JD Salinger, also known as Jerome David Salinger, is an American novelist and short story writer. Critics and readers alike recognize Salinger as one of the most popular and influential writers. His only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, drew such great attention during the fifties and sixties that those years have been called the age of Holden Caulfield (Contemporary Literary Critiscm, Vol. 12). Salinger is a master of contemporary dialect and idiomatic expression. He created in Holden Caulfield a character who became the prototype of alienated adolescence for an entire generation of Americans. The Catcher in the Rye has been banned even recently from a few libraries, schools, and bookstores for the starkness of its language and attitudes…show more content…
To be good is to be a “case,” a “bad boy” who confounds the society of men. So Holden seeks the one role which would allow him to be a catcher, and that role is the role of the child. As a child, he would be condoned, for a child is a sort of savage and a parish because he is innocent and good. But it is Holden’s tragedy that he is sixteen, and like Wordsworth he can never be less. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 8) Holden does not suffer from the inability to love, but he does despair of finding a place to bestow his love. The depth of Holden’s capacity for love is revealed in his final words, as he sits in the psychiatric ward musing over his nightmarish adventures. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 5) Holden does not refuse to grow up so much as he agonizes over the state of being grown up. The innocent world of childhood is amply represented in The Catcher in the Rye, but Holden, as frustrated, disillusioned, anxious hero, stands for modern man rather than merely for the modern adolescent. He is self-conscious and often ridiculous, but he is also an anguished human being of special sensitivity. He is often childishly ingenuous and his language is frequently comic. Holden must be seen as both a representative and a critic of the modern environment, as the highly subjective tone of the novel suggests. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 12) The Catcher in the
To be good is to be a “case,” a “bad boy” who confounds the society of men. So Holden seeks the one role which would allow him to be a catcher, and that role is the role of the child. As a child, he would be condoned, for a child is a sort of savage and a parish because he is innocent and good. But it is Holden’s tragedy that he is sixteen, and like Wordsworth he can never be less. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 8) Holden does not suffer from the inability to love, but he does despair of finding a place to bestow his love. The depth of Holden’s capacity for love is revealed in his final words, as he sits in the psychiatric ward musing over his nightmarish adventures. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 5) Holden does not refuse to grow up so much as he agonizes over the state of being grown up. The innocent world of childhood is amply represented in The Catcher in the Rye, but Holden, as frustrated, disillusioned, anxious hero, stands for modern man rather than merely for the modern adolescent. He is self-conscious and often ridiculous, but he is also an anguished human being of special sensitivity. He is often childishly ingenuous and his language is frequently comic. Holden must be seen as both a representative and a critic of the modern environment, as the highly subjective tone of the novel suggests. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 12) The Catcher in the
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The Catcher In The Rye: Why It Is An American Classic?
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was written by a 16 Year Old (2006) in a selective high school (Sydney) in the top English class (later on became Dux of English). Was chosen to be the 'model' essay, so I guess its an A+ or 10/10. 2000 words. *********************The Catcher In The Rye has been renowned as a classic due to a wide range of factors which have been able to garner appeal to the audience throughout the ages. JD Salinger has created a character- Holden Caulfield, which the audience can easily identify and relate to, demonstrated
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