Holden Caulfield Conflict

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Everyone has their own ways to deal with conflict, some people address their situations and try to fix them. On the other hand, some people run away and hide from their problems. There are many different ways to deal with problems and you are judged by how you respond. Evangelical Christian pastor, Charles R. Swindoll, said “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it”. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has to respond to conflict and inside and outside of the novel, he is judged by the decisions he makes. The decisions he enriches the story because it allows the reader to make connections between the events that they read about Holden and real life. Holden is a sixteen year boy from New York City who has to deal with society and its standards of the mid-1900s. Holden deals with his problems by running away and averting them.
Holden Caulfield is an extremely judgmental person and is very depressible. He judges almost everything and everybody presented towards him. He always has something bad to say about everybody, …show more content…
Holden’s characteristics allow the readers to understand the theme due to the relatability of Holden’s character. One of The Catcher in the Rye’s themes is about the protection of innocence. One day Holden misheard a lyric about a “catcher in the rye” and he interprets it as a man catching children who are about to fall from a cliff. It is a metaphor for protecting children from their conflicts due to their innocence, but Holden is one of the children falling off the cliff. Holden struggles with growing up and maturing and that affects how he responds to adult conflict. His childish mentality and his adult conflicts allows him to be in poor situations which cause worse situations. Holden’s character is used as a symbol for teenage rebellion and that help the theme of the story to be relevant and

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