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Catcher in the Rye


            Holden Caulfield's roommate, Stradlater, is an overall conceited character. He is described as vein, ungrateful, attractive (yet messy), and a Narcissist. The way the author and Holden describe him, makes the reader almost dislike Stradlater. The way he talks and acts in his conceited manner makes his appearance less pleasurable. Nobody really looks toward Stradlater in a friendly way except for "the girls" such as Jane Gallagher. Nobody even knows for sure how the girls feel about Stradlater because their opinions of him all come from himself. Nobody ever hears what people besides Holden and Ackley say about him because we never hear what they say. The real appearance of Stradlater is revealed only by himself, Ackley and Holden.
             The first major negative trait of Stradlater is the fact that he is ungrateful. He asks Holden to borrow his hound's-tooth jacket and Holden lets him use it after a bit of thought. Afterwards, he thanks Holden for the jacket but then gets in a fight and bruises him up badly. He also shows his ungratefulness by his actions with the essay Holden wrote for him. Stradlater obviously did not have time to type an essay for his English class and recalled that Holden was good at writing compositions. He asks Holden, "I"ll be up the creek if I don't get it in. Be a buddy. Be a buddyroo. Okay?" Holden does not respond that he will do it but he eventually does it. He writes it about his brother Allie's baseball glove. His brother Allie was very special to him and has talked with him in times of trouble since his death. When Stradlater finds out about the subject of the compositions, he gets furious and rips the essay right up. He destroys the work that Holden did while Strad later was out having a good time. He did not even bother thanking him! Also, later on, Stradlater is fixing himself up to go out for his evening. Holden says to himself, "He's putting Vitalis on his hair.


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