Started By
Message
re: Name a fictious character you hate
Posted on 1/30/14 at 12:23 am to UsingUpAllTheLetters
Posted on 1/30/14 at 12:23 am to UsingUpAllTheLetters
quote:
As a teenager, I loved Holden. Now I realize how shitty and whiney teenagers are, and couldn't agree more.
Holden is not a stock character for the teenage generation. It's unfortunate that the book is viewed by so many as just a 'coming of age' story. It's a deeply analytical piece of realism. It digs deep into the narrational consciousness of someone dealing with the death of a sibling and a society that is in many ways inverted. What is perceived by some as whininess is a necessary element to portray the authors message. Doesn't mean you have to like the book, just rambling.
This post was edited on 1/30/14 at 12:25 am
1
Posted on 1/30/14 at 12:37 am to TbirdSpur2010
Not at all. Every time I watch Saving Private Ryan I hope that this time is different and they leave him and his fricking type writer
Posted on 1/30/14 at 12:55 am to Sleeping Tiger
quote:
It digs deep into the narrational consciousness of someone dealing with the death of a sibling and a society that is in many ways inverted.
In high school I wrote a paper comparing Holden's perspective with that of a soldier returning to the states from a war-zone, and included the possibility of Salinger's Battle of the Bulge experience playing a role in his writing, and his possible battle with PTSD. I do agree that the writing is deep and displays a heavy conscience trying to make sense of a twisted society, but after reading it a few times, Holden started to remind me of some of the vague and isolated kids I had met in school that were more lazy than anything. These were kids that played the victim a lot and blamed their parents for anything.
Posted on 1/30/14 at 2:38 am to UsingUpAllTheLetters
I'd say it was the opposite for me.
The first time I read it he reminded me of the kids you described. He's those things at the surface, so it should be natural that these characteristics are noticed first.
But I came to see him more as an existential hero fighting for the collective conscious that hides behind each individual unconscious. That's what existentialism is all about, the collective conscious examined through the individual.
Dostoyevsky was a master of this style. No one should like Rodya, main character in Crime and Punishment, but it's his negative characteristics that make the book have purpose.
The first time I read it he reminded me of the kids you described. He's those things at the surface, so it should be natural that these characteristics are noticed first.
But I came to see him more as an existential hero fighting for the collective conscious that hides behind each individual unconscious. That's what existentialism is all about, the collective conscious examined through the individual.
Dostoyevsky was a master of this style. No one should like Rodya, main character in Crime and Punishment, but it's his negative characteristics that make the book have purpose.
Posted on 1/30/14 at 8:34 am to parkjas2001
Frank Booth
Posted on 1/30/14 at 9:00 am to parkjas2001
quote:
fter reading "Catcher in the Rye", I wanted to punch Holden Caulfield in the face.
The biggest shame of Catcher in the Rye is that people identify with Holden when they are supposed to hate him. At least they should. The hypocrisy of calling the outside world "phony" when he was the biggest one of all was sort of the endearing point to me. You can't let tragedy affect you that way. Everyone has tragedy. Yet in what I've read, J.D. Salinger identified with him so much that maybe the point was even lost on the author. At least I hope so. Holden is a whiny bitch and unlikable.
Page 5 of 5
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News