Catcher in the Rye Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Catcher in the Rye - Essay Example He allowed Holden to use a lot jargon or street lingo to give an uncanny realism to the novel. The novel seems to have an overwhelming sense of doom and gloom. The character of Holden Caulfield wants to get out of his familiar surroundings because he was not satisfied. In a sense, he seems to be going somewhere else but with no definite direction or destination. Holden feels an unsettled spirit, he wants to go from here to there and is always in the habit of saying goodbye to someone or someplace he had been to before. His restless spirit wants to be always on the go but he lacks a certain motivation, like he is lost to the world. â€Å" . . . I mean Ive left schools and places I didnt even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I dont care if its a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know Im leaving it. If you dont, you feel even worse.† This line sets the tone for the rest of a story that is one of unmitigated ennui. Boredom, restlessness, insecurity and emptiness had pervaded the novel all throughout except when Holden is with children whom he is fond of. â€Å"I dont even know what I was running for – I guess I just felt like it.† With this line, it is quite obvious that Holden wants to get away from something but he just cannot put his finger on it or what he was running away from. Perhaps he was running away from himself as he is mostly disgusted with the ways things are in his life, especially with the death of brother Allie to sickness (leukemia). He is merely ambivalent with anything and everything, from his own father, himself and also with the whole world itself. Holden had been traumatized by this death but he does not even know it or will admit to it (Bloom 8); he is haunted by it. In a sense, Holden wants to disappear from this world, perhaps to stop his worrying. He is always worried, â€Å"when I really worry about