Catcher In The Rye Analysis

In the first chapter of this novel, we get introduced to the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden Caufield, from a rest home in which he has been sent for therapy. He refuses to talk about his early life, although he does explain that his older brother “D.B” sold out to writing for Hollywood. His story and breakdown begins in the school of Pencey Prep, a boarding school set in Pennsylvania. The setting for the early chapters in the narration is his "terrible" school, to which he describes the atmosphere to be “as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill”. Holden’s student career at Pencey Prep has been destroyed by his refusal to apply himself. We know this after Holden explains he failed four of his five subjects, passing only English. Due to his lack of effort and determination, he was forbidden to return to the school after the term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation began, Holden overlooked the football field, where Pencey usually

In J.D.Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, the main character of the novel, is a walking paradox who desires to hold onto his innocence and ,in his mind, thinks that people who lose their innocence will either turn into a “phony” or a “jerk”. During his journey towards trying to preserve his innocence Holden affected his desire to hold on to his innocence through his action, such as his experience with a prostitute named Sunny, his interaction with Sunny shows him that most of the world of adults is just an illusion. Another person who affects Holden desire is his 10 year-old sister Phoebe Caulfield, his interaction with his sister phoebe shows how it’s ok to lose your innocence because with the loss of that innocence you

Next, Holden has the fear of losing his innocence because of the Little Shirley Beans record. Holden is very drunk coming out from a bar just after meeting his old friend Carl. He then decides to go to the park. On his way to park, “I dropped old Phoebe's record. It broke into about fifty pieces. It was in a big envelope in all, but it broke anyway. I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket” (Salinger 154). In this incident, it shows him losing innocence because the record symbolizes innocence but he accidently broke it. The record is meant for younger people but since it broke it shows that he lose innocence. He decides to keep the broken pieces so he can at least keep

In J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger illustrates many symbolic images in order to emphasize theme. One major theme expressed several times throughout the novel is the preservation of innocence. The book follows the adventures of a sixteen year old teen over the course of a couple of days. The main character, Holden Caulfield, appears to be obsessed with keeping the innocence in kids alive. Holden is disgusted by the cruelty in the adult world and makes it his life goal to protect innocent children from becoming corrupt.

After Phoebe asks what he wants to be when he grows up, Holden goes into detail and illustrates, “… 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”(Steinbeck 191). Holden values a child’s security in the highest regards and is willing to save one from hitting the bottom of a cliff. As the bottom of the cliff represents the unpleasant and demanding world of adulthood, Holden is finally separating himself from childhood and accepting that he is an adult. After Holden encourages Phoebe to enjoy the carousel, he observes, “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them…”(Steinbeck 232). Holden is overprotective over his younger sister Phoebe, except when she is on the carousel and he learns that she can develop her own independence. Noting that children also have risks and decisions they have to make themselves without adult interaction, like reaching for a gold ring but knowing the risk of falling. Holden can finally completely separate his adult self and his child self, and only look back with nostalgia. Earlier, Holden regards himself as “the catcher”, the savior who protects children from frightening reality of adulthood, but after seeing a lot of maturity in Phoebe he encourages her to reach for “the gold ring”, without any need for safety and

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

The lost of innocence can totally change the way people view the world. A person who illustrates this can be found in J.D. Salinger’s novel, the Catcher in the Rye. The story happened during the 1950s, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Agerstown. A teenage boy named Holden, who witnesses the death of his older brother Allie when he was only 13 years old. Then consequently, he blames himself all his life for the death of Allie. As time went by he starts to search for a sense of innocence that was lost in the beginning of the novel. Throughout the course of the novel, the author conveys that Holden is continually stuck in between childhood and adulthood. The author uses Holden’s struggle to convey that in reality often times people who

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.

Why does Holden continuously judge people based on their physical appearance? Could this be a projection of his insecurities or a reflection of his mental health?

One instance in which the author uses symbolism to show a deeper meaning is when the record “The Little Shirley Beans” is used to show Holden’s desire to hold on to his innocence. Holden wants to find this record that he heard at Pencey for Phoebe. It’s a children's record that holden spends 5 dollars on, only for it to be “broken into 50 pieces”(118). Since the record was for children, it symbolised the innocence of a child. When the book is broken it is showing Holden's childish innocence being smashed into pieces as he moves on into the stressful, depressing life of an adult. Back at Pencey, Holden talks about how the record helped ease his depression and now that he finally has the record in his hands, he drops it.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger that occurs around the 1950s. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old white male, who journeys to various places as he mourns over the death of his little brother, Allie. As a white male in a capitalist society, he has tremendous amounts of privileges that allow him to get. However, as the novel progresses, Holden describes his society as a place where honored human qualities are suppressed and capitalist ideals are embraced. Throughout the novel, we see that capitalism, “the social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, destroys the overall society for Holden and his generation (Rand).

Both Holden and the little girl are afraid of changes that go along with growing up. The record itself is symbolic of the innocence Holden is afraid to let go of. When it falls and shatters, Holden feels horrible, as he realizes that entering adulthood is an inevitable occurrence that everyone must experience. He says, “I dropped old Phoebe’s record. It broke into about fifty pieces. It was in a big envelope and all, but it broke anyway. I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible…”

Holden gets kicked out of yet another school and all he wants to do is see his little sister, Phoebe. Holden loves Phoebe very much, he also thinks very highly of her. He thinks that she is an amazing dancer and that she is really pretty. After Allie died Holden seemed to get the closest with Phoebe. He knows how much she loves listening to records. When Holden is in broadway he buys Phoebe a record because he couldn’t stop thinking about her and thinking about going home to see her. On Holden’s way home something horrible had happened. “I dropped old Phoebe’s record. It broke, into fifty pieces. I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket,”(Salinger 170). Holden had such a good appreciation for his sister that even though she didn’t know about the record, It still felt right to Holden to keep the pieces. It killed him inside that he had broke it before he was able to give it to her. Holden returned home and snuck into his own house just so he could see Phoebe before he’d come home for “vacation”. While Holden and phoebe's relationship was real and authentic he also had what seemed to be his first relationship with a

The broken record represents the cessation of Holden's innocence. The record itself symbolizes how Holden is stuck between childhood and adulthood. Holden describes the record, “It was about a little kid that wouldn't go out of the house because two of her front teeth were out and she was ashamed to...[Estelle Fletcher] sings it very Dixieland and whorehouse, and it doesn't sound at all mushy” (Salinger 114-115). The contrast between what the record is actually about and how it is sang shows why Holden likes it so much. It is directed towards children, but has an adult tone to it, this shows how Holden is stuck between adulthood and childhood. When Holden breaks the record he believes that he will be disappointing Phoebe, but really he is disappointing

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of