•Holden's Place in a Man's World

•Alissa Rose, Hayden Green, Adalia Pang, Sherri Abbate, Ross Balbalosa

•Holden's attitude towards men his age

•Thesis: The loss of innocence causes conflict when combined with longing for childhood and simpler times.

•There is a large seperation between the behavior of Holden's peers and his own behavior

      ~This stems from Holden's isolation because of his longing for childhood oblivion

     ~such as Holden's attitude towards the "player" Stradlater

•Stradlater

•Stradlater is Holden's roomate at Pencey Prep, and is one year older than Holden

•Holden thinks Stradlater is nothing but a "hot shot" who is full of himself and expects others to be as well

 

~"He was always asking you to do him a big favor...Just because they're crazy about themself, they think you're crazy about them too..." (27-28)

 

~"He spent around half his goddam life in front of the mirror" (33)

•Ackley

•Holden's "disgusting" neighbor; Holden thinks very little of Ackley

•"...about eighty-five times a day old Ackley barged in on me. He was probably the only guy in the whole dorm, besides me, that wasn't down at the game. He hardly went anywhere. He was a very peculiar guy...He was also sort of a nasty guy" (19)

•Holden and Ackley have characteristics in common; what Holden sees in Ackley as "disgusting" are some of the same characteristics Holden himself possesses

~Both do not leave the dorm very much, go to the games, and both are seen by others as "peculiar"

•James Castle

•James was Holden's classmate at Elkton Hills that committed suicide by jumping out the window  (170)

~Was wearing Holden's sweater at the time

•"He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him...The funny part is, I hardly even know James Castle, if you want to know the truth...I think the only time I ever even had a conversation with him was that time he asked me if he could borrow this turtleneck sweater I had. I damn near dropped dead when he asked me, I was so surprised and all...If you want to know the truth, I almost didn't lend him my sweater. Just because I didn't know him too well" (170-171)

•Conclusion

•Thesis: Holden feels isolated towards men of his age group because his longing for childhood innocence seperates him mentally from his peers.

~Holden's isolation stems from his longing for childhood and simpler times, when combined with the loss of innocence.

~Even Holden's analogy to being the "catcher in the rye" demonstrates isolation, because he would be with only children younger than him- where he is most comfortable