Edited Version of Paper
Body paragraph
Group #1
Throughout the book Holden commonly judges others to feel better about himself. This proves how
physiologically he needs help to function in the real world. By bullying others and poking fun at peoples
appearance, and intellect his self esteem rises. While at pencey he consistently made fun of Ackley. His
teeth were lousy, he had tons of pimples and was overall disgusting. [Ackley would not take any hints
that Holden did not want him in his room. “Ackley! For chrissakee willya please cut your crumby nails
over the table.”(p.24)] Holden is very critical when judging other especially with the people he interacts
with a lot. “He was about six four—with lousy teeth…he had a terrible personality he was also sort of a
nasty guy.”(p. 19)These rude comments show how his being in a rest home is no surprise. Another
instance of him being mean is when he describes adults as being phonies, when he is the real phonie.
He needs professional help to figure out who he is and who he wants to be.
Group #2
Catcher in the Rye
The Encarta dictionary describes the term “rest home” as “a place where
infirm senior citizens and chronically ill people are housed and cared for.”
Through my reading of this book, it is clear to me that one character should be
placed in a rest home for being irresolute: Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in
the Rye by J.D. Salinger. His many suicide threats, common judgments toward
others, and his habit of being a phony, clearly show the readers that he must be in
a hospice. Through careful examination of Holden’s character, using textual
evidence, it is clear this troubled young man needed help.
The thoughts that cross the mind of Holden prove the point that he must
be institutionalized and examined. One thought that constantly passed his mind
was one involving suicide. Due to the fact that this character experienced stress
through the death of a family member, loneliness, and lack of friendship, which
are all causes of suicide, it is clear why Holden was sent to a rest home. Suicide
first crossed his mind in his hotel room after a fight with a bell-man, when he said,
“…what [he] really felt like, though, was committing suicide. [He] felt like jumping
out the window. [He] probably would’ve done it, too, if [he hadn’t] been sure
somebody’d cover [him] up as soon as [he] landed,” (204). What this occurrence
shows is how loneliness saved him; the only reason that he spared his life was
because nobody would care if he died. Another instance of suicide was when he
talks about the character James Castle who committed suicide at his school. This
made the reader see that he is thinking about suicide frequently. These suicidal
thoughts make it clear that Holden needed help from a psychoanalyst.
Throughout the book, Holden commonly judges others to feel better about
himself. This proves how psychologically he needs help to function in the real
world. By bullying others and poking fun at people’s appearances and intellect, his
self esteem rises. While at Pencey Prep, he consistently made fun of Ackley. His
teeth were lousy, he had tons of pimples and was overall disgusting. These rude
comments show how his being in a rest home is no surprise. Another instance of
him being mean is when he describes adults as being phonies, when he is the real
phony. He needs professional help to figure out who he is and who he wants to
be.
Phony is a common word Holden uses throughout the book to describe
everyone except himself. What he fails to realize is that he is the phony.
Throughout the story he goes through many changes in trying to find out who he
is, and by the end, he is still struggling to complete that goal. He constantly acts
fake to be “cool,” to impress others. For instance, when he talks to the mother of
the student at Pencey, he pretends that he is getting brain surgery and continues
to lie to her to get her attention because she was good looking. Holden spends
the book pretending to be someone else and never finds out who he is. This
proves that he is mentally unstable and should be sent to a rest home.
Dan Silkman, Meghan Brogan, Tyler Vartuli
Group #3
Add a general statement for the opening of the introduction: In the book
the “Catcher in the Rye” many things point to Holden’s slowly decreasing
mental stability.“A place where infirm senior citizens and chronically ill
people are housed and cared for,” is how the Encarta dictionary describes the
term “rest home.” Through my readings of many books it is clear to me that
one character should be placed in a rest home for being irresolute, Holden
Caulfield of the story The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. His many
suicide threats, common judgments towards others, and his habit of being a
phony clearly show the reader that he must be in a hospice. Old Conclusion
Sentence: Through careful examination of Holden’s character through
textual evidence it is clear this troubled young man needed help. After
referring to the textual evidence, it is clear that Holden is just as suicidal as
he is a phony or conformist.
Group #4
Catcher in the Rye
“A place where infirm senior citizens and chronically ill
people are housed and cared for,” is how the Encarta dictionary
describes the term “rest home.” Through my readings of many
books it is clear to me that one character should be placed in a
rest home for being irresolute, Holden Caulfield of the story
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. His many suicide
threats, common judgments towards others, and his habit of
being a phony clearly show the reader that he must be in a
hospice. Through careful examination of Holden’s character
through textual evidence it is clear this troubled young man
needed help.
Holden’s mental and physical actions throughout the
novel prove that he must be institutionalized and examined.
One thought that consistently passed through his mind was
suicide. Due to the fact that Holden experienced horrific
events, such as the death of a family member [Allie],
loneliness and lack of friendship it is clear why Holden was
sent to a rest home. Suicide first crossed his mind in his hotel
room after a fight with a bell-man, “…what I really felt like,
though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the
window. I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d been sure
somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed.”(204) What this
occurrence shows is how loneliness and alienation saved him,
the only reason why he spared his life is because nobody
would care if he died. Another instance of thoughts of suicide
was when he talked about the character James Castle, who
committed suicide at his school. This made the reader see that
he is thinking about suicide frequently. These suicidal
thoughts make it clear Holden needed help from a
psychoanalyst.
Group # 5
Catcher in the Rye
“A place where infirm senior citizens and chronically ill
people are housed and cared for,” is how the Encarta dictionary
describes the term “rest home.” Through my readings of many
books it is clear to me that one character should be placed in a
rest home for being irresolute, Holden Caulfield of the story
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. His many suicide
threats, common judgments towards others, and his habit of
being a phony clearly show the reader that he must be in a
hospice. Through careful examination of Holden’s character
through textual evidence it is clear this troubled young man
needed help.
The thoughts that passed through the mind of Holden’s
mind prove that point he must be institutionalized and
examined. One thought that passed his mind consistently was
one involved suicide. Due to the fact This character experienced
stress through the death of a family member, loneliness and
lack of friendship which are all causes of suicide it is clear why
Holden was sent to a rest home. Holden was sent to a rest
home because of the stress, loneliness and lack of friendship he
experience. These are all causes of suicide. Suicide first crossed
his mind in his hotel room after a fight with a bell-man. “…what
I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like
jumping out the window. I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d
been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed.(page
204)” What This quote shows is how loneliness saved him. The
only reason why he spared his life is because nobody would
care if he died. Another instance of suicide was when he talks
about the character James Castle who committed suicide at his
school. This made the reader see realize that he Holden is
thinking about suicide commonly constantly. These suicidal
thoughts make made it clear that Holden needed help from a
psychoanalyst.
Group # 6
Quotation Usage
Throughout the book Holden commonly judges others to feel better about himself. This proves how
physiologically he needs help to function in the real world. By bullying others and poking fun at peoples
appearance, and intellect his self esteem rises. While at pencey he consistently made fun of
Ackley(introduce quote). His teeth were lousy, he had tons of pimples and was overall disgusting.” (need
page number)These rude comments show how his being in a rest home is no surprise. Another instance
of him being mean is when he describes adults as being phonies (need example), when he is the real
phonie. He needs professional help to figure out who he is and who he wants to be.
Phony is a common word Holden uses throughout the book to describe everyone except
himself. What he fails to realize is that he is the phony. Throughout the story he goes through many
changes in trying to find out who is in, and by the end he still is struggling to complete that goal. He
constantly acts fake to be “cool” to impress others. For instance (need quote and explanation for it) the
mother of the parent at Pencey, at this point he pretends to be getting brains surgery and continues to
lie to her to get her attention because she was good looking. (explain more in depth).This man spends
the book pretending to be someone else and never finds out who he is. This proves that he is mentally
unstable and should be sent to a rest home.
Group #7
Phony is a common word Holden uses throughout the book to describe everyone except
himself,
but he fails to realize is that he is the phony. Throughout the story he goes through many
changes in trying to find out who he
constantly tries
is, and by the end he still is struggling to complete that goal. He
to act “cool” to impress others. For instance, on the train, he meets the
mother of the student that goes to Pencey Prep, and continues to lie to get her
attention because he thought she was attractive.
else and until
Holden spends the book pretending to be someone
the end, never realizes that all along he was just trying to
hold onto his childhood. Holden’s problems are common at his age,
seeing the world as a scary place and not yet having completely figured
out who he is. He’s only 16 and should just be himself instead of trying
to conform to the ideas of others.