conrad vs. holden

A detailed Summary of conrad vs. holden

Getting over a traumatic experience can be troubling to anyone, especially when the experience deals with a close family member or friends. Whether the problem is feeling unloved by your parents, being rejected by your friends or even having suicidal thoughts, the result can be just as destructive as those results of Holden's problems from the Catcher in the Rye and Conrad's problems from Ordinary People. These two novels begin with a trigger accident that affects the mental health of these two characters. Their personality changes as well as, relationships, and conflicts arise. Conrad Jarrett from Ordinary People by Judith Guest can be compared to J.D. Salinger's, The Catcher in the Rye, in terms of character's personalities, relationships with their families, conflicts with fate and theme of escapism.

The protagonist Holden from The Catcher in the Rye and the protagonist from Ordinary People can be compared in terms of their personalities. Holden is a psycho who has gone mad after losing his younger brother, Allie. He reacts to anything false said about his brother, like when Stradlater, a roommate of his at Pencey Prep School, said "For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddamn baseball glove" (Sa

In order to solve this problem, Conrad tried to become his brother so everybody wouldn't feel his (Jordan's) loss. However, this just caused Conrad to deteriorate inside, so he began to see a psychoanalyst, Dr. Berger. Dr. Berger teaches him " justice, is for the not-so-perfect kid to become the other perfect kid. For everybody ...that is one hell of a burden...because he can't figure out how to solve the problem, he decides to destroy it" (Guest, pg.207). In this quote, D. Berger is referring to Conrad being the not-so-perfect kid who has to face reality and not run from it, such as committing suicide. Conrad, by the end of the novel realizes this and copes with this fact.

Conrad from Ordinary People and Holden from the Catcher in the Rye are involved in conflicts with fate. Both characters from the two stories have to face fate. Fate is the trigger accident, which occurs to Holden and Conrad. The loss of their siblings is the trigger accidents that affect them mentally. Holden loses his younger brother Allie because he had leukemia. Holden had a hard time coping with his death. For instance, he tells the reader " I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything...by that time, and I couldn't do it" (Salinger, pg.39). This quote expresses Holden's anger and depression when his brother died. It also shows the love he had for him that caused him to take out his anger by hurting himself. Holden's health begins to deteriorate because of his depression. He drops out of school. He says, " I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself" (Salinger pg.4). This means he couldn't concentrate on his schoolwork because he had experienced the loss of a sibling and was depressed. At the end of the novel, there are several quotes, which imply that Holden ends up in a mental institution while expressing his feelings. Specifically, one strong quote which implies that he's in a mental institution. He says, " especially, this one psychoanalyst guy they have here" (Salinger, pg.213) that indicates that Holden's health had deteriorated and ended up in a mental institution in the end. In the same way, Conrad had been affected by Jordan's death. He had experienced the loss of his brother in a boating accident, which affects him mentally and causes his health to deteriorate. Conrad's father, at one time, thinks back to the time Conrad reacted to his brother's death: "He didn't want to know, didn't want to believe it was happening, 'Con, open the door! Let me in!'...nightmare of blood, the towels soaked with it, leaking there over flow onto the rug, the floor. His (Conrad) arm curved, hiding his face. A sea-fan of dried blood on the wall behind his head...in the hospital...'let me die'...'I want to die' " (Guest, pg.222). This quote implies that Conrad attempted suicide because he couldn't take the pain. His brother's death caused him to run from the pain.

Holden and Conrad con also be compared in terms of family relationships. The family relationships change, after the loss of their siblings. For instance, Holden doesn't communicate with his father for any matter. He feels he cannot relate to him. Holden is afraid to make any communication with his mother because she became sick after his brother, Allie's death: "She hasn't felt too healthy since my brother Allie died. She's very nervous" (Saling

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Approximate Word count = 2482
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English