The Catcher in the Rye Final 1 Essay

Submitted By gabby_824
Words: 521
Pages: 3

The Catcher in the Rye: Antagonist In the novel The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield fabricates drama in order to escape his problems and pain that are a result from his debilitating past. Holden Caulfield is a 17 year old boy whom struggles towards moving on and meets various obstacles he can’t seem to overcome. Throughout the novel, we soon discover that Holden is the antagonist against himself. He doesn’t seem to realize it though because he’s being convinced that society is against him. His inner conflicts tend to become outer conflicts and he lets it get the best of him. Holden blames society to be the antagonist, when come to think of it; it’s actually him against himself. He is the antagonist choosing to isolate himself from everything and everyone. Of course, this would explain why throughout the novel Holden seems alone and alienated. He’s hurt and fabricates drama because of that. Holden attends Pencey Prep which is located in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. He explains how he despises that school because of the phonies and crooks. “Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway.” Pg.4.He also explains how he wasn’t even supposed to go back to Pencey after Christmas vacation because he had been kicked out. “I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself –especially around midterms” {4}.Holden accuses everyone to be the problem only because he is actually choosing to view them that way. Holden has a roommate who goes by the name of Stradlater. He describes Stradlater as an athlete who’s very handsome and always seems to be walking around with nothing but a towel on to show off his body. To Holden, Stradlater is one of the phoniest phonies he’s ever met. One night, Stradlater tells Holden he is going out on a date with Jane Ghallagher . Jane is a good friend