Here is some work I did for school
The catcher in the rye (J.D. Salinger)
Holden’s sensitivity
In my opinion, Holden is sensitive to persons that are older than himself. Here are some reasons why I say that. First of all, when Holden visits Mr. Spencer, he sees him who just finished a grippe, he’s a little weak (he can’t throw a sheet on the bed) and he’s old. Holden feels pity for Mr. Spencer, he doesn’t do anything to help him, but he still feels sad for Mr. Spencer. The proof of this is when Holden says on p.15 "I felt sorry as hell for him, all of a sudden. (…) the way he kept missing the bed whenever he chucked something at it, and his sad old bathrobe with his chess showing, and the grippy smell of Vicks Nose Drops." Also, when he meets the two nuns in New-York, Holden thinks of how good they are to poor people and he gives them 10$ for charity (it is a big amount of money in the fifties) and he’s very nice with them. He acts like a good person would do. Moreover, when he leaves them, he accidentally shoots cigarette smoke at the nuns face, and then he feels profoundly sorry and he tells them he didn’t mean to do this. He even things of giving them more money. To add to this, when he meets Mrs. Morrow on the train to New-York, he tells her nice things about her son and he lies the whole time he’s with her. He does this because he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings and it’s very kind of him. Undeniably, these are all evidences that Holden is a sensitive guy towards adults that he thinks are nice persons.
more to come...