An Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye, By J. D. Salinger

Intro- Catcher in the Rye a book written by J.D Salinger writes about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who lost his brother from Leukemia.

There is no character that stands out against the society’s ideals and best represent for teenagers like Holden Caulfield. Like some teens, Holden does not do well in school and eventually gets kick out from one of the most prestigious schools in Agerstown, Pennsylvania: Pencey Prep. He gets so feed up with the school that he decides to leave earlier and travels to New York to have some lone times. During this period, the interactions that he has with the people he meets change his behavior and mind set, especially with Phoebe. In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden indeed is still a relatable character through his actions, feelings, and concerns to his family members, especially Phoebe.

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

"Do not be mislead by what you see around you, or be influenced by what you see. You live a world which is a playground of illusion, full of false paths, false values and false ideals. But you are not part of that world" (Sai Baba). A world of illusion is an alluring, yet perilous place to enter. It can deceive the mind only to cause damage and distress. Holden Caulfield's life has led to. an atrophy through his struggle of conceiving illusions as reality. In J.D. Salinger's novel, "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield battles the constant reminder of his brother, Allie's, death while he roams the streets of New York. Preceding his futile adventures, he is expelled from his fourth school, Pencey Prep. During his extent at

Everyone has to grow up at some point in life, but one must face different challenges and obstacles to get there, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger shows this idea. The novel takes place around the 1950s and is written in the perspective of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who struggles with moving into the adult world after the death of his younger brother Allie. He faces difficulties trying get there when he is kicked out of his fourth boarding school after failing four out of five classes, but he is not scheduled to come home to Manhattan until 3 days later. Holden soon decides that he has had enough of Pencey Prep and will go to Manhattan early, without the knowledge of his parents, leaving him to face New York on his own. The Curious

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye features a complex narrative surrounding a troubled young student, Holden Caulfield. Difficulties he faces throughout the story force Holden to confront his fears of adulthood and maturation and the responsibilities therein through the difficulties he faces throughout the story. Academic controversy surrounds whether Holden learns from these confrontations and adjust accordingly, maturing throughout the story. While initially this seems rather subjective, a thorough analysis of Holden’s actions throughout the story as well as of the symbolism injected by Salinger makes it quite clear that Holden does undergo a significant maturity arc as the story progresses. Holden’s social development and maturation

In the Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, there are many items of symbolism. The symbolism in the story keeps Holden sain. Some items of symbolism are Holden's’ brothers baseball mit, the schools Holden gets kicked out of, and the carousels gold rings. The baseball mit and the carousels’ gold rings are positive representation of symbolism, whereas the schools, are negative.

Many novels cannot be fully understood and appreciated if only read for face value, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is no exception. The abundant use of symbolism in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is of such significance that it “proclaims itself in the very title of the novel” (Trowbridge par. 1). If the symbolism in this novel is studied closely, there should be no astonishment in learning that The Catcher in the Rye took approximately ten years to write and was originally twice its present length. J.D. Salinger uses copious amounts

It is known that humans require interaction between each other. As a result we tend to get attached and depend on them. We tend to advocate others from groups and keep to the same people. J. D. Salinger explores this in his book in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye. This book is beloved by many because it is so easy to connect to, even our generation now can connect to Holden and some of the things he goes through. The story is about a boy named Holden, he gets kicked out of school multiple times, and instead of telling his parents he wanders around New York in search of someone that cares and that he can make a connection with. Growing up is hard, and we need human connection to make through the hard times.

Have you ever read a novel in which a character is talked about often but never appears or appears but for a brief moment? At times you may think nothing of that character, you could assume they add nothing to the context of the novel and are placed to fill up a couple pages, but on the contrary. In some works of literature a character who does not appear at all can have a significance presence. In J.D Salinger’s novel “ The Catcher in the Rye”Holden the main character’s brother, Allie never appears but is mentioned multiple times. The lack of Allies presence is vital to the key aspects of Salinger’s novel. Often this lack of presence from a character is done on purpose. It can be done to signify something, make the novel multi dimensional or to enhance the writing. Ally’s absence affects the main character, the theme of the book, and a development of characters.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” The meaning behind this is that every day we make the decision of whether or not we should see the good in bad situations. Whether we are happy in our lives is our choice and we are the ones in control of our own happiness. For example, in a Sufi story from the Middle East titled “The Sack”, a man named Mula teaches an older gentleman to appreciate what we have rather than what we don’t. In the story, Mula comes across a man who is complaining about the fact that the only thing he owns is a worn, ragged bag.

Written in 1951, J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye continues to be a popular book amongst Americans. Although The Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many public school settings in the United States it continues to stay atop some of the greatest books of all time lists. Whether people are in their teens or in their fifties they find themselves drawn to Holden Caulfield. At some point in their life they could relate to a sense of alienation, caused by money and wealth. Humans are wired to be jealous and want what others have. Holden Caulfield has the opposite problem, he has money and wealth which he inherited from his hard working parents. However, he himself is not motivated to work hard, graduate prep school and earn his own wealth. Instead he despises hard working students at the many prep schools he drops out of. Holden also has a big number of family complications. An area to explore is how wealth can contribute to feelings of alienation and despair. Holden Caulfield has a complex relationship with money, not wanting to associate from it, but benefiting from it. A further look into the 1950’s may give an insight into the troubled mind of Holden Caulfield.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.

“I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it.” It is very easy to automatically assume that Holden Caulfield is crazy. It’s even a logical assumption since Caulfield himself admits to being crazy twice throughout the course of the book. However, calling Holden Caulfield crazy is almost the same as calling the majority of the human race crazy also. Holden Caulfield is just an adolescent trying to prevent himself from turning into what he despises the most, a phony. Most of Caulfield’s actions and thoughts are the same as of many people, the difference being that Holden acts upon those thoughts and has them down in writing.

Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has been pronounced a literary classic for its atypical portrayal of adolescence, to effectively convey the protagonist’s alienation and confusion. The introduction of The Catcher in the Rye is underpinned by disorder and confusion through a stream-of-consciousness narration, which digresses from one subject to another. Consequently, Holden’s multitudinous thoughts and feelings appear to lack a cohesive pattern. Additionally, Holden’s prevalent ascription of other students as “phony” (Salinger, p.3) alludes to his alienation and isolation as a form of self-protection; he rejects those he does not understand. Furthermore, the vocabulary encapsulates typical adolescence dialect of the 1940s, and resultantly, alienates contemporary reader. This is typified through Holden’s use of colloquial speech, in particular, his exclamation “that killed me” (Salinger, p.42) to express his amusement. Therefore, the introduction of Holden’s disjointed monologue in The Catcher in the Rye foreshadows Salinger’s unique interpretation of adolescence.