Holden Salinger 's ' The Catcher 's The Rye '

In the book, “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caulfield has many conflicts and life lessons. Throughout the story the author, J.D. Salinger, creates events that make the main character realize that in life people change and grow. The message behind the story is let children grab the “gold ring” and you can’t always be the catcher in the rye. All of the things that make Holden who he is have many resemblances to the life of the author, J.D. Salinger.

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden complains that the people around him are all "phony." This view probably stems from the extensive trend of conformity that infected the 1950's. The reader can understand Holden's reason for hating these phonies. Holden describes any person that embraces the popular culture as a "phony" and disdains them for it. This is clear when Holden goes to see "The Lunts" with Sally Hayes and is absolutely disgusted by the people around him. When Holden meets Sally's acquaintance, George, he immediately recognizes him as a phony, 'strictly ivy league. Big deal." (p.127) Holden cannot stand people who do not think for themselves. Although Salinger never states his opinion directly, one can assume by Holden's statements that Salinger was also critical of the 50's theme of conformity, or at least aware of it.

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulfield is shown in this book to display multiple different personas. Holden has a tendency to tell lies, acts in a careless, self-destructive manner. However, Holden has also shown a personality in which he acts in a caring, empathetic demeanor, shown in scenarios such as his outlook towards the prostitute, and his refusal to allow his sister to come along with him to the cabin in the woods. Furthermore, Holden Caulfield’s attitude and problems mainly stemmed from his refusal to accept his brother’s passing, as Holden had exhibited a deep connection and love for his brother. These incidents collectively show the storyline of our troubled protagonist as he progresses

In literature, a character’s unique perspective on common human experiences can both engage the reader, and vastly contribute to a text’s endearing value and significance. The Catcher in The Rye offers a rich portrayal of such themes as, the impact of alienation as a form of self-preservation, resistance to change, and the psychological effects of unresolved grief. By telling the story directly through the first-person narration of Holden Caulfield, Salinger offers an unusually in-depth perspective of an emotionally complex character, who is struggling to find his place in the world. Unlike many coming of age stories, the reader of Salinger’s novel is left with a strong sense that Holden will continue to struggle with the protective wall of

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.

In The Catcher in the Rye, the reader is first introduced to Holden Caulfield, as first person narrator. He is a radically independent adolescent who tosses off judgments at ease unselfconsciously. The introduction scene is set where he is, voluntarily isolated from the rest, looking down upon a hill during a Pencey Prep football game. He then goes into introducing primary characters that impacted his life, such as, Mr. Spencer, Ackley and Stradlater. Later on that night, Holden leaves campus enraged with anger and hatred towards everyone and sets on an adventure to find himself in the city of New York. Throughout the novel, Holden goes on a pursuit in search of maturity, intimate love, moral innocence, and acceptance despite his hatred for phoniness.

Responsibility is considered to be a natural addition to life as people grow older. Holden Caulfield struggles to accept his responsibility in his life throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye. During the course of the novel, Holden experiences the sudden pressure of responsibility caused by his actions. As his counter attack to the unwanted situations he faces, Holden does what most people would do and rejects the direction his life is now headed. Holden Caulfield shows his revulsion to accept responsibility through his self-proclaimed adulthood, confusion of independence, and being blinded by his own emotions.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is portrayed as a young, troubled individual. He tells us his story from the mental institution where he is currently residing. Holden is a 16 year old going through many different adolescent changes. He is expelled from his prep school for flunking too many subjects. He drinks, smokes, sees a prostitute, is punched by her pimp, goes on dates, spends a great deal of time in the park, and really does not do a great deal else. Holden is a very hard person to figure out and analyze. Throughout the whole book, Holden constantly changes his mind about things and has various conflicting thoughts. The experiences that Holden goes through illustrate the divide between adults and

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is the story of Holden, a boy who struggles with emotions and how to tell his parents he got kicked out of school, again. He is always travelling around New York trying to find something to entertain himself and have fun. But you can tell by the subtle hints he drops throughout the entire book he hates change. As he tries to tell people about how he feels he finds himself alone and isolated. Throughout the course of Holden’s journey we clearly see he struggles with isolation as he tries to find comfort in different people, all he can find comfort in is his red hat and Phoebe.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, our protagonist, makes a mental journey in relation to dealing and coping with the grief accompanied with the death of his brother, and we are able to see how his mental status changes and how he needs guidance from loved ones. In this journey, he learns about how to make connections and that staying close to the people he loves can improve his outlook on life and overall mood. During the book, he isolated himself from others and always found the negative in everything, which did put him in a very grim place. In fact, he even becomes clinically depressed, as we can clearly see from our point of view. He soon learns that being with his younger sister Phoebe almost brought

J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, is the story of Holden Caulfield’s loss of faith in society, and in particular adults. Salinger uses a number of symbols to demonstrate Holden’s rebellion against the phony facade of society and his desire to preserve the innocence of children, especially those he loves. Chief among them is Holden’s misinterpretation of Robert Burns’ poem “Comin thro’ the Rye”, wherein Holden mistakes the original line, “If a body meet a body”, with “If a body catch a body”. Holden fantasizes about being the “Catcher in the Rye” who saves millions of children from metaphorically falling off the edge of a cliff, in other words, losing their innocence and becoming phony adults, . Holden’s fixation with preserving innocence appears to emerge after the death of his brother Allie, three years earlier. For example, when Holden is asked what he likes by his sister Phoebe he responds with “I like Allie” even though Allie is dead. Holden idolizes his younger siblings, Allie and Phoebe, noting that children that still have their innocence and have not been corrupted by adulthood, an example of this is the way Phoebe still puts sentimental value in the pieces of the “Little Shirley Beans” record, and the way that Allie wrote poems on the inside of his baseball mitt so that “he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat.”

J.D. Salinger utilizes extensive measures of symbolism as a part of his novel to precisely pass on the emotions of his primary character, Holden, and, generally, to uncover data relating to human slant. A number of these symbols contain incongruity, numerous implications, and fluctuating degrees of unpredictability. Through the cognizance of Salinger's remarkable symbolism, notwithstanding, The Catcher in the Rye can be genuinely comprehended and acknowledged. The character of Holden Caulfield is a capable symbol himself which speaks to individuals as they genuinely may be.

In the coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye, throughout the novel Holden Caulfield is surrounded by many different people and places which bring him together as a whole. Holden begins the novel at his private school, Pencey Prep. In his last days at Pencey his roommate Stradlater and a schoolmate, Ackley is introduced. Being around Ackley clearly annoys Holden, he often has to ignore Ackley or be sarcastic just so he stops bothering him. It’s obvious that Holden swears, A lot! Most of his phrases are “Goddam bastard” or “crummy bastard”. Stradlater is also a big issue with Holden; he’s viewed as cocky, full of himself and rude. The last straw Holden had with Stradlater is when they got in a physical altercation over Jane Gallagher leaving

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s story is seemingly aimless and without any sense of direction. However, Salinger brings the novel into focus in the final chapters by introducing the idea of being the “Catcher in the Rye” from the poem by Robert Burns. Salinger chose the name “Catcher in the Rye” for the title of his novel, but why? The answer is that Salinger wanted to emphasize the connection between Holden, the main character, and the cryptic “Catcher.” Holden confesses his desire to Pheobe of becoming a “Catcher,” but Holden’s definition of this role is slightly lacking. It can be seen through Holden and his actions what it truly means to be a Catcher. In the text, the Catcher is meant to save people from going over the fictitious cliff that Holden imagines, so, it can be inferred that a Catcher is a savior of others and exhibits the qualities of control and bravery. Holden is also speaking figuratively about protecting the innocence of people, thus, saving people from going over the cliff represents saving them from falling from grace. Beyond this, Holden strives to be the Catcher and by the end of the novel, it is apparent that his attitude reflects this desire. What this means is that Holden tries to imitate the demeanor of the Catcher. Holden also mirrors his new temperament in his behavior throughout the story. The desire to be the Catcher in the Rye shows the audience how Holden is an altruistic being who attempts to use his qualities

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, consists of many minor characters. There are more than about sixty characters in the novel in which only three of them are major characters (Holden, Allie, and Phoebe) and the rest minor. Many of these characters are just mentioned with no lasting impact on either the novel itself or Holden. Salinger uses minor characters in the Catcher in the Rye to tell the readers about Holden and his views about the world.