In this post, use some of the skills we've practiced in class and
describe the character of Holden Caulfield. What are his thought
patterns like? What kind of person do you imagine he is? What might
have caused him to be this way? You many even refer to our discussions
about "typical" adolescent life for comparison or contrast. Refer to
specific scenes or passages for evidence.
Just a reminder: look at your "procedures" sheet for guidance on writing these responses.
“The Catcher in the Rye”, is a story based on a 17 year old, Holden Caulfield explaining this intense story that he happened he to experience a year or so ago. Holden speaks about how he failed school, at Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania. But apparently failing repeats throughout his life. The character (Holden) himself seems very negative on mostly every subject that comes up; school, people, football games, or just explaining his life. So far in the book, Holden has an odd way/use of punctuation, very vivid descriptions, and a weird way of communicating with others in the story, such as Stradlater, Ackley or Mr. Spencer. Holden also uses lots of sarcasm, and a different way of monologue or dialogue. His way of wording, sort of seems like he’s unsure of what he’s saying or thinking about. But, his weird descriptions and how he chooses to place his words, obviously makes sense to him, and for us to understand what he is talking about is if we think about it, or connecting all the clues that have already been mentioned. But, personally Holden seems like the kind of person most people wouldn't like to spend time with, unless they understand each other, and have the same sense of humor. Holden also does have mental issues, which can explain some of the weird ways he chooses to show himself to others and readers. Along with the mental issues, Holden being the way he is, could probably just be from him being a teenager, and him still being unsure of things.
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ReplyDeleteHolden Caulfield gives many clues about his personal life in the first few chapters of “The Catcher in the Rye”. He begins the book by stating that he had a “lousy” childhood and expresses the jealousy he has for his brother. By beginning the book this way, it gives the reader a sense that the narrator is negative and doesn’t take pride in his own life story. Holden refuses to go into detail about his childhood. This comment gives the impression that a catastrophe must have occurred in Holden’s past. Several scenes from the book provide evidence that Holden pays close attention to specific details. One example is when he vividly describes the headmaster’s daughter. Holden is very judgmental of those he comes in contact with. He often criticizes a classmate named Ackley because he has horrible personal hygiene and annoys Holden. Caulfield has a difficult time moving on from his past. I imagine that Holden is a classic underachiever. He failed out of Pencey Prep and must say goodbye to the school. Holden visits Mr. Spencer, his former history teacher, to say goodbye before he leaves. Mr. Spencer lectures to Holden about why he failed and gives him advice. By visiting with Mr. Spencer, Holden seems to show concern and respect for him, but then ignores Mr. Spencer’s advice. This scene reveals that Holden Caulfield lacks commitment. As the story progresses, I wonder if Holden Caulfield will turn his life around. I imagine the grudge that Holden keeps against his childhood is a major factor for his behavior.
ReplyDeleteIn the story “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character is Holden Caulfield. Holden is 17 years old and trying to figure out the path that his life is taking now that he has gotten expelled from Pencey Prep. For the most part, Holden seems to have a pessimistic view towards life. He does not seem to care about the direction that his life is headed and he does not want to seem to take anyone’s advice. His personality is very complicated because he has this introvertedness about him but at the same time he does not seem shy from expressing his opinions about people or things, whether they be good or bad. He often talks about his brother who lives in Hollywood as a screenwriter, and his parents seem to be a mystery, so perhaps there was a tragedy in his family’s past that cause them to split up and go separate ways. There are also several scenes when he accuses people of being “phonies”. I believe these feelings are mostly conceived by his brother, who sacrifices his art for money, and who Holden believes to be the biggest phony of them all. Overall, I think that Holden is a very sad, negative person, much like a lot of people can be during adolescence, but I also believe that he has a lot of potential for greatness if he allows the people around him to help him.
ReplyDeleteHolden Caulfield from the novel “ The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger is an interesting character. He is extremely pessimistic and quick to judge people. But he is not completely depressing because he has a sense of humor about it. His sense of humor is mostly in a negative way towards the other characters in the book. He uses vivid descriptions to describe just how gross or annoying some of the characters are. He shows no interest in his education or his life after school because he continuously drops out of school. But he is not all negative. There are some people that he genuinely cares about. But only to a certain extent. He cares about, and respects Mr. Spencer, his old history teacher. He even went to visit him. But he did not really listen to any of his advice, and starts to get sick of him. His personality could be caused by his past. Certain events that happened in his life could cause him to have a bad outlook. He stated that he had a bad childhood, and one of his brothers died. He refuses to talk about most of his past life, so it shows that it was really horrible, and probably contributed to his attitude. He has only stated a few things about his past such as, when his brother died he said that he broke many windows with his bare fist. He also did not like how his other brother, who wrote books sold himself to Hollywood to make movies. He thinks of that as being a phony. That could explain why he calls other people phonies and why it means so much to him. Most of this could be because he is in adolescence and is having trouble dealing with things that happen in the past. More of his past will probably be revealed to the reader as the book goes on, and then his personality will be justified.
ReplyDeleteThe character, Holden Caulfield in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger is generally a pessimistic teenager. Holden tends to not show too much care for many things, but will really care if he's interested. An instance of this is when Stradlater's date, Jane Gallagher, is mentioned and Holden completely changes his typical depressing attitude for that time period. Another instance is when Holden is writing the essay for Stradlater. Holden uses his brother, Allie's, baseball mitt for the basis of the essay. He talks about the writing on the glove, that he could read during his free time. Holden also tends to describe people very vividly. When he (Holden) first talks about Ackley, he mentions how he doesn't care for his hygiene, using words like "mossy" to describe his teeth. Even though Holden doesn't care for much, he still has respect for people. His teacher, Mr. Spencer, is one of the people he respects. Holden failed his class, and when he's getting ready to leave, he goes to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer went through some of Holden's old work that he didn't put much effort in to because he did not know about the subject. Holden states that he would never forgive him for doing that, but still respects him nonetheless. I personally feel like Holden's behaviors come from his childhood. Holden has described his childhood as bad, and it is haunting his young adult self. As the book goes on, more about Holden will most likely be revealed, and those things could show why he acts how he does.
ReplyDeleteIn “ The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caulfield is a teenager that is struggling through his adolescence. Throughout the first chapter Holden explains how he has failed repeatedly in schools, and everyday life. Holden has been to 4 schools recently and has failed out of each. I would think after the 1st or 2nd school Holden would learn that he needs to care about his education, but Holden learns nothing and continues failing. This shows that he does not to care about his own future. Holden visits Mr. Spencer a teacher and a good friend. Mr. Spencer lectures Holden about how he needs to care about his future. Holden seems to care at the moment but really takes nothing from Mr. Spencer’s advice. This shows that Holden will not take advice from even a person with his highest respects. Holden has a very negative personality; he recognizes other characters by their bad traits and characteristics. For example Holden picks one of his hall mates apart, “ he was one of these very, very tall, round-shoulder guys-he was about six four-with lousy teeth”. In this passage Holden targets the negative qualities about this character and is very quick to judge. Holden also shows that he is very irresponsible when he forgets the fencing teams foils on the subway and forces the team to forfeit the match, after he tries to blame his mistake on someone else. Holden’s childhood very well could have been the main cause of his lack of motivation and carelessness. He refuses to talk about his past most likely because he experienced a painful childhood. Holden is a very complex character and has many negative characteristics, but I believe that Holden could turn his life around if he forgot about his past and focused on his future.
ReplyDeleteIn The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden is shown to be a strange character early on in the novel. In the first chapter it is revealed that Holden has failed out of 4 schools so it is clear that he is careless with his education. He is also very forgetful, as he left his entire teams fencing equipment on the subway, or so he says. That seems bad enough, but he may have actually done something more embarrassing with them and that is his cover story. Holden later visits Mr. Spencer, the only teacher he ever liked, who gives him a lecture about how he needs to learn some responsibility and needs to get a good education. Holden cuts the speech short when it gets too serious. Holden always sees the negative characteristics in everyone he meets. He is a pessimist rather than an optimist. Also, when Holden finds out that a girl he likes is dating another guy, he bottles up his emotions about it. I think Holden is a teenager who is going through a difficult time in his life and is having trouble figuring out who he is and what he should do. I also think he has a very stubborn and selfish attitude. If Holden could get a grip on his life and figure things out, he could end his old life of failure and turn it into a life of success.
ReplyDeleteMr. Telles I did this in a Google Doc and I italicized the title but it came out in normal writing on this
DeleteNo problem . . .
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ReplyDeleteIn “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger the main character Holden Caulfield is a troublesome teenager. He does not seem care very much about his education and future. Holden had flunked out of four schools by the time the novel began. One would think that after he failed out of the first three schools he would start thinking about how his future and how he needs an education to do something in his life. This also shows he has no regard for his future. He is an extremely pessimistic kid. He only sees the worst in everyone. When he talks to Old Selma Thurmer, the headmaster's daughter he only talks about her flaws. Holden said that she had a big nose and her nails were bitten down. He never talked about her strengths he just said that she was ok. Holden has bad things to say about everyone he meets, when he meets Ackley he describes his teeth as mossy. Even though he has bad things to say about everyone he meets he still treats them with respect. One character that Holden actually likes is his friend Mr. Spencer. When he failed out of Pencey Prep he only person he went to say goodbye to was Mr. Spencer. I think that shows a lot on the impact Mr. Spencer had on him. I think that Holden knows he’s a troublesome kid he just doesn’t care what others think about him he just likes being his own person. I think something happened to him as a child and that is why he is so pessimistic. I think he didn’t have a very good home life. He said he likes his brother but then he said he would talk about his parents but they would get mad if he did. So his parents must have done something to make him feel that way. I wonder if Holden will ever meet anyone that he likes so much that he turns his life around for them. I think we will find out what happened as we read more into the book.
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ReplyDeleteI picture Holden, the main character from “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, as a boy with two personalities, the sarcastic and harsh side and the somewhat considerate side that he rarely brings out. The rude personality is seen when Holden is describing different things like the people he knows an places he's been like when he talked about Selma Thurmer he described everything wrong with her and didn’t touch on anything good about her. He is very critical on people. The other side is seen in tiny bursts like how Holden describes his former history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Holden treated Mr. Spencer with respect and showed care and interest in him. I think that when Holden was a child something bad happened with Holden and his parents and that's why he acts this way. He said he cannot talk about his parents or childhood so that could be a hint toward something. He is an adolescent as well so that doesn’t help him with his attitude because it’s very typical of people his age to be sarcastic but he takes it to another level. I believe that Holden could have had access to see things for how they really are through some unknown incident and that's why he's so focused on things like imperfections and he can rarely see past them.
ReplyDelete“The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger is based on a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is 17 years old, he was attending a very good school, but has flunked out. He is not on the right path. I Imagine him to be depressed, and wanting attention for many reasons. I imagine him as depressed because he does not seem to care about anything, he does not care that he has failed the majority of his classes or the fact that he was kicked out of his school, he has no hope for his future, and no plans. Holden never had a good track record before this school so it shows that he was always careless about his academics. Also I imagine him to be seeking attention because he is rebelling against the school's rules and what his parents want him to do. He expresses in the book that he was always a failure, his perception of everyone seems to be bad, he constantly points out the negatives on other people and himself, he never says anything positive. For example; Holden speaks “The first thing you’ll want to know is where is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied before they had me” (pg. 1) This is the start to the book, from the first sentence you can already detect that something is wrong, you know this because Holden uses the words “lousy childhood”. Holden has yet to talk about why his childhood before now was lousy. Most likely because he does not want to relive the past, but Holden could turn his life around completely, it would take time and determination but Holden could be a success instead of a failure.
ReplyDeleteHolden Caulfield is a very negative and sarcastic person. He is also very nice but, at the same time, he points out the worst in people. His mind is very busy. What I mean by this is that he is constantly thinking and his mind is racing. He will be talking about one thing, then point out another thing, and before you know it he will be on to something else. Holden also has a lot of hatred towards his, soon to be former, prep school. He was kicked out due to his grades and participation. I think that his childhood has much to due with the way he acts and sees the world. He states how his parents were touchy and private about his past. I feel this caused him to be so negative and have a bad outlook on life. I also think he’s starting to realize that he is going to have to move on from this and he will have to change/grow as a person to prosper. He cannot just be kicked out of another school. He needs to change and figure out what’s next. Holden seems like he will soon be questioning his future.
ReplyDeleteIn the book “the Catcher in the Rye”, the main character is a troubled teenager named Holden Caulfield. When the story begins, he has flunked out of several prep schools, the most recent, Pencey Prep. He seems to not care about his future at all. He is also a very pessimistic person and seems to always point out a person's flaws when he describes them. He does this when he talks about Selma Thurmer, Mr. Spencer and Ackley. When Mr. Spencer tries to help him by giving him advice about getting his life together, he pays no attention to what Mr. Spencer is saying and instead points out what Mr. Spencer is doing. He also says that Mr. Spencer is just lecturing him. Holden’s thought patterns seem to be very random. He seems to make decisions without putting much thought into them such as when he decides to leave Pencey Prep early and go to New York City. He also shows this when he rips up the composition that he wrote for his roommate Stradlater. I imagine him as a smart person that does not apply himself unless the subject really interests him. He seems to be obsessed with saying that people a “phonies”. Holden enjoys talking about his brother who lives in Hollywood. He also talks about another brother who got leukemia and died. I think that because his brother is so successful, his parents are counting on him to be successful as well. This could also be because he comes from a very wealthy family which means he has a lot of opportunities which, he never takes advantage of. The loss of his brother could also have been very damaging to him and his future. I believe that the rest of the book will take place while he is in New York City. Over the few days he spends in New York City, I think he will slowly realize what he must do to change his life around.
ReplyDeleteIn “the Catcher in the Rye”, by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is represented as a careless 17 year old who isn’t focused on his future. The first few chapters of the book reveal that Holden has already failed out of four schools, Pencey Prep. being the most previous school, and doesn’t seem to be phased by that predicament. This proves that he doesn’t care about his education whatsoever. Holden also refers back to his childhood, and how unpleasant it was due to his parents being “occupied”. No more information was given about Holden’s childhood, but we know it couldn’t have been good since he used words like “lousy” to describe it. The way he speaks to others also indicates what kind of person he is. Holden always spoke back with sarcasm or in a rude manner, which suggests that Holden is a very negative person. Before Holden left Pencey, there was a homecoming game at the school field, but Holden did not attend. This provides me with even more proof that Holden is just a careless person all together. When Holden met with Mr. Spencer to exchange final goodbyes, Mr. Spencer started to lecture Holden about how if he doesn’t focus on his education, his future won’t be successful. Holden just pushed his lecture aside, as if it wasn’t important to him. Hopefully further into the book he realizes just how important it is to have a positive mind towards his future.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, the character by the name of Holden Caulfield has never really experienced the feeling of success. He grew up constantly getting kicked out of schools, four to be exact, and never got a helping hand to guide him through the tough obstacles he may stumble upon. He failed just about all of his classes, accept English. He doesn't really see his family ever because he got sent away into some sort of mental institution to help him get back on his feet. He is coming home soon but it's hard to keep moving and saying goodbye to the very little faces he became somewhat fawned with just as Mr. Spencer, his old history teacher. He tried to help Holden become a better person and to tell him that life will have its ups and downs but if you try your best whether it be in education or getting your life sorted out, it will get better if you just try. Throughout the story, he tells you about everyone and his descriptions seem to quite negative and harsh which would make sense because that is the type of person he is. I wouldn't blame him coming from what he has been through in his life but I feel he needs to trust people and give them a chance. For example, Selma Thurmer was only approached by her negative qualities and there was no positive ones. Also with Ackley who is trying to be nice to Hoden just gets beaten in Holden's mind of how "annoying" he is when really he just needs a friend to keep him company. I feel as though Ackley and Holden relate in a way because they both need a little bit of guidance to head them in the right direction and they are both alone and independent but don't really want to be.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield the main character is a careless teenager around 17 years old. He doesn't seem to at all think about his future or care how his life turns out. Holden's carelessness and his negative character is revealed throughout the first few chapters. He failed four classes and is kicked out of Pencey Prep School. This shows his carelessness and disregard for education. We also see how Holden never really talks about the good in other characters, he mostly describes their flaws and things he dislikes about the character. He is always able to describe the negative things about others and never seems to accept that they are good people. Also, Holden is never able to accept the advice that others provide, he seems to think that everyone is against him. The only character he seems to respect so far in the book is Mr. Spencer his former teacher. It is obvious that Mr. Spencer is the only other character so far that Holden likes and can stand to be with. Mr. Spencer tries to get to Holden and talks to him about responsibility but it's pretty obvious Holden isn't interested in hearing what he has to say. Holden to me seems to be a character who had a very bad experience and it has since changed his life and his view of people. I think he is just a character who is not sure who he is and doesn't have anyone to share his feelings with. He is going through a difficult time and there is no one there who understands him and a capers his ideas. He seems to be hiding a lot more feelings and doesn't want to share, but I believe he reveal more and more of himself to us and we will begin to understand him and hopefully accept him for who he is.
ReplyDeleteIn the adolescence of Holden Caulfield, throughout the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, he seems to face many struggles. These include not being successful in school, which resulted in failing out of four schools so far, having to see a girl he has feelings for with someone else that does not care half as much as Holden does, and even just the consistent upcoming of what he will do with his life when he is older. Holden’s personality seems to have a very negative, nonchalant tone to it. This at many times can be frustrating to understand because the amount of sarcasticness in his voice is somewhat difficult to comprehend and identify what he is actually being serious about and what he is just making fun of. I believe he is this way because he has not really found a certain thing in life to focus on or pursue yet and is not quite sure exactly what his purpose is. Throughout this story so far, Holden’s thought patterns seem to flow from concerned to very care free. At one moment in a story he almost seems as if he realizes that he has not thought about his future or what his next step is, then only a few pages after, the boy returns to the topic of just going along with what happens and that he does not care or think much about how he would like to pursue his life. Not only are his thoughts are weary about his future, but the way he words much of what he is saying gives me the outlook of him being very unsure as to if he believes everything he is telling himself and us. If Holden actually put more thought into what he wants to do with his life and how successful he wants to be, I believe he could have a good outcome and forget about his negative past.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on Holden is probably similar to everyones opinion who reads the book “The Catcher in the Rye” because the author doesn't try to hide the way Holden is or the way he talks about himself. Holden Caulfield is a 17 year old, very sarcastic, sort of snobby in a way, and careless boy. I'm not very sure what his thought process is yet because Holden has so far failed out of 3 schools. By the time you failed out of the first two schools, at least I would have thought to myself that it was time to get my stuff together and work hard because at that point it’s not the schools, it's the student. I can imagine that he is a c\very careless person. He doesn't put much effort into his school work at all. Holden is a very negative character. You can tell because when the book first starts out he expresses that he had a “lousy childhood”. I think Holden is so negative because of what happened in his childhood life. We don't yet know and we may never know what his childhood was like because he didn't go into much detail in the beginning of the book but something must have happened that he is not telling us for his to have had a “lousy childhood”. Holden is also very judgemental. You know this right off the bat in the first few pages when Holden is describing “Old Selma Thurmer”. He said he liked her then all of a sudden focused right in on her big nose. I think Holden is going through the typical adolescent life because in the book in a particular scene, Holden says something like “everyone goes through changes right?” This makes me think about Holden understanding that he is changing from a child to an adult.
ReplyDelete(your typical adolescence).
In "Cather in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is both mature and not mature. He thinks really logical thoughts at points in the book, and has a weird understanding about life and the people in it. He also seems smart enough but has no motivation to put in any effort, except in English. At other points he thinks like a kid, and the language he uses sometimes sounds like a 12 year old. He also handles situation like a kid, lashing out at his room mate, and running away from his school. He actions and thoughts make him seems really nonchalant about important things like grades, and making friends, and worry about simple things like the girl his room mate was taking out. I think he is very confused about life and him self, and struggling to understand, that's why he speaks so bad about the people in the schools he goes to, and says a lot of people are phony. He calls everyone old' something, like old Ackley or old' Spencer which is a strange pattern. I think he struggles to know who he really is because he does not have a good relationship with his parents and does not know who they are. I think he does not also care what happens to him because of something to do with his little brother, who is dead. His sarcastic tone might be because of pain he is not dealing with.
ReplyDeleteHolden shows he is a complicated character right off the bat. You can tell this when he says that he got "run-down" and has to go off and "take it easy". Holden is a 17 year old boy who seems to be finding himself still. He seems to have a nonchalant attitude towards almost everything, especially school. When he first introduces himself, he has been to many different schools because he flunked out of them. I think his pessimistic attitude towards everything might have something to do with an event in his past which he tried to avoid telling in the book so far. He calls many people "phonies" who are adults and have authority over him. He sees everything very negatively and sees from a very different perspective than most adolescents. He gives details about a situation that not all people would see or point out. Holden has a closed off kind of personality, but opens up to certain people which I think he builds up trust with. People like Mr. Spencer I would expect Holden not to like, but somehow he does. This I think is because maybe it reminds him of someone he knew or he is someone that is relatable to him. I think there is an underlying, deeper problem that Holden has which is causing him to be so negative and not care much about or apply himself to anything.
ReplyDeleteIn “Catcher in the Rye” the main character, Holden Caulfield to be a 17 year old underachiever (both educational and just life in general) who doesn’t seem to care where he’s going in life, after all, he did get kicked out of four different schools. Holden does come off as sarcastic and rude with dialogue and when he’s narrating. He tends to point out people’s flaws or gives a rude opinion or two, not to mention that he uses the word “phony” a lot. Although, Holden did seem pretty acquainted, if you will, to Mr. Spencer. When he was saying his last goodbyes to just about nobody but Mr. Spencer, he started to talk to him about focusing on school and help him have a successful future. However to Holden, that “lecture” went in one ear and out the other, he was completely careless.
ReplyDeleteHolden from J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” is a much more interesting and complicated character than what may appear at first glance. Within the first few pages Holden tells the reader that he was moved to a different school and town to ‘take it easy’. When Holden presents this information he makes it seem as its no big deal when in reality this is a huge clue as to who is Holden. Another hint at Holden’s character is the tone of voice that he narrates his story in always speaking with such a negative tone and negative outlook on everything that he comes into contact with. This is especially apparent whenever he describes somebody, always pointing out their negative traits first and most directly. Holden also gives us an idea of who is by telling the reader who he trusts. Holden often refers to people he does not like as phonies and then later tells that the only people who are not phonies are children. This shows that Holden may have had a very bad experience or experiences with an adult which created this bias in him. From what I can gather, I picture Holden as a troubled 17 year old who may have mental issues and fear of putting trust in anyone who is not a innocent child.
ReplyDeleteIn the story "Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield always expresses a negative outlook on nearly everything in everyday life. Holden also does not have much patience in really knowing people too much, because he will judge them before he even properly meets them. In the first chapter, we learn that he may not have had the greatest upbringing, but he does not seem to care for it much at all. Holden says that his parents were not huge fans of telling others about their personal lives, so we may be able to guess that something awful happened to them and ultimately affected Holden’s look on life. Further into the reading, Holden visits an old history teacher and talks about the classes he is taking currently and the ones he is failing, along with the ones he had failed previously. Maybe his upbringing played a factor in his troubles passing many classes, as well as his pessimistic attitude.
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