Holdem Caulfield Leading a Lonely Life
Uploaded by tr00datp00nar on Dec 21, 2005
Leading a Lonely Life
In the novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, both of the main characters are plagued with loneliness and a longing for companionship. While Huck seems to come across friends more easily than Holden Caulfield, they both are constantly stricken with a lack of friendly faces and a need for fellowship throughout their journeys for self-realization. Holden’s gravitation away from people he deems “phony” seems to leave him without companionship for most of the novel, whereas Huck always has someone with him, his loneliness is manifested more in his longing for normality. Both characters find some sort of comfort in the idea that they can succeed individually, but realize that they are much better off with a group of people for encouragement and support.
Huckleberry Finn seems to bring on his own loneliness by breaking away from the social norm in order to move towards his own idea of normality. Huck is a young adolescent boy whose mother is dead, and whose father is a drunken buffoon, constantly away on some sort of binge drinking spree. He lives with his aunt, and she attempts to “sivilize” his mannerisms. He runs away from his family; he leaves behind his aunt who cares for him very much. He leaves behind his comforts and his security; he leaves behind his abusive drunken father. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out.” (Twain 13) He travels off into the night in order to find out what he wants for himself. Huck’s experience with the cabin in the woods appears to be the breaking point. When Huck has to endure many days and nights, cramped into a small cabin with his insane father, he realizes that a life of drunkenness and foolery were not what he wanted. He runs away, and soon realizes that perhaps home is better than he thought it was.
Holden is lonely preceding as well as throughout the novel, and although his situation is quite different from Huck’s, it seems to lead to many of the same feelings. His brother Allie has been killed by...