The Rye, Franny And Zooey, By J. D. Salinger

Several themes are conveyed in J.D. Salinger’s novels, Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey. Salinger uses the interesting themes to attract the readers to his books. While examining the books, the reader can see the many themes Salinger chose to use. The themes projected in Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey are spirituality, isolationism, and sadness. First, spirituality is a major theme in both Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden admits that he is somewhat an Atheist, but he has respect for the religious people he encounters. “In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible” (99). Holden also confronts two nuns
In Franny and Zooey, Salinger sets up the scene where Lane and Franny are sitting at a table alone at a restaurant with no knowledge of anyone else around. Until Lane comments that he sees someone he knows across the restaurant, the reader does not know that anyone else is there. Salinger focuses on Franny and Lane’s conversation only and isolates them from everything else. Zooey is also isolated because he is sitting in the bath alone and away from everyone. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is always saying that he is depressed. Salinger uses the word depressed to describe how Holden is alone and isolated from the world. “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don't know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so depressed and lonesome” (198). “Eliot Fremont-Smith, in his review of Franny and Zooey, points out that in Salinger’s world ‘nobody deals with anyone directly.’ His characters are always talking over telephones or from behind shower curtains. The inability to face another person directly is not peculiar, however, to Salinger’s recent creations”