Catcher in the Rye: the Quest for Love

Holden's younger sister Phoebe, is also in need of Holden's protection. He must protect her because he failed to protect his brother Allie from death. Holden feels that it is his responsibility to protect Phoebe from whatever may put her in danger, even himself: "I was glad. All of a sudden I wanted her to cry till her eyes practically dropped out. I almost hated her. I think I hated her most because she wouldn't be in that play any more if she went away with me." (207) He does not want Phoebe to turn out like himself. He wants

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.

He instantly starts getting ideas about working and earning a living on his own. Holden says, “I’d get a job. I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people’s cars… Just so people didn’t know me and I didn’t know anybody” (257). He understands that independence is significant in maturing and leaving behind the pacifier of his hat; and symbolically, his comfort. Holden wants to move away and find a way to work and support himself. He grows tired of people easily, but he would rather be in isolation and be supporting himself than running away from his internal

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.

The novel The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, contains many complex symbols, many of the symbols in the book are interconnected. A symbol is an object represents an idea that is important to the novel. I believe the most important symbol in this novel is Holden 's idea of being the "catcher in the rye".

Phoebe says, “’Gimme the pieces. I’m saving them,’” (181). Holden comes to her for emotional support and comfort. Holden thinks the best way is to shut people out, but even though Phoebe still wants to be his sister, she is willing to make his life better; someone to pick up the broken pieces.

The adolescent individuals begin to reach sexual maturity and established their identity as an adult. This period marks the transition in which individuals think and reason. They also start to encounter conflicts between their family and their peers.

Holden also has a sister, he fears that one day he will lose her too. Holden was very close with his siblings before Allie’s death. He now is afraid he will lose his connection with Phoebe because she is the only one that is able to deal with him and his raving. Everyone else leaves him when he tries to communicate to them how he feels. Phoebe is a symbol to Holden of how innocent his childhood was, and how he wishes that he could have it back. When Holden and Phoebe are on the Merry go round Holden realizes that Phoebe will always come back, such as how she keeps coming back on the ride. This makes Holden happy because she is the

The Catcher in the Rye is a book by J.D. Salinger. It talks about a teenage boy who has mental issues. He is never happy because he thinks everybody is phony. His parents do not care at all about him, and that makes him very sad so he gets expelled from all school.

5. What is Phoebe like? How can you tell that Holden adores her? She’s intelligent and because he is always talking about how great she is

Phoebe is shown to be the only character that Holden seems to truly be affectionate towards, because she is a form of innocence and does not depict the realities of the world. She allows him to be an escapist.

A Complicated Kindness is an adolescent novel by Miriam Toews, published originally by Knopf Canada in 2004. Inspired by her experience as a Mennonite herself, Toews crafts a story around a teenage girl known informally as Nomi. Nomi experiences the hardships of religious oppression only to let her family give in first. Catcher in the Rye is, too, an adolescent novel written instead by J. D. Salinger. Comparable to A Complicated Kindness, Catcher in the Rye saw some inspiration for the story by Salinger’s experience as an angsty teenager in New York. The resulting tale is of a young man named Holden who abandons schooling and his wealthy home to find a place to belong. These two narratives - more than fifty years apart – have some striking parallels about them. The central theme in both novels is how the benefits to maturity are greatly desired by youth, but the path to

“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.

The Catcher in the Rye can be read as a coming-of-age story. How does Holden’s Character change or mature during the course of the novel? To what extent are there TWO Holden Caulfields in the book, and what is the difference between them?

Considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, The Catcher in the Rye has affected readers around the globe since its publication in 1951. Its contemporary critics, however, gave the novel mixed reviews. Compared to the ideals of 1950s America, Holden Caulfield, the emotionally immature, extremely judgmental, teen-aged main character of “Catcher,” embodies the antithesis. Holden was an affront to the new social order, which demanded conformity and propagated the “father knows best” mentality. Americans, however, despite the postwar economic boom, remained suspicious of authority. In idyllic suburban neighborhoods across the country, while families huddled around their new television screens, people discussed their neighbors’ movements, made distrustful even of their closest friends by the “Red Scare”. The American Dream seemed like a golden ring just out of reach, leaving people feeling like they were going around in circles without a clear destination or purpose. With his sense of nostalgia for better times, his bleak perspective of the future, and his contradictory nature, Holden speaks directly to this sense of confusion at the world that Americans felt during the 1950s.