The Catcher in the RyeThe book Catcher in the Rye is a story of Holden Caulfield’s thoughts aboutlife and the world around him. Holden tells many of his opinions aboutpeople and takes the reader on a 5-day trip into his mind.
Holden,throughout the book, made other people feel inferior to his own. I canrelate to this because although I do not view people inferior to me, Ijudge others unequally. Holden and I both have similar judgements ofpeople from the way they act and behave. We also share feelings aboutmotivation as well as lack of it.
After reading this book, I came to theconclusion that Holden and I are much more similar than I initiallybelieved. Holden portrayed others to be inferior to his own kind all throughoutthe book. He made several references as to how people aren’t as perfect ashe was. “The reason Stradlater fixed himself up to look good wasbecause he was madly in love with himself.
” Holden had adifficults with no being good. He was afraid of not having any special talents orabilities and and did other thi8ngs to make himself look tough. “Boy, I sat at that goddam bar till around one o’clock or so, getting drunkas a bastard. I could hardly see straight. ” Holden tried all hecould to try to be cool he was faking it just to fit in.
He drank, cursed and criticized life l to make itseem he was like he knew of his habits. I myself have found me doing thisat times, also. I, at times, feel the need to fit in to a group and dothings similar to what others do in order to be accepted by others, but I do have my limitations. Ismoked a cigarratte once by myself cause I saw everybody doing that so I was like let me see how it is, I tried it andit didnt grow on me but that was only once. Holden and I bothput people on levels higher and lower other than our own for amount of knowledge andand characteristicHolden used the term ‘phonies’ to describe more than a few people inthis book.
He used the term to be what a person is if they don’t actthemselfs and follow other people’s ways. Holden didn’t likephonies, he thought of them as if they were trying to show off. He didn’tlike it when they showed off because it seemed fake and unnatural everytime they would act like it. . “At the end of the first act we went out with allthe other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal thatwas.
You never saw so many phonies in all your life,everybody smoking their ears off and talking aboutthe play so that everybody could hear how sharp theywere. ” I know many people like this and I really dont pay them attention, I just let them make afool of themselves and I try to act like my self as much as possible. Ihave many friends who talk using vocabulary that they wouldnt normally use just to try to impressyou, and others who make note of everything they see to show you howobservant they are. People do this when they have a fear of their ownindividuality and feel that they need to acy different to get people tolike them. Me, personally I dont like seeing somebody acting differently from themselves, cause I belive everyboddy is cool, you just have to find it in them. Throughout the book Holden displays a lack of motivation for manythings in which he should do and like myself I acknowledge that, but Im tool lazy to take it in to consideration.
Holden couldn’t even call up an oldgirlfriend whom he knew a long time ago. “But when I got inside this phone booth, Iwasn’t much in the mood any more to give oldJane a buzz. ” Holden also had a problem getting his motivation together in order tofinish schoolwork and succeed in his prep school. I have similar problemswith my motivation and find at times I must be in the mood to do somethingin order for me to accomplish it.
This stems from our experience in thepast being that we can get through life, or the part we’ve been throughalready, with minimal effort. Holden has had this opportunity to noticethis as his parents have been shuffling him around to different schoolsevery time he flunks. He feels his parents will be there to move himsomewhere else and take care of him every time something goes wrong. I.
I find my forgettingto do things and having my parents doing them for me spoiled me, so now I just do what I can and dont worry bout the rest which is bad. I find I ambasically did things I was suppose to take care off. This is a bad habitthough and I am trying to get out of this lifestyle because I know Iwon’t always have someone to fall back on and sooner or later its gonna backfire. Holden Caulfield and I are very similar in many ways. We tend to judgedifferent people similar ways.
We both dislike people who act fakebecause of their need to be cool. We also both lack motivation because of childhood experiences which have made us who we are. In conclusion me Holden Caulfield in many ways alike yet different.
