The Catcher in the Rye blog 11

Loneliness is a reoccurring problem for Holden Caulfield throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye.  The main reason that he feels this way is because he chooses to isolate himself from others.  He is afraid to go out of his comfort zone and when he does try to connect, it is always with the wrong type of people.  He tries to find happiness in sexual relations, but both Sally and Sunny are too shallow and do not want to listen to Holden’s problems.  Though he wants to have sex, something keeps stopping him from going through with it.  Holden’s loneliness is the result of going about his life in the wrong way.  “Because Holden depends on his isolation to preserve his detachment from the world and to maintain a level of self-protection, he often sabotages his own attempts to end his loneliness. For example, his conversation with Carl Luce and his date with Sally Hayes are made unbearable by his rude behavior. His calls to Jane Gallagher are aborted for a similar reason: to protect his precious and fragile sense of individuality. Loneliness is the emotional manifestation of the alienation Holden experiences; it is both a source of great pain and a source of his security.” (Sparknotes 1).  So Holden’s loneliness really boils down to his own problems.  Both Phoebe and Mr. Antolini tried to tell Holden this, but he seemed to not understand.  “’This fall I think you’re riding for- it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind.  The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom… So they gave up looking.  They gave it up before they ever really even got started.  You follow me?’” (Salinger 187).  This quote is what Mr. Antolini told Holden to try to get him to understand his personal conflict.  Holden is headed down a path that is a dead end; once you are down that path it is very difficult to return.  Since Holden is telling this story from a mental institute, more than likely he did not listen to Antolini’s advice.

"The Catcher in the Rye." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2012. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/context.html.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.