Catcher in the Rye Essay

Holden, the main character of the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, had to face many conflicts during the story. These conflicts connect to him either by secondary character or by himself. Not only do this conflicts affect Holden, but if affects the people around him as well. Holden’s attitude became negative because of all the conflicts he faced. â€Å"The first thing you’ll probably ask is where I was born and how my lousy childhood was like†. During his childhood, he was alone with no close friends or family. This affected him because he felt excluded from the society. It also made him feel like he didn’t have any support so that made him go to the city by himself and get into trouble. He didn’t get any support from anyone so he wasn’t told what was wrong and what was right, that was why he smoked and drank. Also since he didn’t have a family who supported him so he never took the school seriously. He was kicked out of four schools because of his bad grades. (Evidence found in Pg. 1) â€Å"I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it†. Allies death affected him mentally. It made him very sad at the moment but after a time it made him aggressive and anti-social. (Evidence found in Chapter 5) He criticized everyone. He calls everyone a phony. Thinks other people are followers and are only tricking themselves. So he wants to rebel against the society because they’re making everyone a phony. This attitude made him see everyone in a bad way which made it very difficult for him to make friends. (Evidence found all over the book) He has a Self vs. Self battle throughout the whole book. He wants to be the same person but he doesn’t realize he’s changing. He likes the museum because it never changes. One part of him wants to be an adult (he drinks and smokes and always thinks of sex) while to other part of him rejects it rejects it as a phony. So as you can see, all these conflicts led to his bad, negative attitude. He became aggressive, rebel, and excluded. It also made him problematic and hard to understand. The conflicts implemented some psychological problems on Holden by making him increase his interest in alcohol and drugs.