Holden's Feelings And The People example essay topic

Chapter 1: The first chapter of Catcher in the Rye, we discover the personality of, and learn about the main character, Holden Caulfield. The first impression I got of Holden was that he seemed quite rebellious, and didn't really care what people thought. We already begin to read that he has many extensive opinions of the world around him. Because he has sometimes such a different point of view on a certain topic, it is quite interesting to read. There doesn't seem to be anything-important plot development now - we simply ascertain that he goes to a boarding school and he dislikes it quite a bit.

He doesn't like the attitudes of many other boys there; he's struggling with marks, and so on. In many aspects, that's what many teenagers like us have to cope with too. Chapter 2: Again, nothing earth shatteringly important happens in this chapter. Because Holden decides to leave school, Mr. Spencer - Holden's History teacher - invites Holden over to his house to have a chat to him about the decisions the boy is making.

Holden accepts his kind offer, and respects his teacher's opinions, but also feels sorry for him. When he gets there he soon begins to regret it - his History teacher gives him the lecture on life, and how Holden won't have much of an existence if he doesn't put in effort now. Mr Spencer doesn't know what's in store for Holden, and tells him that it's going to be too late for Holden to change his mind, when he finally sees his mistakes. Holden didn't like to hear what Mr. Spencer was saying about him, and it didn't seem like he cared either. Holden seemed to want to do things his own way. Chapter 3: We learn a fair bit more about Holden's feelings and the people around him.

Holden doesn't seem to be a big talker, but more of a thinker. He seems like a bit of an odd kid that does things his own unique way. We learn more about life at boarding school, he talks about his roommate, Stradlater, and Robert Ackley, the boy that lives a room away from him, and has bad personal hygiene and loves to annoy him for no reason. We start to understand Holden's "fed-up" attitude to life.

Chapter 4: In this chapter, Holden's immaturity can be well seen - "god dam this" and "god dam that" - this man needs a thesaurus! Holden kept on pestering Stradlater, his roommate, about his date, which incidentally, Holden is already much acquainted with. Holden was sticking his nose where it didn't belong, asking Stradlater personal questions, which he didn't want to answer. This bothered Stradlater - he didn't think such details were relevant to Holden. I feel that maybe Holden is somewhat a loner, and loves to know everything. Chapter 5: Holden starts to open up now, talking about his dead brother Allie.

He was only young when Allie died, but Holden had much love for him and thought rather highly of him. Holden is 2 years older than Allie would have been, but can still respect how Allie was an intelligent and generally nice boy. This is somewhat of a contrast to today's sibling relationships. It sounded like Holden missed his brother Allie very much.

When Stradlater goes on a date, he asks Holden to help him to fish some homework, since Holden has nothing to do. Holden agrees. He decided to write it about Allie's baseball mitt, which was quite a strange topic indeed - Stradlater was looking for something relating more to a room or house. But the mitt was an easier topic for Holden to concentrate on.

Maybe by writing about Allie, it helped him to control his feelings. Chapter 6: Stradlater wasn't very impressed when he read what Holden wrote. It was quite selfish of Stradlater to tell Holden to do his homework - a simple thankyou (and some quick changes in the next room) would have been much more acceptable. Holden was only doing him a favour.

After Holden heard what Stradlater thought about the baseball mit story, he just tore it up. Holden begins to ask meaningless questions again. And then out of the blue, he decides to start a punch on. Stradlater being you " re "jockey" kind of guy - tough build, full of himself, and strong - pins Holden down quickly. Holden, too weak to defend himself from the flying punches, tries to escape, only with little luck. Stradlater tells Holden to calm down, shut up - the usual.

Holden seems to have other thoughts though, yelling crazily. The end result was a blow from Stradlater - quite messy; blood everywhere. In the end, Holden retreats to Ackley's room, in an effort to secure a blood-less bed for the night. There wasn't really a point to the fight - Holden dug his own grave in this scenario. Nothing is certain what will happen to Stradlater and Holden's friendship after this unexpected brawl.

Chapter 7: Although Holden wasn't too fond of Robert Ackley, he turned to him for salvation. This contradicted Holden's earlier view of Ackley - about how he didn't like him too much. Maybe Holden really didn't have anyone to turn to, so he turned to Ackley, since he didn't want to be anywhere near Stradlater. Holden decides to sleep in the spare bed with Ackley. Holden, in his usual style, annoyed Ackley (who was trying to sleep). It's quite clear to me now, that Holden is a lonely boy; no one just decides to start a punch on and bug people for no reason whatsoever.

Maybe Holden misses his family, or his brother? Or maybe there's something we don't know about yet... Chapter 8: Holden flicks the spontaneity switch - he decides to run away from boarding school, just days before he was supposed to go home. He just decided he needed an "earlier" vacation before he goes home.

Holden doesn't seem to know where he was headed, but doesn't seem to care either. He jumps on a train to New York and bumps into one of the mothers of a boy he knows. He didn't know the boy well - just enough to know he was your average "village idiot". Holden decides to just talk to her, making up and load of complimentary garbage about her son.

The boy's mother seemed happy about what she was hearing. So Holden did quite a good thing here - until of course, the boy's mother receives a school report... Chapter 9: Holden really shows his loneliness in this chapter. He really wants someone to talk to, or just even someone to have a conversation with him through the phone... Holden started chatting to the less than outgoing taxi driver, annoying the hell out of him. Holden loves to pick out things about everyone, and everything, Arriving in his hotel, Holden shows us another side of his truly teenager persona - his sex drive.

Dubbing himself "horny", he tries unsuccessfully to pick up a "friend of a friend". He gives up, and tries to "quell the urge". Chapter 10: We discover more about Holden's family, mainly his little sister, Phoebe in this chapter. He talked about her very passionately - like she was his "treasured companion". That was somewhat sweet, and shows us a side of Holden not seen, not assumed existed before. Holden compares her to Allie, and how they were both so smart and nice.

Holden went down to the lobby to try and meet a new girl - no teenage boy could last more than five minutes without thinking about something relating to sex. Then appears a blonde girl he decides to chat up - but by the rubbish she was saying, we find only a stereotype and a desperate girl trying to find movie stars to get autographs from. Holden was in desperate need of company, but remained silent. It seems like Holden is gradually getting even more lonely and depressed...