The Catcher in the Rye Holden Gets Influenced :: Essays Papers

The Catcher in the Rye Holden Gets Influenced Everyone gets influenced by someone, even heroes do. The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J. D. Salinger, talks about Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old boy that is trying to live through his problems. Holden tries to learn from his experiences as well as from the ones of others. He goes through many hard times, but he always takes them as a chance to imagine how it could have ended if he had done something about them or what cold had happened if he was not so â€Å"yellow†. Many people influence him; especially Jane Gallagher, Phoebe, and Allie. Jane Gallagher has a lot of influence on Holden. For example he states, â€Å"†¦You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were.† In this scene, Holden shows how Holden feels when he gets around Jane. Holden says that he feels good and happy when around Jane. Another scene where Jane demonstrates her influence over Holden, is when he states, â€Å"†¦Then I’d crawl back to my room and call up Jane and have her come over and bandage up my guts. I pictured her holding a cigarette for me to smoke while I was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Here, Holden imagines Jane coming over to help him, which reveals that Holden feels secure and protected by her. It also shows how Holden feels about Jane, the girl of his dreams, who he feels in love with. Jane clearly has much influence over Holden. Holden’s little brother, Allie, also influences a lot on him. For example, Holden states, â€Å"†¦You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent†¦He was also the nicest member of the family in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Holden always thinks of his brother Allie as a good and intelligent boy. When Holden thinks about Allie, Holden shows his love for him and how much he likes him. Another important scene is when Holden says, â€Å"†¦I kept walking and walking up Fifth Avenue†¦Then all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street.