Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Salinger was drafted into the army, serving from 1942-'44. His short military career saw him land at Utah Beach in France during the Normandy Invasion and be a part of the action at the Battle of the Bulge. Salinger continued to write, assembling chapters for a new novel whose main character was a deeply unsatisfied young man named Holden Caulfield. Salinger did not escape the war without some trauma, and when it ended he was hospitalized after suffering a nervous breakdown…
Similar observations are made by academic writer and author Sarah Graham in her book entitled Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, Graham addresses a variety of reading techniques, themes, and comparisons/contrasts in regards to Salinger’s most popular novel, but she specifically addresses the main theme of Holden’s attempt to escape the phony 1950’s materialistic focused society surrounding him. Graham begins her take on this theme of escaping society with a chapter on Holden’s rebellion: “Developing the theme of rebellion, Holden’s visit to Mr. Spencer confirms that he is opposed to the conventional ideas that school and society encourage in order to promote stability” (34). During this visit to Mr. Spencer’s house that Graham…
"Bishop Long takes his spot back at the podium. He speaks haltingly, starting out slow. "I know all about it... I know all about what you're up against..."…
“Good people... are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure”. This quote from William Saroyan means that wise people acquire their insight from experiences, especially unsuccessful ones. I agree with the quote and the idea of people being knowledgeable because of the hardships and journeys they had endured. The two novels Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger both support the idea of gaining wisdom through experience.…
Three seconds remain in the tied basketball game. The point guard shoots and scores right before the buzzer sounds off. I bet for a long time, that player worked hard in the gym to practice and perfect his shooting for game time situations like that. It just goes to show that nothing great can ever be achieved without hard work. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye, however, does not quite understand this saying. In the story, Holden does not apply himself to his education at Pencey Prep, which results in his expulsion from school. Throughout the story, Holden, as well as a few other characters, represent the terms expressed in Freud’s Theory of Personality known as the id, superego, and ego.…
Imagine what it feels like to be a teenager. Is a teenager considerate and open minded? The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger talks about a teenager named Holden Caulfield who tells his story about a school named Pency Prep in Pennsylvania, away from his sister and parents. Throughout most of this book, Holden explains his inner thoughts regarding everyone he knows, and most of them are judgmental. Holden is considered to be a typical American teenager in this novel. First of all, teenagers like to express their thoughts. In Sylvia Plath’s article “Sylvia Plath at Seventeen”, she begins saying,“As of today I have decided to keep a diary again―just a place where I can write my thoughts and opinions when I have a moment. Somehow I…
In conclusion, The Catcher in the Rye or even any book should be banned because of the content. That is what makes it art and unique. After all the reasons why the novel got challenged I still believe that is should not be. After all the reasons why the novel got challenged I still believe that is should not…
The genuine joy Holden gets from watching Phoebe is a striking image of his fantasies of innocence and his collapsing psyche. For a moment Holden sees the joy that he envisions all the children of his rye field are like. Within Phoebe’s happiness Holden is transfixed and distraught, because the sudden realization that he is transitioning to a world he does not feel equipped for triggers the end of his ambivalence. As the carousel spins so does Holden’s reality, he loses sense of even further sense of himself. The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, but it is unique in how Holden not only resists growing up, but also he ends the novel more unstable and lost than he started off as. A quest or journey is supposed to lead to a literal or metaphorical…
I understand you have many things to consider at your point in life, but you are over thinking many things. In you conversation with Sally you mention the word “phony” often when you describe most of the people you have met. You said: "I hate living in New York and all. Taxicabs, Madison Avenue buses, with the drivers and all always yelling at you to get out at the rear door, and being introduced to phony guys that call the Lunts angels, and going up and down in elevators when you just want to go outside..."(pg 130) This type of thinking is just meaningless, your critiquing people and things without finding an answer to how to feel better. You are isolating yourself from many others by thinking you are the only one that…
Controversy is often the source of many heated arguments. It brings about topics that people will more than likely disagree on and be able to debate with each other. The novel, The Catcher in the Rye has been a source of controversy ever since it was published. Author, J.D. Salinger incorporated multiple controversial senses into the novel, many of them having to do with the loss of innocence. Scenes such as Holden encountering a prostitute, lying to Mrs. Morrow, and attempting to erase all the f*** yous from the world, all display the controversial themes seen throughout the novel.…
While the 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye has been challenged many times by school boards across America, it has also won the hearts of countless fans, who claim that the merits outweigh the controversial issues. Sailinger's most popular novel has been ridiculed for its use of vulgar language, sexual references, alcohol abuse, and violence. Although the novel contains mature subject matter, The Catcher in the Rye should be included in all high school curriculums because it is a classic coming of age story that students can learn from and connect to their own lives.…
With this story being so out of the ordinary with its uniqueness and all, it became very well-known and had an extensive list of people who wanted it banned or challenged. Not all for the right reasons, though. I mean yes, parents do not want their children reading about such things, but in all reality, the parents just do not understand the character. They do not know the story, the reasons for Holden's actions or what he could be thinking, so how could they possibly like something they do not get? The Catcher in the Rye may have been useless to some, but to others, this story was something epically easy to connect with. This book should not have been banned just because it was…
Help can be given and received only by those who accept it. The teenagers of today’s society seem to rebel against help and those who can give help. Teenagers seem to have the mentality that they have to do everything on their own, that they have to be “independent”, and that no one understands them. With that type of mentality no one can be helped. Holden has that same mentality. He believes that he is a grown independent man who can live on his own and that he does not need anyone. Therefore before her accepts any help he is forced to reach his breaking point.…
“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 234). These two sentences alone, from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, explain a lot about Holden Caulfield’s character and his actions throughout his journey. One of Holden’s many struggles is his lust for human connection, but he never allows anyone to get close–breaking it off before they can leave him. When someone gets close enough to see what Holden is really like, Holden sabotages their relationship by lying, insulting, or simply leaving them. He does this because of his fear of experiencing what he felt when Allie was taken from him.…
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger it is about Holden the troubled teen. Holden finds that the world around him is almost unbearable and because the thought of growing up scares him, he tries to protect himself from adulthood that is coming to him. Holden has this mindset of not caring about his responsibilities in life. Also, he is scared for what the future has to bring him. In addition, he is scared of transitioning into adulthood. Though the book is about growing up, Holden never reaches that high level maturity.…