Character Analysis (Holden)

1. “I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.”

1.1. He gets low in various points of the novel and he wishes that he were died

2. “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory."

2.1. Holden tends to say that he wants to committee suicide a lot because of his mental instability.

3. Thesis: Holden's voice is unrepresentative on the current teenager mindset because of his need to lie and his emotional and mental instability, no longer holding the value it once did.

4. http://www.shmoop.com/catcher-in-the-rye/holden-caulfield.html

4.1. Good video on Holden and his phonies obsession

5. Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.

5.1. He has another comment about a death wish which proves his mental instability.

6. Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has - I'm not kidding.

6.1. Holden thinks that being wealthy means being a crook. He might have more of an issue about his families wealth and gets mad at the more fortunate because of it.

7. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/holden-holden-caufield-phony-book-catcher-rye-318345

7.1. Is Holden Caufield phony in The Catcher in the Rye?

8. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/weekinreview/21schuessler.html?_r=0

8.1. Gives examples why this novel is less appealing to teenagers today than the ones of the past.

9. https://rappaport-ap.wikispaces.com/c.%09Psychological+Diagnosis+of+Holden+Caulfield.

9.1. Holden's Diagnosis

10. “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible."

10.1. Holden lies about many things but he calls the people who lie posers.

11. "New York's terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. I kept wishing I could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old Phoebe."

11.1. The literal only thing that seems to make Holden feel better is thinking about Phoebe. Maybe because she’s the only person he can feel like he can honestly connect with.

12. "Then I went over and laid down on Ely's bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome."

12.1. Even though he judges Ackley and puts him down, he still reaches out to the guy when he feels lonely.

13. Poser

14. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

14.1. Holden has this mindset that if you start telling people things about you then you miss people. Isn't life about making experiences with other people though and not trying not to hold on to things of the past.

15. My brother D.B.'s a writer and all, and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. I'm the only really dumb one.

15.1. He gives all 3 of his siblings immense amounts of praise but always talks down to himself like they were on a higher level than him. He has no confidence in himself for anything he does because of his mental instability and thinking he has to live up to his siblings.

16. "Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody. "

16.1. Holden doesn't understand the true meaning of why people bring flowers to someone when their dead. it's not whether that person wants them or not but it is a sense of respect toward the other person. Maybe sense he believes no one cares about him that no one would bother to bring flowers to his grave.

17. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-does-holden-caulfield-offer-several-hints-341413

17.1. Physical illness caused by mental instability?