Ever since its publication in 1951, the quality of J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, has been a controversy. The story has been praised for its enlightening views on society, but criticized for its use of slang and sexual content. Nevertheless, the story is worth both reading and teaching, for the story still relates to the lives of today’s teenagers, introduces a unique writing style to its readers, and teaches its readers an important lesson about phoniness. Throughout the novel, the main character, Holden Caulfield, attempts to catch innocent children before they fall off the cliff and die or before they lose their innocence and become a corrupt and phony adult. While doing so, he suffers isolation…
It is said that high school is either the best time of a person’s life or the worst. Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, epitomizes this as readers watch him struggle going through the pains of adolescence. Growing up in the 1950’s Holden is a teenager who appears to have it all. He is very smart, wealthy, and has a loving family. When looking at it closer, one can see that Holden’s appreciation of childhood innocence, and his trust issues, make him scared to enter adulthood and keep him from having healthy relationships.…
In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Salinger demonstrates the struggles of a boy Holden as he tries to battle his way though his high school years given all the obstacle and task he has to overcome to do as he pleases. The basis of the authors work is to show readers how alienation can be detrimental to one’s life.…
In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, J.D. Salinger challenges the nature of growing up through symbolism, point of view, and characterization. Holden, throughout the novel, expresses his loneliness and the difficulty of growing up because, like most teenagers, Holden is stressed out and depressed because of the expectations he has for himself…
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 title, The Catcher in the Rye, directly indicates the reoccurring theme of the novel, to protect the innocence of the younger generations. The novel is structured on Holden’s desire to protect all the innocent children in the world from growing up because with age comes experiences that lead to corruption and the loss of innocence.…
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.…
Many adolescents often suffer from a lack of direction. Not knowing what they are doing or where they are headed, faced with the many obstacles of both life and adult society as they struggle to find direction in the world. Many long for acceptance and love that they do not receive. This description perfectly suits the situation befalling Holden Caulfield, the controversial protagonist and main character of J. D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. In the novel, after being expelled from his fourth school, Pencey Prep, Holden goes on a journey of self discovery through New York. He becomes increasingly unstable in a world in which he feels he does not belong, with the company of people he deems "phonies". Holden, not unlike a typical teenager, is also on his own quest in order to find himself, yet he resorts to ignoring his problems as a way of dealing with them. Holden tells his story from the confines of a psychiatric hospital, having been there to recover from a neurotic breakdown caused by his outlandish and often over the top actions. Holden Caulfield’s unachievable dreams, delusional fantasies, and erratic behaviour all lead to the breakdown of his character throughout the course of the novel Catcher in the Rye.…
In J D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, the story is told from a cantankerous adolescent boy named Holden Caulfield. At this point, he is looking for something, but is still unaware of what it is. He feels somewhat alienated, looking in. He immensely feels his constant state isolation and, although he does reveal a sort of self-awareness, his uncertainty about his place--or anyone else’s--in the world, is intensified by his critically pretentious assessments of not only the people in his life but also himself. The dilemma of being expelled from prep school is what sets the foundation for the story where he faces two options of either returning home to his parents or starting afresh on his own.…
Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in Rye speaks to core of being an outsider, but beyond the anti-hero, anti-establishment persona that Holden reflects, Salinger wrote a portrait of a boy deeply troubled by the end of simplicity. Past the cynical nature and the reclusion from people, Holden is a little boy saddened by the death of his brother. Holden was never able to get closure over Allie’s death and because of this he has never been able to move on. To remember his brother and a simpler time Holden treasures innocence and has remained a child himself in many ways. Through the uses of metaphorical landscapes, a relatable anti-hero, and the setting of a repressed post-war American society Salinger depicts the journey of a young boy fighting, resisting the transition from childhood to adulthood. Holden Caulfield’s cynicism and reclusion are his defense mechanism, they warn of phony and slobs alike, but leave him lonely. He is both a figure for the youth and old alike, because Holden’s disdain of hypocrisy, longing for innocence, and his need for acceptance transcend age groups, these are human emotions that bother any age group. At the end of the novel, Holden says “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214). There are times when Holden comes off as neurotic, but in this case he meant that you will the way life used to be if you remember it. At the end Holden realizes that Allie’s death and his longing to go back to his childhood were holding him back, keeping him from applying himself. Many readers come away from that last line and feel that there is no happy ending for Holden, but the negative tone of the comment is less of a warning and more of a new being for Holden, meaning that Holden’s dream of being the catcher in the rye can can…
Often, the transition to adulthood produces individuals who act more like “children” than they did in their youth. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, fights this transition vehemently, fearing it will change him in ways he does not like. The novel follows Holden in the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep just before Christmas break. Holden, however, does not immediately go home, as he fears the reaction from his parents when they find he has been kicked out of yet another school. Instead, he spends his time roaming through the streets of New York, encountering a variety of characters and offering a view into his thoughts to the reader. One of his greatest vexations is the act of people being “phony”, or showing a facade of one’s true personality and character to the world in an attempt to appeal to societal norms. The overarching themes of the novel is how Holden fears…
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger introduces a conflicted and lonesome character named Holden. Being protected is just as important to Holden as being protective over children; the title of the book is a constant reminder of Holden’s ultimate goal: being the catcher in the rye (23). The title first becomes present in the novel when Holden overhears a kid singing “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye” (62). At the moment, Holden becomes at peace, but he later becomes bothered by a dream of seeing children playing in a rye field at the edge of a cliff that they couldn't see because the rye was so tall, so he imagined himself as “the catcher,” the man who would catch the children before they fell over and lost their innocence. The cliff represents childhood,…
Many people might consider high school as a place to learn and make friends, but according to a recent survey, about one in ten people do not enjoy school. Like these teens, Holden Caulfield, who is the main character in the novel, Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, experiences a struggle between his close friends. These struggles were caused as part of him tries to be at an adult level and the other part tries to keep away from “phonies”. Holden uses slang words, catch phrases, and seeks for a person to discuss with throughout the novel which may seem to create a negative images and ideas, however, these ideas and images make it possible to reinforce one of the main themes shown in the novel that people can feel alienated even if…
Young men have to deal with all these emotions, girls, puberty, and school. Most would say this is a huge factor for young men and how they grow up. We see this character named Holden Caulfield, experience this though his journey of becoming a man. A variety of themes occur from J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” Holden is dealing with grieving from losing someone and trying to find his purpose in life. Three themes that occur the most throughout Holden's story include loneliness, love, and phoniness.…
Adolescence is a turbulent time, in which teenagers are caught between the innocent, frivolous world of children and the enigma of adulthood. Holden Caulfield, center of the bildungsroman Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, experiences many conflicts, both internal and external, that give way to issues hindering him from leading a normal life. Three primary problems impeding him are unresolved grief from his brother Allie’s death, the inability to live up to expectations of his wealthy family, and his failure to accept that life is complex.…