Holden's journey through the novel was a journey in which he searched for a purpose and a sense of finally finding that “ride or die” person he desperately needed in his life. Like many teens, he had to deal with “phony” people and felt strong emotions for someone he did not really talk to and even though students currently don’t have sleepovers at their english teachers house, “The Catcher in the Rye” is still a book that should be discussed and read in schools. This novel is still…
The story of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is given from the perspective of the main character, Holden Caulfield. Although the story goes into a considerable amount of detail the reader is not led to believe every part of the story because Holden presents himself as a self-avowed liar, and therefore he cannot be trusted. This greatly hinders the reader's ability to gather valid information and put together their own perspective of Holden's story.…
The world of childhood is sheltered from the corrupt adult world and maturation is a sometimes difficult pathway between the two. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, is a fictional novel seen through the eyes of sixteen year old Holden Caulfield after he is expelled from Pencey Prep. Holden leaves Pencey two days early to explore New York City before he has to return home. On his excursion, he meets prostitutes, nuns, his old girlfriend, and his sister Phoebe, while traveling around the city contemplating life and his future. Through the varying behaviors of Holden Caulfield, his maturity is shown to be stuck in a limbo between his imminent departure from the childhood world and his fear to move into the world of adults. Holden finds sexual activity intriguing in some situations, but also perverse and immoral. When Holden comes home,…
Catcher in the Rye chapters 1-18 Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger has intrigued me. I love the way the author writes. It is like Holden is talking right to me, telling me all the things that have happened to him. Salinger does leave a little to my imagination. I am always guessing what Holden is really feeling or thinking. Holden's outlook and perspective on life are displayed on each page and I can hardly ever put the book down. There are many aspects of this book that I truly enjoy.…
He's so lonely, in fact, that he even spends free time with his fellow boarders – who he often hates – just to avoid spending a Saturday night by himself."(The Dormouse,"The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Review.") Throughout his three days in New York, he tends to get worse, even dropping to thoughts of suicide from the inability to make friends and cure his depression. He also realizes something besides the never ending phoniness. He should be catching children in the rye fields so they don't fall off the cliff and become phonies or lose their innocence. Holden is a depressed, anti-social, judgmental and lonely person, and it does not get better, his New York trip makes sure of…
Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye reveals a teenager’s dramatic struggle against death and growing up. The book is composed of stories after the protagonist Holden Caulfield’s expulsion from a private school. He leaves school early to explore New York before returning home, interacting with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an ex-girlfriend and his sister along the way. We characterize Holden as an innocent child that possesses an ideal fantasy of becoming a catcher in the rye, protecting an unsophisticated world of love, passion and justice. It seems Holden, a “guardian” towards childhood and innocence is the hero or “catcher” without any questions. Throughout the entire book, however,…
The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is a reflection of his own life being shown through a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. Like Salinger in the novel Holden jumps from prep school to prep school not finishing each time, however excels in English classes. Holden’s life in the novel shook the nation with controversy and curiosity. Illustrated in the text it conveys extreme depression, sexual tension, love, and lewd language. Holden attempts to see the “phony” world through a new light, however fails due to the type of person he is, his troubled background, sexual confusion, family issues, and fallacious world we all live in.…
In this novel, Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his school and stays in New York for a couple of days before returning home. During his travels Holden does not maintain any relationships and he associates most adults with being phony. He is constantly trying to protect himself and his sister Phoebe from being exposed to the harsh adult world. In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses rhetorical devices to explain Holden’s struggles and establish the theme of preserving his own innocence and the innocence of those around him.…
J. D. Salinger published Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Later, he wrote several short stories after. The story takes place in New York City in the late 1940s, after WWII. Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye is faced with the problem of growing up in New York. Throughout the book, the theme of growing up is showed. In the story, New York is a society in which there are a lot of phonies. Holden constantly resists the pull of adulthood as it faces him in life. J. D. Salinger develops the theme of growing up through New York and Holden’s resistance to the society.…
This semester, I read the book The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. This is a stunning book about a teenager named Holden Caulfield who has gotten kicked out of prep school after prep school, and after being kicked out of his current school, he tries to avoid making contact with his parents so they don’t find out that he flunked out of school. He has days of self-reflection and thinking while wandering the streets, going to countless bars, and meeting up with people from his past. He remembers different people that he met in his life and different things that he liked. He also thinks a lot about all the things and people in his world who are phony. He decides that, after he sees his sister Phoebe, he will leave New York and never come…
Everyone has had a dream job since they were small, it might have changed over time but it was always something they loved. In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger we meet Holden whose dream job is to be a catcher in the rye. Holden states that in his dream job he would “catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t see where they’re going I have to come out of somewhere and catch them.” (Salinger, 173)…
Holden Caulfield, a cynical and paradoxical teenager not ready to embrace adulthood goes on a journey to explore the phoniness of the adult world. J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye published in 1951 reflects on Holden as a child as well as an adult. His neglection of adulthood and his blindness on the innocence of youth presents a great challenge in his life. The bulk of the novel displays Holden, a 16 year old teenager who just flunked out of Pencey Prep fleeing to his hometown, New York City in hope of staying at a hotel for a few days before revealing his expulsion to his parents. Throughout his stay, Holden has unusual encounters with past colleagues, his former neighbor, his sister Phoebe, and his old teachers. From these encounters, Holden acquires different perspectives on life and adulthood.…
In the following pages of this essay, background information about culture and feelings of the time in which the novel took place will be provided along with a brief summary of the life of the author of The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger. This essay will then provide the reader with a short summary of the novel The Catcher in the Rye. In conclusion, this essay will analyze Holden’s struggle of putting away his disillusionments and facing the fact that innocence cannot be protected forever to suggest that growing up is an inescapable part of life. J. D. Salinger portrays growing up and losing one’s innocence as a pain in the…
“You could tell they didn't want me around”, Holden constantly displays his lack of self-confidence through bringing himself down in J.D Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye, which follows seventeen year old, angsty teen, Holden Caulfield as he tells the in depth story of a trip to New York after flunking out of Pencey School. Holden’s loneliness and isolation highlights his inability to recognize his traumatizing past and lack of closure due to his brother’s recent death, establishing his depression and furthering his apathetic attitude towards school, aspirations, and his future entirely.…
J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat.…