The Catcher In The Rye :: essays research papers

Holden’s Journey   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we pass through this life it is our duty to discover our destiny. Some of us go to college and become Doctors, Lawyers, Architects. Others of us cherish the finer things in life and find our places on farms and Dude Ranches. The point is, every living creature has a place in this world and we are ultimately steered in its direction. Holden Caulfield’s voyage began when his brother died of Leukemia. Holden was emotionally destroyed by the loss of not only his brother, but his best friend also. The fact that his parents couldn’t accept Holden’s pain and that they even sent him to a shrink for it, proved to Holden that his parents didn’t care as much as they were supposed to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Holden grew up, he found himself flunking out of school after school, never being able to stay in one place. This calamity was caused by either his overwhelmingly powerful hatred for people or because there was a conflict of interest between him and the school itself, about who they were trying to make him. Holden was also starting to view people as who they really were. Many of us in this world accept people at face value and never really take the time to see through the infinite masks that make up a personality, or a first impression. Holden however, took the time to understand who a person really was, and how fake they really were being. This changed his life enormously, as it would anybody’s, because as soon as he could understand how much of a phony a person was being and who they truly were, he didn’t have to feel inferior, scared or cast out by that person. I think these views of life could have actually been caused by his brother’s death. I think that when his brother died, his parents might have become phonies themselves. You must understand that when a parent loses one of their own creations they feel as if they have lost a part of themselves and cannot strive to go on. I think many parents find it easier to conceal their feelings inside of themselves, thus becoming what Holden could view as a phony. He didn’t understand why his parents had to bottle it all up (which he thinks is wrong) and why he was almost punished for expressing his feelings freely (which he feels is the right thing to do).