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Holden's Sanity in The Catcher in the Rye Essay

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Catcher essay

In the book The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a boy that can either be insane or sane by comparing it to the world around him. How he does it, is using the word "phony" in his story to have the reader assume that the world is insane, but over time there are things that have been uncovered. Holden has analyzed his family as a representation to society and has finally concluded that the adult society is phony and corrupt. But the question is that can we really trust his conclusion of his family after him telling us that he lies hmself? If everyone is phony, then he is phony as well, saying if the world is insane will he also be insane?. Although Holden has says that he is a liar, he doesn't always realize if he is lying or telling the truth. And the distinctions between truth and falsehood becomes faint as he uses the phrase "to tell you the truth" onto whatever he is saying.

In the story from how it is read, the view is through a narrator's point of view (first person). Holden is most likely the insane person, from how the story goes, he only tells you want he wants you to know about the world other than the real truth. Because Holden avoids investigating deeply, he sees the same story everywhere. Everyone is phony, he insists. Throughout the novel, Holden tries luring us into accepting his point of view surrounding life as he makes statements that happen to make sense. Holden doesn't say much about his parents beyond his own opinion that they are both phony hypocrites. The reader is not even told their first names. In the beginning Holden attempts to shadow his personal life because he wanted to protect the perfection image.

Even though Holden is an insane person who says that everyone is a phony, but there are some that aren't so phony like allie for a taken example. Holden wants to unite himself with allie because she is a perfection to him. Holden regrets for what his decision was from the past up until now , and since Allie is dead, whenever Holden gets depressed, he does a penance, telling Allie out loud, "Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house. Hurry up." Holden tries to contain his feelings for her because she was the only girl that was perfect, it tells the readers that he isn't all that insane as he reveals his feelings.

In the end appears to be a sane person as he took Phoebe to the zoo to ride the carousel, Holden says "God, I wish you could've been there." Seeing Phoebe on that ride made him feel warm and gentle, and on that day, Holden has matured. He finally understands a little more about and world and life itself. He no longer feels like the world is a phony really, but instead the world is contained of more then just what he thinks. He is thankful for what god has given him in the end.

Holden seems to be a insane person but as well sane in his own way, in anyone's prospective, it shall differ from one to another. He is insane to others as he says that he lies as well as calling others phony, but sane in his own way and opinion, as his reason makes sense throughout the story. There is no one sided answer the question on whether he is insane or not, but rather if he is someone that people should side with or not.

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