The problem that I will talk about Holden Caulfield is he shows no interest in school or academics. Holden Caulfield didn’t go to school regularly and he always skipped school. He was never focused on his academic studies so he never did his homework or tried to work hard for his grades nor academics. From chapter 1, page 4, line 3-6, it wrote that, ’’They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all.” As well as from chapter 2, page 10, line 17-20, the conversation with Holden’s history teacher, Mr. Spencer, it wrote that, “”How many subjects did you carry this term?” asked by Mr. Spencer. “Five, sir.” Holden answered. “Five. And how many are you failing in?” “Four.””
From these we can see that Holden’s academic result is very bad as he has failed 4 subjects, and only passed English as he has studied all the stuff when he was at his previous school. We can also see that he shows no interest in school or academics as he is not applying to himself at all, he thinks that failing 4 subjects out of 5 has no problem at all as in the conversation he didn’t feel embarrassed for such poor result. Moreover, Holden has been kicked out of four schools, but there are only three mentioned in the book which are Whooton School, Elkton Hills and Pencey Prep. We know this information in chapter 2, page 9, line 8-9, as Holden said, “This is about the fourth school I’ve gone to.” From this we can surely confirm that Holden’s academic performance is poor as he has been to four different schools because he has been kicked out of these 4 schools.
The first recommendations for Holden’s academic problem is to have a private tutor. This is because as we can see above, Holden’s academic results are terribly poor as he is failing 4 subjects out of 5 and he has been kicked out of 4 schools. With a private tutor, Holden can tell the tutor what he doesn’t understand and thus the tutor can be more focused on what Holden is weak at so as to improve them in long term. Tutoring is always the best way to deal with poor results as it can help the student to know what they don’t understand and to correct them. Therefore with private tutoring, Holden can slowly improve his academic results and this may also increases his interest in school as students usually find school interesting if they do well in school.
The second recommendation is to have home school. This is because Holden didn’t get along well with people at school and he often found them annoying and “phony”. If he just stayed at home for his studies, he can be more focused on his studies and he won’t need to deal with the people at school. Moreover, with a home school, Holden can choose his own teachers as it is his own school, thus he doesn’t need to deal with the teachers he hates or the subjects he doesn’t like at all. However with the home school, Holden may want to go to his tutors’ homes for the school as he doesn’t like to face his parents since he is not having a good relationship with them.
The third recommendation for Holden’s academic problem is taking courses online. This is because Holden can just stay wherever he
Explore the different ways in which madness and loneliness are explained through the use of narrative voice in The Catcher in the Rye and American Psycho. Both Ellis and Salinger use first person narratives. The Catcher in the Rye was set in the late 1940s as opposed to American Psycho which is set in the late 1980s. These different contexts provide very different lifestyles and social pressures for both protagonist’s however, both writers focus on the effects of materialism and prodigality and the…
Tom, Caitlin Freeland – Block 8 10/23/14 Understanding and Uncertainty Knowledge is best obtained through experience. This is shown in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye , a young adult novel about a boy named Holden Caulfield in New York, who is surrounded by social and academic pressures and wants to be different from everyone else. Through analyzing Holden’s encounters and mindset, it is revealed that the book supports the argument that Holden or any other teenager has conflicts with society and struggle to grow up…
Catcher In The Rye Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, reveals the hardships that teenagers endure as they mature and enter adulthood. Holden Caulfield, the narrator, tells the story of his hardships. Any teenager’s mind can lose focus, especially in Holden’s case. Holden has many issues that lead to the root of his problems. Holden has been kicked out of several schools and endures many more issues. He suffers from the loss of a loved one, financial issues, and parental neglect. These three root…
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In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is clearly unhappy with his surroundings, which is evident not just by the fact that he is telling his story from some sort of mental hospital, but also by the fact that he seems to find something to dislike in everyone he is around. Whether it’s his roommate Stradlater’s self-obsession, or his neighbor Ackley’s lack of personal hygiene, Holden seems to find something wrong with everyone. From 3 unintelligent girls…
The Catcher in the Rye “The Catcher in the Rye,” a novel by J.D. Salinger introduces love, loneliness, loss of innocence, and the struggles of becoming an adult through a teenage eye. Holden is a very unpredictable character that looks at life with more detail than most. He shows sensitivity with sly symbols throughout the novel and proves his innocent misfit in the world. These symbols teach small and big lessons of life. “The Catcher in the Rye” should not be censored because of its beneficial…
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The Catcher in the Rye “Is The Catcher in the Rye, as a work of literature still relevant for today’s youth?” Name: Sara Sigurdson Course: English A1 Supervisor: Mr. Peter Steadman Word count: 3851 Candidate number: 00136022 Table of Contents Content Page Number Abstract 3 Introduction 4 The Actual Catcher in the Rye 4 The Sexual Matter 5 The Caulfield Family 6 Narrator and Protagonist 8 Role Model 9 Mr. Antolini 10 Targeted Audience 10 Guidance 12…