The Catcher in the Rye, a fictional story written by J.D. Salinger, is about a 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden is narrating the story from a hospital. He has just been informed that he is being expelled from his school Pencey Prep for failing most of his classes, the fourth time this has happened to him. When he goes back to his room he gets in a fight with his roommate Stradlater because he his going out with his ex girlfriend Jane. After seeing this, he decides that it is time to leave Pency and go home to New York, but because he is a few days early, he stays in a hotel rather than going home to see his parents. He doesn’t have much remorse about leaving because he never made any good friends at the school. Holden reveals …show more content…
However, he brings Allie’s baseball glove everywhere with him, as it is a constant reminder of his younger brother. During two cab rides in Holden’s time in New York, he asks the drivers where they think the ducks go when the pond freezes over, symbolizing his own life and what people do when they are faced with uncertainty. At one of the hotels, Holden is confronted by the elevator operator asking him if he would like a prostitute to come up to his room. He accepts, but when she (Sunny) arrives, he ultimately decides that he is not interested and pays her $5 to leave, but soon after is confronted by Sunny and Maurice the elevator and after physical contact, they are able to get the other half of the money out of his wallet. After sneaking into his house to see his sister Phoebe, Holden goes to visit one of his former teachers, Mr. Antolini, where the former teacher tells him that he is worried about him and the direction that his life is headed because of his inability to face challenges and deal with life’s problems. Holden ends up sleeping the night there, but leaves in the middle of the night after being uncomfortably witnessing the teacher touch his head. Holden then plans to move out west where he can live out his life and never be
His belief of being superior causes him to view other classmates as “crooks” (pg.6) and “phonies” (pg.17). When sharing stories about his dorm roommates, Holden highlights their negative aspects. During the football game, one of the only other people to stay in the dorm is Ackley, Holden’s neighbour. Although Holden knew “[Ackley] hardly went anywhere” (pg.22) since the other classmates did not like him, he remains annoyed by Ackley’s behaviour and primarily describes his poor hygiene habits such as “never … using [a] handkerchief” (pg.40) to showcase him in a dehumanizing manner. Furthermore, Holden’s jealousy of roommate Stradlater’s relationship with former love interest Jane Gallagher causes the boys to get into a physical brawl. After the fight, Holden receives little to no attention from Ackley and fed up with feeling “sad and lonesome” (pg.58) at school, decides to act upon his frustration. As an outsider, Holden’s is unable to gain acceptance from his peers and find comfort at school, therefore to escape his peer’s negative behaviour towards him, Holden decides to run away from
He left 3 days before they were supposed to go home for winter break. He goes to a hotel for at least a week and walks around the city. He does not want to go home and face his parents mostly his father because Holden has got kicked 3 other private schools and his dad would “kill him.” Holden’s sister Phoebe says to him “I suppose you failed in every single subject again.” His little sister was not surprised at all that he failed out of his school again. Phoebe is 10 years old giving her bigger brother a talk about why he’s not good in school. Phoebe should not be able to give his older brother advise because she is the younger one. Holden should be mature enough to lead his sister to do good overall in life by facing his
The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in
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 Catcher in the Rye was about Holden, who admires in children attributes that he struggles to find in adults to talk to him and he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. Holden Caulfield,who is 16 year old teenager went to three schools, but fails four of his five subjects only passed English he also struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. In the novel, Holden tells the reader through a few days of his life, in which he flaunts his hostile environments. Throughout the book,
JD. Salinger’s 1951 book, The Catcher in the Rye, shows us how society treated their confused and changing teenagers during their transition into adulthood. The book’s main character Holden Caulfield is being pressured into growing up even though he doesn’t feel ready, to lead an adult life. He is still struggling socially and mourning for his deceased brother whose death turned Holden upside down and into a negative, hopeless person from a young age, which causes him to be distracted, indifferent and to flunk every school he goes to.
Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas,
The Catcher in the Rye is about a young boy named Holden Caulfield who is going
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger writes about Holden’s life and how he is remembering his past when he went to Pencey Prep, the last of four boarding schools that he has attended. Holden is seventeen when he tells the story but the part of the story he is telling, he is sixteen, the novel also follows Holden after he has left Pencey Prep. Throughout the novel Holden slowly reveals how he feels towards his roommates, Stradlater and Ackley, and how he feels towards his siblings, D.B., who is a writer in Hollywood and Allie, who passed away from leukemia. Holden shows his lonely, short tempered, and insecure characteristics through name calling and descriptive diction.
Holden calls Carl Luce, he graduated at Whooton School after Holden was kicked out of that school. They agree to meet for a drink at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel at 10(pg.177). With not a lot to do, and since he is there already, he goes to a stage show and movie at Radio City Music Hall. He sees the Rockettes and a war film(pg.178). At the bar, Holden manages to get served even though he is underage. When Luce arrives, he tells Holden that he is dating an older woman in her late thirties(pg.189). Carl leaves for a date after having drinks with Holden. Holden stays at the bar and gets very drunk(pg.194). He decides to call Jane Gallagher but calls Sally Hayes instead. She tells him to go home and go to bed(pg.196). Holden heads for Central Park to look for the ducks. Holden reflects on Allie's funeral, which he could not attend because he was in the hospital with his broken hand(pg.201). Holden wants to visit Phoebe at the family apartment. He decides to sneak home and visit Phoebe in case he dies(pg.202). Fortunately, there is a new elevator operator on duty who does
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
Here, Holden desperately wants to escape the phony, corrupt world, so he proclaims his love to her, and asks her to runaway with him. She tells him that he is crazy and leaves him.
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye presents a look into the mind of Holden Caulfield, a popular literary icon numerous teenagers have rightfully found themselves relating to at some point. While the familiar emotions of Holden were welcoming for me, his anecdotes and witty remarks proved entertaining as well. The story chronicles Holden’s exploration through New York post-expulsion, with his point of view influenced by his growing alienation with the world. He represents that growing sense of unease at growing up and facing a reality that is not always pretty, and, in his case, a need to save children from having to face that reality. I personally admired the fact that he was not just an angry teenager in the world as stereotypes suggest.
The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has just flunked out of his third private boarding school. Unwilling to remain at school until the end of the term, Holden runs away to New York City. He does not contact his parents, who live there, but instead drifts around the city for two days. The bulk of the novel is an account, at once hilariously funny and tragically moving, of Holden's adventures in Manhattan. These include disillusioning encounters with two nuns, a suave ex-schoolmate, a prostitute named Sunny, and a sympathetic former teacher who may be homosexual. Finally, drawn by his affection for his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, Holden abandons his spree and returns home.
The Catcher in the Rye is a book about a guy named Holden Caulfield. He narrates the whole story to the readers. He starts off by telling the story about being at Pencey Prep school, which is a private school located in Pennsylvania. It is the day of the game and he misses it saying everyone is a bunch of “phonies.” He ends up getting expelled because he is failing four out of five classes and goes to say goodbye to his teacher Mr. Spencer. Before he leaves he goes back to his dorm to find his roommate, Stradlater, getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden used to date Jane and he is very angry at Stradlater. When Stradlater returns from the date with Jane, Holden questions Stradlater immensely and Holden attacks Stradlater because he is in such a rage. Holden then realizes he has had enough of the prep school and leaves a couple days earlier to go back to Manhattan.