Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye

Salinger’s use of the literary device of diction supports his message of craving maturity versus acting upon it. On pages 116 to 117, Salinger uses words such as “blood,”

“And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 93).

1) Page 1: Salinger hasn’t even finished the first sentence and he’s already characterizing Holden Caulfield as isolated from his family, a bit self-absorbed, smart and informal with his narrative style.

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.

The narrator and protagonist, Holden, in J.D Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye, flunks out of school and finds himself walking carelessly around New York city. At 17-years-old, Holden is stuck in the middle of his transition from childhood to adulthood. His use of the word “pervert” exposes his underlying fears of expressing sexuality and trying to simplify what it means to be imtimate. Through these symbols we see an important transition from desiring childhood to having a realization only an adult could have

During the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, author J.D. Salinger brings Holden’s pessimistic, antisocial personality to life through what he says, how he says it, and through the characters he meets. Salinger bases Holden’s expressions off of the culture of the 1950’s, his own personal dialect, and the everyday occurrences of Holden’s life in mind. J.D. Salinger manipulates the diction, uses syntax to criticize others, and controls the character interaction and dialogue in order to create the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationship he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.

Holden, the main character, encounters many moments where he doesn’t know where to go or what

Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye and save the children from falling off the cliff. This cliff, however, is the real world, and Holden himself is afraid of it so he wants to protect children from it. This is also demonstrated when Holden visits his sister 's school and sees swears written on the wall. This makes Holden very mad, "It drove me damn near crazy. I thought of how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they 'd wonder what the hell it meant…But I rubbed it out anyway, finally"(201). Holden was able to protect the children for a short while but a few moments later he sees the same thing written on the wall again. Only this time it is scratched in with a knife or something and Holden is unable to rub it away like before and realizes "It 's hopeless, anyway…it 's impossible" (202) he indicates here that growing up and facing certain reality is inevitable. Holden finally realizes that he can 't protect the kids from the real world when he watches Phoebe ride a carrousel at the zoo. "All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring…this thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let

The Catcher in the Rye a novel written by J.D. Salinger, the book starts off by Holden Caulfield, main protagonist, talking about his experience alone the weekend before he went home. Holden struggles to fit in society, communicating with others but most of all he is struggling to find himself. Holden lurks for advice from different people in order to get some insight of their perspective. Even though Holden seems to be embracing the growing up mentality yet he wants to keep his innocence.

Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everbody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but thats the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy."(page 191)

Salinger writes holden as a rebellious independent teenager which reflects the mood at the time (this being the 1950’s). Because of this, Salinger’s diction throughout Holden’s story needs to be vulgar and controversial to depict a teen during the 50’s. A case of this type of teen

In the bildungsroman Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger employs the struggle of individuality, inevitable maturation, and the childhood corruption of adulthood to reveal Holden’s alienation from society.

Salinger displays that one’s happiness can be compromised due to the actions of your own self. Holden Caulfield lacked communication and saw everything as “phoney” or “depressing” which deselected happiness for him. Holden getting kicked out of school is one example; his lack of communication with the teachers and others put in him a miserable setting. Which resulted him in getting kicked out. Another example is when he went on his date with Sally Hayes. Everything was going swell until Holden started to speak about how he felt. Which flattened the setting of the date as Holden portrays himself “C’mon, lets get outa here,” I said. “You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth.” Boy, did she hit the ceiling when I said

Salinger, J(erome) D(avid) (1919- ), American novelist and short story writer, known for his stories dealing with the intellectual and emotional struggles of adolescents who are alienated from the empty, materialistic world of their parents. Salinger's work is marked by a profound sense of craftsmanship, a keen ear for dialogue, and a deep awareness of the frustrations of life in America after World War II (1939-1945).