In this first section of reading of The Catcher in the Rye, you can easily pick up on the sarcastic attitude and nature of the main character Holden Caulfield, some of what he says could even be considered snarky. Being that this is my first time reading this classic, I find that enjoy it so far and am curious to see where the story goes. Questions I have so far regarding the plot are why does Holden have so much trouble staying in schools (perhaps his afore mentioned attitude?) and what is it about Jane Gallagher that gets him so worked up and upset. Up until the fight with his roommate, I thought that Holden acted relatively maturely, but in the fight scene it is clear he is anything but.
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Holden seems very conflicted about how he feels about certain people. When he’s talking with Ackley, he says that Stradlater’s actually a really nice and generous guy, and that Ackley should give him a chance. But then Holden starts talking about other aspects of Stradlater that really bother him: his poor hygiene, how he treats women, and his narcissism. It’s difficult to to say if Holden’s overall opinion of him is positive or negative. The same kind of situation happens with Mr. Spencer. Holden visits him out of goodwill, but comes away from the experience hating the man because of the embarrassment he put him through by reading his paper. I wonder if Holden had people he could actually trust and call his friends, that maybe he would have performed better during his stay at Pencey.
Not only does Holden appear to be conflicted about his views and beliefs about other people, but he seems to be conflicted about his own beliefs too. He keeps talking about “phonies” and how he doesn’t like them, but he might be a bit phony himself. He has brought up several times how he hates the movies, yet he and his friends were planning to see a movie and he references several other times where he has gone to see movies. He also seems to be very fickle and second guesses his own decisions. As soon as he sees his history teacher, he almost immediately regrets it and decides to just get out of there.
I agree with the comment that Holden seems conflicted, this too I guess could be a possible answer to my question about why it is he can’t seem to find his place in school. It seems as though sometimes he thinks he knows what he wants to do but lets others (sometimes even just by mere presence) influence his execution.