Student Essay on The Catcher and the Rye, a Short Analysis of Holden Caufield

The Catcher and the Rye, a Short Analysis of Holden Caufield by J. D. Salinger

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Essay

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield displays troubled understanding of dealing with people. He gets angry with almost everyone, including schoolmates, parents, school authorities and yet he loves his sister, Pheobe.

One specific problem that Holden had with a person in the novel was his roommate. His roommates name was Ward Stradlater. He was a "lady's man", and very sure of himself. On the day of the football game Stradlater, as everyone called him, goes to the dorm and asks Holden if he could borrow his coat for his date because he had ruined his and then they start talking after Stradlater starts to shave. As Stradlater is shaving Holden is asking him questions and Holden asked who Stradlater's date was and he replied with Jean Gallagher. Once Stradlater said Jean Gallagher Holden remembered the summer that had just passed and how him and Jean used to play chess together, and how bad her childhood was and Holden starts to ask Stradlater questions. As one can see, Holden gets very jealous. He gets upset because he wants to go on the date with Jean, and to make matters worse he is stuck writing Stradlater's composisition.

I agree with Holden's attitude towards the human race, although my feelings towards people of the human race is that everyone makes mistakes and deserves an equal chance. I also believe that there are people out there in the world that treat others like how Stradlater treated Holden, as if he was better asking if he could write the paper for him. As you can see Holden has a very hard time dealing with people in his life.