Catcher in the Rye Flawed Characters and Challenging Environments
- Submitted by: Elete919
- Views: 810
- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 05/23/2011 01:02 PM
- Pages: 4
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Novels present flawed character(s) in challenging environment(s).”
Ultimately, this is an interesting statement, because in a way everyone is flawed to some extent. No one can really be considered perfect, so to an extent, I agree with this statement. ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is a good example of this as it presents a very interesting individual; Holden, in a challenging stage in his life. Holden is coming of age, and as anyone can tell, this is rather difficult for him, and he is not exactly what you call mentally stable. Making this whole situation much worse for himself.
As one reads the book, one gets a very interesting look into Holden’s character. The book is written in the first person, and this helps us a lot in understanding Holden’s psyche. Holden is not perfect. Far from it. In fact one could almost say he is borderline psychotic. As a teenager, he finds difficulty in any situation in which he must make a definitive decision. His ability to choose between one or the other is very poor, and we find he contradicts himself and then reinforces himself again, within the space of one sentence. And even though this alone doesn’t define Holden as a flawed individual, it still certainly contributes to it.
Another thing that could be pointed out, is Holden’s opinions on everyday activities. He seems to have a complete inability to find even the smallest of happiness in an activity, saying it all ‘depresses the hell outta me’. Most of the stuff he comments on funnily enough, are things that relate to adulthood, smoking, drinking, sexual activity etc. Even though he is within his own rights to be a little turned off by these things, they spill over and end up depressing him at all sorts of minor things, making him seem like an obsessive depressive. Random things like other guys picking up girls, or people pretending to be something they’re not, and being ‘phonies’ depresses him. A rather annoying aspect of his personality.
The ‘challenging environment’ that...
Ultimately, this is an interesting statement, because in a way everyone is flawed to some extent. No one can really be considered perfect, so to an extent, I agree with this statement. ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is a good example of this as it presents a very interesting individual; Holden, in a challenging stage in his life. Holden is coming of age, and as anyone can tell, this is rather difficult for him, and he is not exactly what you call mentally stable. Making this whole situation much worse for himself.
As one reads the book, one gets a very interesting look into Holden’s character. The book is written in the first person, and this helps us a lot in understanding Holden’s psyche. Holden is not perfect. Far from it. In fact one could almost say he is borderline psychotic. As a teenager, he finds difficulty in any situation in which he must make a definitive decision. His ability to choose between one or the other is very poor, and we find he contradicts himself and then reinforces himself again, within the space of one sentence. And even though this alone doesn’t define Holden as a flawed individual, it still certainly contributes to it.
Another thing that could be pointed out, is Holden’s opinions on everyday activities. He seems to have a complete inability to find even the smallest of happiness in an activity, saying it all ‘depresses the hell outta me’. Most of the stuff he comments on funnily enough, are things that relate to adulthood, smoking, drinking, sexual activity etc. Even though he is within his own rights to be a little turned off by these things, they spill over and end up depressing him at all sorts of minor things, making him seem like an obsessive depressive. Random things like other guys picking up girls, or people pretending to be something they’re not, and being ‘phonies’ depresses him. A rather annoying aspect of his personality.
The ‘challenging environment’ that...