Catcher In The Rye Reflection

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

  J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a remarkable book that gives readers a unique and perhaps gloomy perspective of the 1950's through Holden Caulfield, a cynical and peculiar teenager. Through The Catcher in the Rye Salinger describes important aspects of the 1950's. Salinger emphasizes several key characteristics of the 50's and criticizes them through Holden. In addition, Holden Caulfield is a very interesting character with several traits that put him at odds with society.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger. It is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a cynical teenager who recently got expelled from his fourth school. Though Holden is the narrator and main character of the story, the focus of Salinger’s tale is not on Caulfield, but of the world in which we live. The Catcher in the Rye is an insatiable account of the realities we face daily seen through the eyes of a bright young man whose visions of the world are painfully truthful, if not a bit jaded. Salinger’s book is a must-read because its relatable symbolism draws on the reader’s emotions and can easily keep the attention of anyone.

Speaks to me: I seriously like Holden now. At the beginning of the book I hated him. After a few chapters, I begin to like him. But now, I truly like and respect him. At the beginning of the novel, I can only make an opinion from what I see; however,

On page 61, in chapter 8, Holden just got in the taxi and heading to his hotel. He says in a desperate way, “would you care for a cocktail.” The diction choices can infer that his maturity level is higher than the people in his age group. The author has purposely crafted the narrator in this way to show that he had no other option but to grow up fast. He continues to develop as a character, on page 68, in chapter 9, Holden thinks to himself, “I didn’t care much i was too depressed to care whether I had a good view or not.” The reader can infer that the main character is starting to reveal his true self. The author craft in this way to make the reader have sympathy for the narrator. On page 68, in chapter 10, Holden thinks to himself, “ I danced with them all - the whole three of them-one at a time.”The diction choices can infer that the narrator treats the three women like trash by fooling around with them and have no respect for them. The author has purposely crafted in this way to show that he is isolated from the world because he has not been interacting with others in such a long time. On page 87, in chapter 11, the narrator flashback to his childhood, “anyway, I was telling you about that afternoon Jane and I came close to necking.”The diction choices can infer that he starts to reveal the other side of himself, the real him is someone who actually cares about people who he loves.

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

Holden Caulfield, a boy who became iconized as the token of the teenage struggle. A whiner to the first degree who had crept his way into the hearts of many during the 1960s and continues to do so today. George Will wrote a detailed essay analyzing whether or not the sympathy Holden received was deserved. He picked apart every quality Holden possessed that could be sympathized with and displayed him as the arrogant teenager that he truly was. The book begins with Holden’s lousy introduction to his life and his story.

One of the greatest American Literature writers, J.D. Salinger, was familiar with a rough childhood by experience. He was able to parallel his experiences to the experiences of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in Rye. In this novel, Holden experiences conflicts that most youth are not familiar with. The conflicts in Holden Caulfield’s life are caused by various forces and circumstances.

After his “escape”, from World War II -- Salinger returned to the United States in 1946 -- Salinger’s writing changed drastically again; it no longer reflected a man ashamed of who he was, rather a man with serious mental health issues who was tired of hiding behind a mask of conformity. Nicolaus Mills writes, “By his own admission, Salinger had come back from World War II… a changed man” (Mills). During his time back, Salinger compiled and edited many of his short stories into what became his best-selling novel, The Catcher in The Rye. The author adapted Holden Caulfield to represent himself again, although the war had left its mark on Salinger’s psyche, turning Holden into an angsty, depressed teen with a tragic backstory of loss and abandonment. Holden’s idiolect changes; the protagonist frequently uses profanity, talks about how depressed he is, and calls other people “phonies” for not seeing the world in the same way that he does. Additionally, the point-of-view changes back into first-person, closing the fissure between Holden and Salinger which Salinger created in his choice to use third-person in “Slight Rebellion Off Madison”. The reader gets the chance to see Holden’s inner, often hypocritical, thoughts like the following: “I am always saying Glad to've met you to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you

The book The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger follows a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield through a mental crisis he’s having in New York City during the 1950s. Its revealed in the book that Holden has been kicked out of three schools and has just been kicked out of his fourth. Most of the book and its events happen in the few nights that Holden spends in the city by himself after being kicked from his fourth school. It is also revealed to us that Holden had a younger brother that cared very much about who died of leukemia at the age of eleven. Holden’s mental state has been deteriorating at an alarming rate since the death of his brother and greatly affects the choices he makes during the course of the book.

    J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.

With these chapters, I struggled doing my literary analysis because there was not much I could relate to except for the fact that he sometimes felt “yellow” in which I thought it meant being somewhat of a coward. I just focused on the fact that Holden ordered a prostitute, but he didn’t want to do anything with her and only talk. I focused on this because it was interesting to see how he changes character-wise. I saw him as only a perverted, immature guy, but he has some aspects of him that are commendable, like this situation with the prostitute. When Maurice comes and beats him up, I feel sorry for him, but when he starts acting like he got shot and making it all dramatic, I stopped. I stopped feeling sorry because he is just exaggerating the situation and I don’t like that about him. He’s acting like he’s in a movie and it doesn’t make sense that he’s doing that since he supposedly hates movies. These chapters just give me a rollercoaster of emotions.

The author has put in plenty of themes, messages, ideas, issues, and motifs. The character, Holden Caulfield is alienated from society, is experiencing the painfulness of growing up, thinks that the adult world is full of phoniness, and is sick of hearing about the American Dream from his teachers. JD Salinger has created a book that has raised plenty of questions and controversy towards the readers. The Catcher in the Rye shows how a teenage mind works. JD Salinger has used a stream of consciousness writing style where the character (Holden Caulfield) talks in first person as he presents his thoughts and feelings to the readers. The setting has taken place in the early fifties and the book uses a lot of profane words. The New York

Catcher In The Rye is novel set in the 1950’s, a time in America called the era of consensus. Everyone agreed on a social norm and and everyone followed it falling into a lazy state of happiness. But there was rebellion against the social norm, found in the teenagers, which is also found in Holden. Holden's word choice, particularly the use of the word phony, helps the reader understand what Holden truly feels about his society. Salinger writes, "You ought to go to a boys' school sometime.

In America, around twenty out of one hundred teenagers struggle with depression, and almost thirty percent will go untreated. J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye shines light on a young adolescent named Holden, calling awareness to his inner turmoil. Holden Caulfield might appear as the typical pessimistic teenager, however, he has a bad past that thrusts him into adulthood he never wanted. After the death of his little brother Allie, Holden fell into a dark hole and only keeps falling down further. Without any true role models, Holden is unequipped to handle his grief and refused to accept the past, depending on others for emotional support they are unable to give. Throughout the book, Holden's grapples with Allie’s death and searches for an eventual escape from his depression, causing him to grow as an individual. JD Salinger uses the symbol of rain to represent Holden's past, revealing that his journey through depression is rooted in his inability to move forward after Allie's death.