Theme of Love Illustrated in Cather in the Rye
Theme of Love Illustrated in Cather in the Rye
The novel The Catcher in the Rye is about a young man named Holden Caulfield who is on a subconscious quest to find love. Holden attends a private school named Pency where he feels he does not fit in once again. Holden Caulfield is reliant on physical love, family love as well as friendship in order for him to feel accepted in society.
Holden has a subconscious desire for physical love to make him feel a part of society. Holden hired a prostitute to help him get over his feelings of being alone and secluded from the rest of society. He had just left his school and was all alone so he needed a physical love to make him feel with it. Holden felt he had true love with Jane because they connected on such a compassionate level. When Stradlater took out Jane, Holden got very upset because Stradlater was known for ‘giving girls the time’ and Stradlater does not love Jane as much, if at all, like Holden does. Because Holden did not have a physical relationship with Jane, he feels like he cannot connect with Stradlater on a personal level since Stradlater got something Holden wanted. Jane used to hold Holden’s hand and put her hand on his neck, which made Holden feel very loved by her. So when Stradlater took Jane out Holden felt very secluded because Stradlater was taking Jane away from him. Holden took Sally out for the afternoon to go see a play. When the two of them got into the taxi to go to the theater Holden decided to do what Stradlater does. He decided to seduce sally into messing around with him by giving her no alternative just as Stradlater does. . This made Holden feel equal to Stradlater because he was also doing physical things with girls in the back of a car, just like what Holden presumes Stradlater and Jane did in the back of the coaches’ car. “We horsed around a little bit in the cab on the way over to the theater. At first she didn’t want to, because she had her lipstick on, and all, but I was being seductive as hell and she didn’t have any alternative.” (page 125) Holden shows that on a subconscious level he thinks receiving physical love will make him feel more accepted by...