Catcher In The Rye Essay

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Catcher in the Rye essay Where do we belong in society? Do we know the purpose of our existence? Holden Caulfield is a young boy in Catcher in the Rye who doesn't know his purpose in life. When he believes he has found his purpose, it turns out to be unrealistic. Holden takes a long journey to find himself and ends up institutionalized, telling his story there. Holden does not belong institutionalized. Holden exhibits normal teenage behaviors, is merely looking for attention, and is trying to be someone better.

Holden is a normal teenager who exhibits normal teenage behaviors.

His actions could appear to be obscene, crazy, and dumb to many people, but he is a teenager. Teenagers will do odd things that people might think would be abnormal, but times have changed, and so has the way that teenagers act. Holden drinks, swears, ditches school, and gets bad grades.

These are not the lowest standards possible in our society. "Then I left the bar and went out where the telephones were. I kept keeping my hand under my jacket to keep the blood from dripping. Boy, was I drunk." (150) This is a quote showing that Holden is drunk. This is what many teenagers do normally in their young years.

Holden is merely looking for attention. He will do or say stupid things just to have someone take notice of him. Holden is at a point in his life in which he has no friends or anybody to talk to. He must do things to have people take notice of him so he'll feel special. Throughout the entire book Holden speaks about his friends, but it seems to be the same 3 to 4 people he speaks about every time. All the "friends" he speaks about don't really seem...