"The Catcher in The Rye" by J.D. Salinger: The Tendency to Judge Others and its Detrimental Effects.

Mother Theresa said, "do not judge people, for you will have no time to love them". One of the most important themes in "The Catcher in the Rye", is the tendency people have to judge one another. The narrator, Holden Caulfield, is not only judgmental of the people he meets, but of society as a whole. Throughout his experiences, he criticizes the phoniness and shallowness that he encounters in the world around him. One sees, …showed first 75 words of 543 total…

…showed last 75 words of 543 total…in society. Throughout the novel, Holden was too busy calling people phony to look at his own phony actions. Even more drastic is how his cynical outlook on society ultimately led him to a world of isolation. Deep inside he wanted companionship, but was too blind by his opinions to see it when it was right in front of him. Works Cited: Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York City: Bantam Books, 1964.