Self Inflicted Isolation in Catcher In The Rye
In the novel Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger the main character, Holden is very secluded and alienated from the rest of the world. He is not alienated in a physical way, but in a mental way. Holden is a hypocritical misfit and shows the audience how lost he feels in his life. Holden is lost and confused, trying to find his way between two phases in his life. Holden uses alienation as defense mechanism for his self- protection from the outside world, and puts up a bitter wall around himself allowing no one to get close to him. Throughout the whole book Holden makes it a point to isolates himself." Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game. […] I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. […] You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. […] You could hear them all yelling." (1.3) This is the first instance in the book where Holden shows us his self-inflicted isolation. While at the end of the year football game Holden is standing up by himself watching the football field. Watching is the key word in that previous sentence; Holden shows that instead of connecting with people he likes to observe and watch them. "I wasn't watching the game too much. What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad goodby, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it." (Cite) Holden is standing on top of the hill searching for a goodbye by look down at Pency. Holden is looking for a goodbye from looking at the buildings and a field instead of saying goodbye to people and friends; therefore showing his lack of friends at Pency. A second instance of Holden isolating himself is when he gets off the train at Penn Station and goes to make a phone call. "The first