Make a list of the names of those who have rejected Holden in one way or another beginning with Chapter 1 and ending with Chapter 19. Why do you think Holden alienates so many people?
The three girls from the lavender bar refuse to have more drinks with him and they leave him alone in the bar.
Sunny, the prostitute that is send up to his room rejects him in the way that Holden wants to have a conversation with her but she is not interested. He’s left alone and depressed in his room with no one to keep him company.
Mrs. Ernest, mother of Ernest Morrow thinks that Holden is a charming young man but when Holden asks her to have cocktails with him, she says its to late and gets of the train.
Holden goes on a date with Sally Hayes , he ends up insulting her and she doesnt want to see him anymore, she pushes him away because of what he said to her. Carl Luce is another character that rejects him. Holden tries to ask Carl for help but Luce just thinks Holden is being immature and childish.
The paragraphs of the last chapter in which Holden addresses his psychoanalyst’s questions about “applying himself” is a key to understanding Holden’s alienation. If he can’t, or doesn’t(apply himself), then he’ll have increasingly less in common with those who are productively, constructively, and esteemfully living their lives, and will project his feelings of inadequacy and hostility onto them. He will become increasingly isolated and averse to social stimulation. i.e., Can Holden “get a life?” If not, family get-togethers and Thanksgiving dinners likely will become increasingly unbearable as he won’t have the “usual” answers and topics of conversation that his age-related peers will, creating further contempt and alienation for those he sees as “successful.”
