first stanza, the child, on going to ...
-
The given two points of the exponential function are (2,24) and (3,144). To determine the exponential function y=ab^x plug-in the given x an...
-
The play Duchess of Malfi is named after the character and real life historical tragic figure of Duchess of Malfi who was the regent of the ...
-
The only example of simile in "The Lottery"—and a particularly weak one at that—is when Mrs. Hutchinson taps Mrs. Delacroix on the...
-
Hello! This expression is already a sum of two numbers, sin(32) and sin(54). Probably you want or express it as a product, or as an expressi...
-
Macbeth is reflecting on the Weird Sisters' prophecy and its astonishing accuracy. The witches were totally correct in predicting that M...
No comments:
Post a Comment