Catcher In The Rye, Compares To Biblical Quote Essay, Research Paper

Throughout life, an individual may endure several emotionally

or physically straining moments. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden

Caulfield suffers much verbal abuse, as well as physical. Both forms

of the abuse, combined with other factors, eventually leads Holden to

suffer a mental breakdown. Holden s actions prove that ** A blow

from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes

bones.

Holden experiences several fights throughout the story. Near

the beginning, he begins a struggle with Stradlater, his roommate,

over his friend s date, Jane Gallagher. Holden was upset to learn that

the couple were alone in a car, knowing Stradlater s sexual history.

Holden s mind chooses to push out the incident, so it is foggy in his

head. But all he knew was, he tried to hit Stradlater but missed.

After the miss, Stradlater proceeded to climb on top of Holden and

take hold of his wrists, not letting him up. Stradlater dug his knees

deep into Holden s chest to keep him from moving. This seemed to

go on for around ten hours . When Stradlater finally gave in and let

Holden get up, the struggle started again, ending with a bloody nose

for Holden. Afterwards, although Holden was somewhat offended by

the actions, he did not seem to care about his dripping nose. He went

directly over to Ackley s room, not even stopping to wipe up his nose.

He also did not seem to care about the overall fight, because he

talked of it like it meant nothing to him. I had a little goddam tiff

with Stradlater, he explains to Ackley. Do you feel like playing a

little Canasta? This quick forgetting shows that the fight had little

affect on Holden, and that his injury meant little to him.

While Holden is in the Edmont Hotel, the elevator man mentions

the prospect of a prostitute. Holden reluctantly agrees to a throw,

which would cost him five dollars. Holden was very nervous during

his wait, but when the girl showed up he told her he only wanted to

talk. Even though they didn t do anything, Holden paid his money,

only to find that the girl was promised ten. Holden refused to pay the

extra amount, assuring the girl that he was told a throw was only five

and he was not going to pay more. She left, only to return minutes

later with the elevator man, Maurice. Maurice threatened and

punched Holden, demanding the extra five dollars that he owed .

After a bit of roughing up , Sunny, the prostitute, searches Holden s

wallet and pulls out another five. Sunny starts out the door, but

Maurice was still holding Holden, snapping on him and shoving him. Right before stepping out, he gives Holden a punch in the stomach.

Although Holden was hurt badly, he didn t care much about how he

felt. All he knew was that he could hardly breathe. Halfway to the

bathroom, he started pretending that he was dying. Although Holden

was slightly affected emotionally by this incident, he didn t care much

at all about it, and let his injuries take care of themselves.

When Holden was first expelled from Pencey, he paid a final

visit to his favorite teacher, Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer s attitude was

caring at first, but he began to scold Holden about his grades. You

knew absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing, he repeated several

times. He even had the indecency to read Holden his own paper, the

one in which Holden knew absolutely no idea about the subject. He

makes a mockery of Holden and his work, and completely destroys

any self-pride that Holden may have. Mr. Spencer was very

insensitive with his words, implying that Holden needed to grow up

and move on in his life. These words may have been part of what

eventually caused Holden s emotional breakdown, the feeling that he

was lacking in life.

The reader is able to interpret through Holden s thoughts and

actions that the physical blows meant little to Holden, while the

emotional blows meant much more. He was able to basically ignore

his injuries, but could not possibly take the emotional pain out of his

head. Even when he didn t think about it, it was always there

subconsciously, proving that a blow from the tongue smashes bones,

while a blow from a whip only raises a welt.

** denotes the Biblical quote found in Sirach 28:17