Why is Holden so lonely?

To answer thatWe need to answer these questions firstExamples where Holden tries to loo

k for companionship and fails

Many times Holden thinks about calling Jane, but he never does

"I am a Rock"by Simon & Garfunkel

Explanations about how the song related to <the cather in the rye>

Why does he fail?Holden calls Faith Cavendish in the hopes of arranging a ‘date’.

Desperately hanging out with Carl Luce at the wicker bar and begging him to stay.

Trying to ‘talk’ to Sunny instead of having a ‘good time’.

Conclusion

Holden calls Faith Cavendish in the hopes of arranging a ‘date’.• Description: Holden called Faith in the middle of the night and he pretended to be mature and all. He suggested to hang out but she refused. She said her roommate was sick… She offered to hang out the next day, but Holden refused. Afterwards, he regretted turning her down. But he didn’t even know why he refused her.

Desperately hanging out with Carl Luce at the wicker bar and begging him to stay.• Description: Holden asked old Luce to meet him at wicker bar in a swanky place. And then Holden started to talk about these inappropriate topics, which really annoyed Carl. And when Carl wanted to leave, Holden even begged him to stay. He’s so desperate to find a companionship.

IMMATURE MIND!

Trying to ‘talk’ to Sunny instead of having a ‘good time’.• Description: In the hotel’s elevator, Holden met this elevator boy. He asked Holden if he wanted to “have a good time” and he agreed without even think about it. That’s how Holden met Sunny. However, after Sunny came into the room. He was so depressed because he thought sunny was childish instead a mature prostitute. So he asked her to leave.

IMMATURE MIND AGAIN!!

Conclusion• So, why Holden fails to find companionship??• Holden struggles to find companions since he isn’t mature and at the same time everyone he knows is maturing or fully matured.

Why doesn't he call Jane?Old life

reality

Old life• Old Jane was a part of his old life. He and Jane used to get along very well, they hung out and played games together, we could tell that she meant a lot to him. So that’s why Holden always think about her. However, for several times, he wanted to call her but he didn’t, because he was trying to avoid his old life, but Jane was part of it so that’s why he didn’t want to call her.

Reality• Holden spends the length of the book running from his ‘reality’ and if he were to call Jane he would likely return to that life or ‘reality’ in which he has to grow up into a different version of himself and possibly become phony.

What does the lyric mean?Lyrics

I am a Rock

Holden Caulfield

The Relation

Summary

Lyrics (from http://www.songlyrics.com/simon-garfunkel/i-am-a-rock-lyrics/ )• A winter’s day, in deep and dark December. I am alone, gazing from my window to the streets below. On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. • I am a rock, I am an island.• I’ve built walls, a fortress steep and mighty. That none may penetrate. I have no need for friendship, friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.• I am a rock, I am an island.• Don’t talk of love. Well I’ve heard the word before, sleeping in my memory. I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died. If I never loved I never would have cried.• I am a rock, I am an island.• I have my books and my poetry to protect me. I am shielded in my armor. Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me.• I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.

I am a Rock• Is about a character who has been hurt in the past “It’s sleeping in my memories”.• The character copes with the pain by severing his emotional ties “I have no need for friendship, friendship causes pain”.• The character refuses to let anyone become close with after that point “I am a rock, I am an island”.

Holden Caulfield• Lost his younger brother to leukemia.• Struggles to find emotional meaning in things and has limited concern towards most people.• Holden Isolates himself at times.

The Relation• Both the songs character and Holden have lost some one in the past.• The song’s character has no emotional ties while Holden has a very limited range of emotional ties• Both the song’s character and Holden suffer from isolation, although with Holden it is not by choice.

Summary• The song nearly describes Holden an his situation.• Isolation is a major theme in both the book and the song.• Traumatic events haunt both the song and the book’s past which is what possibly lead to the solitude.

Why is he so lonely?1. “Little Fish in a big pond”

2. The death of Allie

3. Immature

4. Try to be special

5. Complain about everything

6.Touchy and weird

1. “Little Fish in a big pond”• Holden is lonely since he had removed himself from a place that he knew and felt comfortable with and then went to a big city where he knew no one and struggled to find company amongst the large amount of people that were hanging out amongst themselves, just like a little fish in a big pond. An example of his feeling in the city is described by how he felt sad when he heard people laughing in the street.

2. The death of Allie• Allie is Holden’s brother, Holden thinks that Allie is one of the good things that happened to his life, so when Allie died, the good thing was just gone. He couldn’t accept the fact that good things always fade away. So he felt very lonely after Allie’s death.

3. Immature• He tried to act like an adult, but he wasn’t an adult at all. He always pretends to be an adult so he can get liquor at bars; he always hangs out with adults like teachers but not all of them are willing to chat with him; and he always talk about things with people who don’t want to talk about that. I think these are all signs show that he’s actually not mature.

4. Try to be special• Holden is always trying to be special, to be different or stand out from people who have the same age with him, like he didn’t want to be like other phony guys. In the book, he always says someone is phony, like Sally, Old Spencer, the guy he met in the bar and so on.

5. Complain about everything• Once in the book, his little sister Phoebe said that Holden always complain of everything, that somehow makes him to become alienated because his habit of hating everything in this world can be really annoyed to those people around him, just like Phoebe.

6.Touchy and weird• His personality decided what kind person he is, he actually is extremely touchy and sensitive about everything. Like the relationships and the conversations between people, that somehow makes him become weirder than other people who around him.

Thankyoupresented by group 4