FREE ESSAY ON CATCHER IN THE RYE

CATCHER IN THE RYE

Catcher in the Rye 
The book Catcher in the Rye tells of Holden Caulfield's insight about life and the world
around him. Holden shares many of his opinions about people and leads the reader on a 5
day visit into his mind. Holden, throughout the book, made other people feel inferior to
his own. I can relate to this because although I do not view people inferior to myself, I
do judge others unequally. Holden and I both have similar judgements of people from the
way they act and behave. We also share feelings about motivation as well as lack of it.
After reading this book, I came to the conclusion that Holden and I are much more similar
than I initially believed. Holden portrayed others to be inferior to his own kind all
throughout the book. He made several references as to how people aren't as perfect as he
was. The reason he [Stradlater] fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in
love with himself. (pg. 27) Holden had an inferiority complex. He was afraid of not
having any special talents or abilities and used other methods to make him out to be a
rough tough boy. Boy, I sat at that goddam bar till around one o'clock or so, getting
drunk as a bastard. I could hardly see straight. (pg. 150) Holden tried all he could to
fit in. He drank, cursed and criticized life in general to make it seem he was very
knowing of these habits. I myself have found me doing this at times, also. I, at times,
feel the need to fit in to a group and do things similar to what others do in order to
gain acceptance by them. I smoked a cigar once with two friends of mine because they kept
going on and on about how great cigars were, but that was only once. Holden and I both
place people on levels other than our own for amount of knowledge and likeness to
ourselves. Holden used the term 'phonies' to describe more than a few people in this
book. He used the term to be what a person is if they don't act naturally and follow
other people's manners and grace. Holden didn't like phonies, he thought of them as if
they were trying to show off. He didn't like it when they showed off because it seemed so
fake and unnatural every time they would do so. At the end of the first act we went out
with all the other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal that was. You never saw so many
phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so
that everybody could hear how sharp they were. (pg. 126) I know many people like this as
well. I do not like phonies either. I have many friends who talk using full vocabulary
just to try to impress you, and others who make note of everything they see to show you
how perceptible they are. People do this when they have a fear of their own individuality
and feel that they need to ace different to get people to like them. Holden and I both
dislike phonies. We do not like people who take on roles of others to seem more likeable
because they are insecure. Throughout the book Holden displays a lack of motivation for
many things in which he should do. Holden couldn't even call up an old girlfriend whom he
knew a long time ago. But when I got inside this phone booth, I wasn't much in the mood
any more to give old Jane a buzz. (Pg. 150) Holden also had a problem getting his
motivation together in order to complete schoolwork and succeed in his prep school. I
have similar problems with my motivation and find at times I must be in the mood to do
something in order for me to accomplish it. This stems from our experience in the past
being that we can get through life, or the part we've been through already, with minimal
effort. Holden has had this opportunity to notice this as his parents have been shuffling
him around to different schools every time he flunks. He feels his parents will be there
to move him somewhere else and take care of him every time something goes wrong. I found
out in eighth grade that the schoolwork I had was far less than the schoolwork I did and
I began to slack off, this caused me to believe that I could get away with minimal true
effort in my schoolwork and it has also followed me into other courses of my daily
routine. I find my forgetting to do things and having my parents doing them for me. I
find I am basically pampered to my every will and need at home. This is a bad habit
though and I am trying to get out of this lifestyle because I realize I won't always have
someone to fall back on. Holden and I both have similar motivational problems stemming
from our childhood. Holden Caulfield and I are very similar in many ways. We tend to
judge different people similar ways. We both dislike people who act phony because of
insecurity. We also both lack motivation because of previous childhood experiences which
have shaped our lives. Holden Caulfield and I have began our great journey through life
with similar ideas to each other.