... to escape from the east, and live a secluded life on the outskirts of the woods in the west. He would become a deaf-mute, get a job pumping gas and changing oil for people at a local gas station. He would marry a beautiful deaf-mute woman and maybe even have children someday. If Holden did have children, he would not let his children go to school ... live a simple life where society can not cause rapid changes that can cause confusion and conflict among people. Another point made in Holden's fantasy is that he would like to be a deaf-mute and marry a beautiful deaf-mute woman. In Holden...

• Word Count: 1410
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... in a position in which he will have to choose. His alienation is probably a way to protect himself. But the truth is that interactions with other people confuse him. Thus his cynical sense of superiority serves as a type of self- protection. In contradiction, he always needs human contact and love as seen ... found a new role in keeping the innocence of other children protected. If he cannot protect himself he will protect the others. Both the "catcher" and the "deaf-mute" are there for a single desire: a wish to escape from an adult world in which he feels hat he can not belong. He see...

• Word Count: 1843
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... inward emotional turmoil, phoniness, and his idealistic fantasies. Holden's life is tormented by his constant search for the ideal. There have only been two people who have ever embodied Holden's model of perfection: Allie, his younger brother, and Jane, who used to be his next door neighbor. Allie is ... himself from feeling inadequate. While watching a movie he almost enjoys, Holden makes excuses to help him not like it. He says that the actors "[don't] act like people and they [don't] act like actors. It's hard to explain. They [act] more like they [know] they [are] celebrities and all...

• Word Count: 1855
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... from falling into the world of adulthood, full of phonies. He wants to shield them from the horrible things that exist in the real world. Holden admires people who are innocent such as Phoebe, the Nuns, and Allie. He remembers Jane as innocent and is unable to re-contact her, in fear that her ... written it" (Salinger, p 201) If children see this written on the walls they will wonder what is means and will probably find out from the wrong people and get the wrong meaning to the already horrible word. When Holden sees the words again, only this time scratched in he is unable to erase it l...

• Word Count: 1247
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... asks her to flee from this corrupt world and live in the woods with him. However, she tells him he is crazy and then leaves him. Holden meets some more people later, but they also cannot solve his problems, and he feels more and more depressed and lonely. He finally decides to run away and live as ... a deaf-mute who will not need to communicate with anyone. Before leaving, he goes to say good-bye to his little sister, Pheobe, who he admires the most. While talking and ... a depressed character because he feels alone in the most of the time, and he never finds any place where he feels...

• Word Count: 859
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Catcher in the Rye, Houlden Caulfield believes in purely black and white concepts, with little to no grey area in between. He applies these beliefs to people he encounters while he travels. Each aquintance is considered to be a phony or pure and true. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the ... to go lousy unless you did something..." Holden goes through several plans. Holden at one point contemplates heading out west where he will pretend to be a deaf-mute and live a quiet life. At another point Holden proposes to Sally to escape this world with him. It is finally to his younger si...

• Word Count: 1729
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... and almost everything in it is "phony." He rejects the world around him because of its "phoniness" and fantasizes about his own world. When he meets people, he gives them fake identities to protect himself from exposing his true identity. This indicates that he regards himself as someone that the society rejects. He thinks ... doesn't know anyone and no one knows him. This shows us how much Holden is rejecting society and reality. Holden also mentions that he"ll become a deaf-mute so that he won't have to have those "god damn stupid useless conversations" with anybody and here he is aga...

• Word Count: 1155
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... parents if they are socially pleasing. The segregation society makes is repelling to Holden. He doesn't want to accept these things as normal the way other people accept them. Aside from the schools, Holden finds himself an alien in the every day world of New York City. The hypocrisy and vulgarity of ... has nobody who can relate to his condition. The climax of his desperation occurs when Holden decides to run away from society and pretend to be a "deaf mute- so he could be literally alienated from the world. His desire to run away signifies his refusal to have anything in common with a ...

• Word Count: 1038
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School