22470
Mrs. Murawsi
American Lit Honors Period 2
14 Dec 2015
The Catcher in the Rye If a person had the opportunity to grow up, would they? Throughout the story The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield goes through many challenges in the book. In the novel Holden struggles with internal conflict by seeing the adult world in its phoniness and it’s unbearable moments. Through the duration of the story what influences Holden Caulfield’s unreliability are his lies and deceits, his sexual identity, and his mental instability.
While reading The Catcher in the Rye Holden is an unreliable narrator through his lies and deceits. For one in the beginning of the story in chapter 3 Holden first expresses to the readers that he is an unreliable narrator when …show more content…
I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing—that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That's also how I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. I'm pretty healthy though.”(Hawthorne 1.1). What Holden is referring to is the professionals helping him in the mental institution open up about what happened a year ago when he was 16 and he is now telling his story a year later. This quote doesn’t show his unreliability but rather what were the mental break downs that has brought him into the mental institution in the first place. In this story Holden had many scenes with him being unstable. For example when Holden was explain to us about the time his brother Allie had died he had a mental break down and punched a window. Then what Holden was telling us in chapter 24 when he went to the museum of mummies he stated,“After I came out of the place where the mummies were, I had to go to the bathroom. I sort of had diarrhea, if you want to know the truth. I didn't mind the diarrhea part too much, …show more content…
Throughout the novel Holden uses his lies, his sexuality and sexual identity, and his mental instability to show that he is an unreliable narrator. And J.D Salinger used Holden and his actions for the reader to see past what he does and how we shouldn't take what he does
Mrs. Murawsi
American Lit Honors Period 2
14 Dec 2015
The Catcher in the Rye If a person had the opportunity to grow up, would they? Throughout the story The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield goes through many challenges in the book. In the novel Holden struggles with internal conflict by seeing the adult world in its phoniness and it’s unbearable moments. Through the duration of the story what influences Holden Caulfield’s unreliability are his lies and deceits, his sexual identity, and his mental instability.
While reading The Catcher in the Rye Holden is an unreliable narrator through his lies and deceits. For one in the beginning of the story in chapter 3 Holden first expresses to the readers that he is an unreliable narrator when …show more content…
I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing—that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That's also how I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. I'm pretty healthy though.”(Hawthorne 1.1). What Holden is referring to is the professionals helping him in the mental institution open up about what happened a year ago when he was 16 and he is now telling his story a year later. This quote doesn’t show his unreliability but rather what were the mental break downs that has brought him into the mental institution in the first place. In this story Holden had many scenes with him being unstable. For example when Holden was explain to us about the time his brother Allie had died he had a mental break down and punched a window. Then what Holden was telling us in chapter 24 when he went to the museum of mummies he stated,“After I came out of the place where the mummies were, I had to go to the bathroom. I sort of had diarrhea, if you want to know the truth. I didn't mind the diarrhea part too much, …show more content…
Throughout the novel Holden uses his lies, his sexuality and sexual identity, and his mental instability to show that he is an unreliable narrator. And J.D Salinger used Holden and his actions for the reader to see past what he does and how we shouldn't take what he does