Essay On The Catcher In The Rye
J.D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is written with the intention to display to it’s audience a typical teenage character facing the common fears and anxieties associated with transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
The intended audience of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is definitely teenagers as the novel deals with teenage perspectives on issues such as relationships, sexuality, rebellion, education and changing emotions. All of these issues that are presented through the central character Holden Caufield, a cynical and ‘self isolating’ 17-year-old, are highly applicable to the lives of teenagers in not only the early 1950’s but also of today.
The Catcher in the Rye explores how discovery can lead to changing values, stimulate new ideas and allow to speculate about the future through Holden’s self …show more content…
discovery which leads him to in the end face his fears of maturing and openly accepting his future rather than making plans to ‘bum a ride’ way out west and prend to be a ‘deaf-mute’ in an attempt to never have any ‘goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody’.
The way in which discoveries may be challenged or questioned when viewed from a different perspective is also explored in Salinger’s novel, through chapter 24, with Holden’s interactions and conversations with his ex-teacher, Mr. Antolini. Antolini suggests to Holden that ‘many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now’, which is Holden’s first hint that the alienation from society that he has imposed on himself may not be necessary and that his rejection of adulthood may be more harmful to him than the actual aspects of adulthood which he is reluctant to embrace.
Social - The Catcher in the Rye largely takes place in or around New York City in either in the mid to late 40’s (set in the time the novel was written). Through the examination of America in this time period, Holden’s issues with identity and place within society may have been brought on by the changing values of society (ie. Materialism and the ‘American Dream’). The consistent popularity of the novel is also evidence that teenagers, like Holden, may experience feelings which oppose the values of society.
Historical - Being written and set in the late 1940’s, places the occurrence of Holden Caulfield’s teenage struggles as only perhaps a couple of few years after the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. Salinger fought in WWII, he was an army sergeant and was involved in the invasion of Normandy and stormed multiple Nazi concentration camps. The development of the character Holden Caulfield was surely shaped by the shocking brutality that Salinger witnessed first hand. Holden’s desperate fight to maintain innocence, for himself and all others may subconsciously refer to the innocence stolen by the effects of the Second World War by thousands of youth from all over the world. Holden’s cynical viewpoint of a corrupt world may certainly to some extent be fueled by the darkness and evil that the world, including Salinger, had been exposed to.
Religious - Holden's religious values, or lack thereof, are representative of the rise of secularism after the second world war, especially with teenagers who are rebelling against the expectations that society holds of them, certainly true for the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye.
Holden's dismissal of religion tradition is displayed in chapter 3, when Ossenburger addresses the Pencey Prep during mass. Holden says, "Then he started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down his knees and pray to God.", later in response to his speech Holden remarks, "That killed me" and called him "a big phony bastard". Holden's religious ignorance is further established when he asks his room mate what the routine was on joining a monastery, and adding "Do you have to be a catholic and all?" Holden's contradictory nature, or his lack of understanding, is shown in chapter 14, where he says, "In the first place I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for the other stuff in the bible." This quote represents teenager’s naive rejection of society and its values at the time of
writing.
The perspective of the novel, being narrated by Holden Caulfield in the first person as he recounts the events of a long weekend to what is assumed to be some form of psychiatric facility, is effective in portraying to the responder Holden’s self discovery about himself. The first person narration is effective as it puts the responder in the place of the counsellor or psychoanalyst, trying to ‘discover’ for themselves what is troubling Holden and why he is so insistent on rejecting society.
The extensive use of conversational, colloquial language in Holden is used to further allow the responders to discover the troubled and cynical nature of Holden’s personality. The use of words such as ‘sonuvabitch’ and ‘goddam’ reveal Holden’s strongly opinionated views of the world and also provides context the responder in terms of suggesting setting and time period.
Holden is a very contradictory character, he firmly opposes adulthood, yet he longs for a sexual experience, and enjoys drinking underage in seedy New York jazz bars. An example of Holden’s child like nature though is found in the idea of the ducks, which is a motif which reoccurs a few times in the book. In chapter 2, Holden first introduces the idea by saying, ‘I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over’. As well as exhibiting Holden’s childlike thoughtfulness and lack of attention span, the duck motif may be viewed as a metaphor to Holden’s own displacement in the world, not knowing where he can or will go, not only in the weekend in which the story is set, but in the long term with his lack of a future plan.
Catcher in the Rye is filled with symbolism, one particularly significant symbol is Holden’s red hunting hat, which stays with throughout the whole story. In the beginning of the chapter 13 Holden says, “I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on – I didn’t give a damn how I looked.” The fact that Holden acknowledges multiple times in the story of that the hunting hat is actually embarrassing to wear, may be a way of him trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care what society thinks of him, even though the audience realises throughout the text that he in fact does.
Innocence - Innocence is a major theme in The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the novel, Holden continually resists the inevitable fate of entering adulthood, he isolates himself from relationships, education and family as a defense against losing his innocence. The protagonist tells the reader of his dream job, to the be the 'catcher in the rye', imagining children playing in the rye fields and as they almost fall off the cliff, he would be there to catch them. This dream job of Holden's is representative of his longing to maintain innocence, the cliff representing the adult world and the rye representing childhood. Through self discovery, Holden realises in the end to accept his life and finally embrace people trying to connect with him, represented in the story by his sister Phoebe on the carousel and Holden sitting on a park bench, suddenly feeling so happy he thinks he might cry.
Loneliness - A hugely impactful event in Holden's life was the death of his younger brother Allie. We see its impact through Holden's memories of smashing windows the night he died and the lasting effect from the conversations Holden has with Allie in his head which occur in Holden's serious down points and moments of severe depression. Holden constantly isolates himself from everyone he comes into contact with, as a result making him more and more lonely. One of the major realisations in the text, which shapes Holden's personality is the discovery that isolating himself and cutting off any existing relationship he has is a better option having to go through the pain of losing another person whom he is close too.
The intended audience of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is definitely teenagers as the novel deals with teenage perspectives on issues such as relationships, sexuality, rebellion, education and changing emotions. All of these issues that are presented through the central character Holden Caufield, a cynical and ‘self isolating’ 17-year-old, are highly applicable to the lives of teenagers in not only the early 1950’s but also of today.
The Catcher in the Rye explores how discovery can lead to changing values, stimulate new ideas and allow to speculate about the future through Holden’s self …show more content…
discovery which leads him to in the end face his fears of maturing and openly accepting his future rather than making plans to ‘bum a ride’ way out west and prend to be a ‘deaf-mute’ in an attempt to never have any ‘goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody’.
The way in which discoveries may be challenged or questioned when viewed from a different perspective is also explored in Salinger’s novel, through chapter 24, with Holden’s interactions and conversations with his ex-teacher, Mr. Antolini. Antolini suggests to Holden that ‘many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now’, which is Holden’s first hint that the alienation from society that he has imposed on himself may not be necessary and that his rejection of adulthood may be more harmful to him than the actual aspects of adulthood which he is reluctant to embrace.
Social - The Catcher in the Rye largely takes place in or around New York City in either in the mid to late 40’s (set in the time the novel was written). Through the examination of America in this time period, Holden’s issues with identity and place within society may have been brought on by the changing values of society (ie. Materialism and the ‘American Dream’). The consistent popularity of the novel is also evidence that teenagers, like Holden, may experience feelings which oppose the values of society.
Historical - Being written and set in the late 1940’s, places the occurrence of Holden Caulfield’s teenage struggles as only perhaps a couple of few years after the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. Salinger fought in WWII, he was an army sergeant and was involved in the invasion of Normandy and stormed multiple Nazi concentration camps. The development of the character Holden Caulfield was surely shaped by the shocking brutality that Salinger witnessed first hand. Holden’s desperate fight to maintain innocence, for himself and all others may subconsciously refer to the innocence stolen by the effects of the Second World War by thousands of youth from all over the world. Holden’s cynical viewpoint of a corrupt world may certainly to some extent be fueled by the darkness and evil that the world, including Salinger, had been exposed to.
Religious - Holden's religious values, or lack thereof, are representative of the rise of secularism after the second world war, especially with teenagers who are rebelling against the expectations that society holds of them, certainly true for the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye.
Holden's dismissal of religion tradition is displayed in chapter 3, when Ossenburger addresses the Pencey Prep during mass. Holden says, "Then he started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down his knees and pray to God.", later in response to his speech Holden remarks, "That killed me" and called him "a big phony bastard". Holden's religious ignorance is further established when he asks his room mate what the routine was on joining a monastery, and adding "Do you have to be a catholic and all?" Holden's contradictory nature, or his lack of understanding, is shown in chapter 14, where he says, "In the first place I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for the other stuff in the bible." This quote represents teenager’s naive rejection of society and its values at the time of
writing.
The perspective of the novel, being narrated by Holden Caulfield in the first person as he recounts the events of a long weekend to what is assumed to be some form of psychiatric facility, is effective in portraying to the responder Holden’s self discovery about himself. The first person narration is effective as it puts the responder in the place of the counsellor or psychoanalyst, trying to ‘discover’ for themselves what is troubling Holden and why he is so insistent on rejecting society.
The extensive use of conversational, colloquial language in Holden is used to further allow the responders to discover the troubled and cynical nature of Holden’s personality. The use of words such as ‘sonuvabitch’ and ‘goddam’ reveal Holden’s strongly opinionated views of the world and also provides context the responder in terms of suggesting setting and time period.
Holden is a very contradictory character, he firmly opposes adulthood, yet he longs for a sexual experience, and enjoys drinking underage in seedy New York jazz bars. An example of Holden’s child like nature though is found in the idea of the ducks, which is a motif which reoccurs a few times in the book. In chapter 2, Holden first introduces the idea by saying, ‘I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over’. As well as exhibiting Holden’s childlike thoughtfulness and lack of attention span, the duck motif may be viewed as a metaphor to Holden’s own displacement in the world, not knowing where he can or will go, not only in the weekend in which the story is set, but in the long term with his lack of a future plan.
Catcher in the Rye is filled with symbolism, one particularly significant symbol is Holden’s red hunting hat, which stays with throughout the whole story. In the beginning of the chapter 13 Holden says, “I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on – I didn’t give a damn how I looked.” The fact that Holden acknowledges multiple times in the story of that the hunting hat is actually embarrassing to wear, may be a way of him trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care what society thinks of him, even though the audience realises throughout the text that he in fact does.
Innocence - Innocence is a major theme in The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the novel, Holden continually resists the inevitable fate of entering adulthood, he isolates himself from relationships, education and family as a defense against losing his innocence. The protagonist tells the reader of his dream job, to the be the 'catcher in the rye', imagining children playing in the rye fields and as they almost fall off the cliff, he would be there to catch them. This dream job of Holden's is representative of his longing to maintain innocence, the cliff representing the adult world and the rye representing childhood. Through self discovery, Holden realises in the end to accept his life and finally embrace people trying to connect with him, represented in the story by his sister Phoebe on the carousel and Holden sitting on a park bench, suddenly feeling so happy he thinks he might cry.
Loneliness - A hugely impactful event in Holden's life was the death of his younger brother Allie. We see its impact through Holden's memories of smashing windows the night he died and the lasting effect from the conversations Holden has with Allie in his head which occur in Holden's serious down points and moments of severe depression. Holden constantly isolates himself from everyone he comes into contact with, as a result making him more and more lonely. One of the major realisations in the text, which shapes Holden's personality is the discovery that isolating himself and cutting off any existing relationship he has is a better option having to go through the pain of losing another person whom he is close too.