Catcher in the Rye: NOT a Bildungsroman An Analysis of the Development (or lack thereof) Of Holden Caulfield Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger

Bildungsroman: a coming-of- maturate figment. Many critics and readers alike collect argued that JD Salinger?s backstop in the Rye is a superb example of a bildungsroman. The novel is a narration by Holden Caulfield, a churn and psychicly unstable sixteen year-old that has just been expelled from his fourth preparation school. Holden, who is undergoing preaching in a mental institution, recounts the story of his mental segmentation and the events leading up to it. He concludes the story with apprize hints at his ?recovery?. though one assumes that Holden is receiving and responding to intervention, his attitude and washbasintillate atomic number 18 unchanged throughout the novel. If the protagonist has non full-blown since story began, how jakes Catcher in the Rye be considered a bildungsroman?The novel opens with Holden carelessly tossing around the fact that he has been expelled from Pencey Prep (page 2). Though Holden has previously been kicked out of three early( a) prestigious schools, he is wholly apathetic about the situation. He has no drive; no concern or lookout for his future whatsoever. Even after everything that Holden experiences throughout Catcher in the Rye, his attitude is unchanged at the conclusion: ??and what school I?m supposed to go to next fall, after I get out of here, and I don?t feel like it. I really don?t. That shove doesn?t interest me excessively much right direct? (page 213). That statement unequivocally proves that Holden has non matured at all. Contemptuous, bitter, judgmental: mystify your pick. Each interchange describes Holden to a tee; not just in the beginning, plainly throughout the entire narration. Holden is forever and a day judgement everyone he gets into contact with. He speaks about Mr. Spencer (page 10), a professor at Pencey Prep, in the same patronizing stair that he describes a particular psychoanalyst with (page 213). Though the events take wander several months apart, Holden?s at titude is consistent. He continues to catch! a cynical, patronizing, and overall pessimistic outlook on quite a little and life in general.

If Holden is just as fledgling and mentally undeveloped at the end of the novel as he was at the beginning, how can one argue that he has come of age? Having a mental breakdown and indispensabilitying treatment for utter breakdown may very well be considered a rite of passage. However, to be considered a coming of age story, Holden would need to be changed for the better because of his rite of passage. One can understandably tell from his consistency in tone, attitude, and maturity take (or deprivation in that respec tof) that Holden has not changed in the least. Though legion(predicate) critics and readers alike have claimed Catcher in the Rye to be an excellent bildungsroman, there is certainly a strong arguing to be make against this claim. Catcher in the Rye By JD Salinger (1951)Pamela Hunt Steinle (2000). In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye censoring Controversies and Postwar American Character. Ohio State University Press. If you command to get a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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