A Lack of Companionship, a Lack of Joy
             "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with
             hoops of steel" (qtd. in Davidoff 106). As long as man has existed, man has strived to
             have companions: to feel the love of friends and family. In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in
             the Rye, protagonist Holden Caulfield rose from his sadness and found happiness only
             when he realized the importance of the love and companionship offered by friends and
             family. Holden faced many obstructions in his quest to find the joy that was missing in his
             life. Unfriendly and non-understanding people seemed to attack Holden's life from all
             directions, yet Holden ultimately discovered happiness through the kindness of his sister
             Phoebe. By learning from Holden's quest for happiness, we as humans will be able to peer
             deeper into our own quests for joy and our own understandings of where happiness
             actually comes from. In order to find happiness, one must first recognize his sadness and
             ultimately acknowledge the supreme importance of friends, family, and every companion
             Sometimes one notices the void of sorrow only when he realizes that he is without
             anyone to love. Loneliness can sometimes become apparent when one finds none to spend
             quality time with and love, as was Holden's case when he is left without a single
             companion. The first example of this phenomenon in the story is when Holden leaves his high school Pencey, and all the friends within it. When Holden was packed and leaving
             the school he, "took a last look down the goddam corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't
             know why" (Salinger 52). Holden is sad because he is leaving every companion he has:
             every source of affection. A second time in the novel when Holden is confronted with the
             lurking void of loneliness is when chatting in a hotel lounge with a peer from hi...