Holden Caulfield A Good Friend Analysis

Keeping these things in mind, Holden Caulfield is presented much like the author. Caulfield has a very immature attitude that fall under the category of Ego-Defensive. The Ego-Defensive category has four subcategories within itself called; denial, repression, projective, and rationalization, that are labeled as defense mechanisms through psychological lenses. According to McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of Modern Medicine, denial is the “primitive–ego defense–mechanism by which a person unconsciously negates the existence of a disease or other stress-producing reality in his environment, by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” Holden presents his state of denial in the way he tries to maintain his relationship with his deceased brother, Allie.

Many things in Holden’s childhood that could lead him to be BPD. First and foremost, he lacks self awareness which consists of constantly getting kicked out of schools. He does impulsive and unsafe acts such as substance abuse,(smoking a pack of cigarettes), and almost engaging in sexual activity with a prostitute named Sunny in chapter thirteen and also engaged in a fight with Stradlater in chapter six and Maurice in chapter fourteen. From observations that has been occurred, evidence shows that he has been abused,neglected, and molested on numerous occasions throughout his childhood. Mr. Caulfield has instability such as constantly getting abandoned by his friend,and inability to have any positive type of relationship with people other than kids, for example chapter thirteen with Sally Hayes.

Holden refuses to take life seriously and is almost proud of it. He's rude to most people he talks to and is unnecessarily fake with who he's civil with. He has some major growing up to do, but who doesn't? Holden Caulfield is not an honest person.

He loves the innocence that children have and wants to protect that as much as he can. He sees how the world is full of phonies, lies, and people who care more about objects than people, and he wants to protect the children from ever losing their innocence. He doesn't like his older brother D.B. very much, calling him a phony at times, but he really likes his little sister Phoebe. He really wants to protect her innocence and keep her from becoming a phony for as long as he can. In addition, Holden has a younger brother, Allie, who died when he was very young and in Holden's mind Allie will stay innocent forever.

Holden lies as a result of his depression, in order to hide the fact that he’s lonely and bored with his life, to divert any questions which he believes are too personal, and to create his own reality. In this way, Salinger illustrates how, during difficult times, people resort to lying as a coping mechanism. In the beginning of the story, Holden lied to divert questions in order to protect his personal information.

Being rather isolated, Holden Caulfield struggles with the challenges involved with relationships as he fails to balance his desire for isolation with his desire for companionship. Although Holden constantly searches for new possible relationships,

Although Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to

Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield shows great difficulty making long and meaningful connections with other people. Holden believes he is the normal one but it is actually the other way around. He holds on to a deep emotional road block of the death of his innocent brother Allie. Holden keeps this dragging around with him which causes him to veer from connecting and having a long term relationship with others.

Holden Caulfield is an irresponsible character and this can be proven time and again through his thoughts and actions toward himself and others. To start, Holden was proven to be careless with his schoolwork. He flunked out of several schools,

The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

In The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, introduces the protagonist; Holden Caulfield. Holden feels the sense that he cannot choose between the two worlds. For example, he makes it seem as both of them are complete opposites from each other. In the book, Holden wants to keep his innocence, but he also wants to grow up and toss that innocence away. He still keeps his childhood personality by constantly obsessing over things that shouldn’t matter.

Even though he is skeptical of people he considers phony, such as Marty who lies about seeing a movie star, his negativity and judgement of others usually goes a lot farther than what is considered normal. For example, he doesn’t get serious in relationships with others, because he always seems to find flaws in everyone. Another example is when Holden’s history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand why he refuses to put in any effort. Spencer feels bad about failing Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him and possibly influence him positively. However, Holden gets upset and starts talking poorly of him once he hears this, and later excuses himself with a lie he made up to leave, showing both his self-defence mechanism and his skepticism towards people he liked.

While many argue that Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye does not deviate from the traditional anti-hero attributes and, therefore, does not display any prominent change, an argument can be made to the contrary. Holden Caulfield goes through some noticeable character development and is in a better place emotionally at the end of the book because he speaks with Phoebe. His meeting with Phoebe and Phoebe’s message to him shows him a youth’s perspective on his world, rather than the superficial sincerity of his elderly professor and his favorite teacher that makes advances on him. Additionally, him being able to successfully communicate with a member of his own family puts him in a better place. His time with her lets him see his own self-image of a “catcher in the rye.”

Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a deep character that shows(possesses) many personality traits. His character is what connects many readers to him and helps in understanding him. Some character traits Holden possesses are that he is generous, kindhearted, usually honest, very intelligent, makes quick judgements, speaks his mind, is anxious about change, and likes kids. Considering his many character traits, it is easy for the reader to understand and relate to Holden. There are many character traits that I share with him.

Catcher in the Rye At the end of the novel, Holden Caulfield notes, “.. D.B. asked me what I thought about all this stuff I just finished telling you about. I didn 't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don 't know what I think about it” (234). Three major episodes that Holden mentions throughout the novel shows a little of who he is as a narrator; the ducks at central park, the lunatic, and the fight with Stradlater.