Holden on to Existentialism: Catcher in the Rye Essay

Isolation presents an ideal attribute from which a child may obtain self-protection. The fear of living out an adult life leads to Holden's character that exhibits phoniness and self-protection, attributes that land him into a mental facility for treatment. The "Catcher in the Rye" written by J. D. Salinger presents the story of Holden in a literary realism genre filled with thrill and interesting attributes of existentialism that dominate Holden's life. Existentialism is exhibited in an environment that permeates strong personal opinions that involve one making decisions individually. The decisions may either isolate them from the rest of the world or draw them closer to others with possibilities of having further psychological implications that may lead one to mental conditions. Holden is an example of the above with a detailed analysis of the thesis presented in the discussion that follows.

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The world of an adolescent is filled with many changes in physical and social nature that result in the possible creation of a new individual that fears adulthood and associated challenges. The story told by Salinger features a young sixteen year old that is caught in between the dilemma of becoming an adult and retaining the childhood innocence. The sixteen year old boy Holden Caulfield is expelled from Pennsylvania prep school after engagement in a tense exchange with his dorm mate. He leaves the school at the thick of the night travelling to New York City where his family lived but chooses to stay away from home. Decision making features in the story as an attribute that Holden seeks to explore to exercise his personal opinion. The strong personal opinions exhibited by Holden affects his relations with others as evidenced by the nature of treatment he obtains from Jane Gallagher and Sally Hayes. The resulting arguments and differences with others set Holden apart ultimately leading him to a mental facility in which his maturity and desire to remain in the childhood innocence are put to taste. During his time away from school in a hotel room fearing to reach home, Holden engages thoughts of reaching out to his young sister Phoebe. However, he fears that "she wouldn't've been the one that answered the phone" knowing that his parents would answer it (Salinger, 34). The reaction exhibited by Holden is synonymous of youths in society today. The teenagers live their childhood life fantasizing about adulthood with others engaged in earlier rebellious acts seeking to enjoy a similar freedom as that in the lives of adults. The realization of the difficulties involved in adult living leads to internal discontent that sees majority of these isolated from their friends and making decisions that represent them as rather having mental issues.

The actions exhibited by Holden in the story relate closely with the need to obtain recognition and build selfhood. Schafer reveals that in building a relationship between the teller of a story and the target audience, recognition of selfhood features prominently (607). The teller of the story presents the motivations and reasons for the story involving literary analyses. The teller of the story builds a selfhood that influences the thoughts of the audience and contributes towards building an emotional connection that maintains individuality. The acts of the teller in this case exhibit existentialism. Relating the same to the works of Salinger in "the Catcher in the Rye," Holden builds selfhood through his decisions and actions from the beginning of the story to its ending. The choices made by Holden exhibit individual freedom that is central to existentialism. The freedoms determine his interaction with other people including his siblings and peers further leading to his isolation from the rest of those he had considered his pears.

During his time under therapy, the therapeutic landscape plays a vital role in helping Holden deal with his personal attitude and approach to life. Presented as one of the vital contributions made on the health geography, therapeutic landscape is applied in building an understanding on the effects that the environment has on illness (Baer and Gesler, 406). Treating Holden takes into account his environment and the contributions that this had on his attitude and behavior. Following from the same, the isolation that he had suffered over the years was considered to emanate from his attitude and response. The aggressive nature of Holden as exhibited by his reaction prior to being expelled from school is an indication of the nature of effect the environment had on him further influencing his ability to build meaningful relations with others including his siblings. The application of a therapeutic landscape reveals these attributes in the environment facilitating treatment.

Conclusion

Summarily, the story presents existentialism in an environment that permeates strong personal opinions as evident in the actions of Holden. The decisions he makes in his life represent an adolescent seeking to live longer in the childhood innocence with fears of the adulthood life that presents as a trap. The resulting isolation and time at a mental facility are the results of an existential life of a child changing into adulthood.

Works Cited

Baer, Leonard D., and Wilbert M. Gesler. "Reconsidering the concept of therapeutic landscapes in J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye." Area, vol. 36, no. 4, 2004, pp. 404-413.

Salinger, J. D. "The Catcher in the Rye." Brandeis Users' Home Pages, people.brandeis.edu/~klionsky/stories/Salinger%20-%20The%20Catcher%20in%20the%20Rye.pdf. Accessed 3 June 2018.

Schafer, Stefanie. ""Recognition Is a Form of Agreement": The Workings of Self-Narration in "The Catcher inthe Rye" and "Invisible Man"." Universitatsverlag WINTER Gmbh, vol. 57, no. 4, 2012, pp. 603-626. Accessed 3 June 2018.