J. D. Salinger: A Literary Analysis

As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.

In the years after the Second World War, people created uncountable numbers of historiographical research on various topics related to the war, such as military tactics in battles, individual groups of men during their time in service, and other such subjects. Not much surprise exists then, that women’s actions in World War II eventually would also gain interest and publication for the public, though it did not gain an undivided focus until the advent of women’s and social history grew momentum. Women, despite being half of the world’s population, doubtlessly had acted during the war years, although limited by social gender expectations of the period. As time passes from 1945, more interest in the lives of women and their effect on the war

Many people have never considered what women were doing in WWII when their husbands left to fight. Their lives weren’t easy or normal during the war. Women had to work just as hard as men, sometimes even more so. In this essay, I will discuss the position of American women before World War II, during the war, and at the end of the war.

Ellen Carol DuBois, Professor of History and Women’s Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, in chapter nine of her book “Through Women 's Eyes: An American History with Documents” (2012), described when women were put to the battlefield and they were use to help to fight against opposing enemies from other countries. In the late 1930s, as the militarism of Germany, Italy, and Japan rose to a crescendo, most Americans adamantly opposed being drawn into war. This remained true even after Germany, under Adolf HItler, invaded Poland in 1939 and France and Britain, the United States’ allies in World War 1, declared war on the Axis powers, Germany and Italy. They became an asset to the America when the men were starting to decrease in the numbers of in need soldiers. However in this precis, not only how she described how the women was use to battlefield but, she also described how the United States started joining the war, what jobs are assigned to the women, and what occurred throughout the women’s military days.

Before World War I, women were not seen as equals to men. Until only recently, women were treated like children because men believed they were not capable of doing the things men did, such as fighting in the war, for example. Their only significance in society’s view was to have children, clean the house, and cook for the family. Women were rarely found living without a husband or parent figure because they were thought to be unable to support themselves financially. These oppressing ideas were what pushed women to change society's view of them once World War I began. No longer would the role of women be to care for the family. Women struggled to overcome these hardships by taking over the jobs left by the men fighting in the Great War, supporting

From 1940- 1970 there were many significant changes in the lives of women. As seen in past wars including the United States, the roles of men, women and children are affected during times of turmoil. Prior to the U.S.’s potential involvement with World War II, they attempted to stay “neutral”. Despite hopes for neutrality, President Roosevelt called for an increased production of material over a year and a half prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor (Yellin, 3). Both to prepare for war and during the war, women joined the labor force and often worked in factories to replace men who had joined the military and to increase the production of war material. This was a huge shift in which women left their domestic roles of being homemakers and housewives to being major

Before World War II, women were typically seen as wives and mothers. A majority of jobs were saved for men and it was very uncommon for a woman to have a job that was outside of the house, especially if they were married. The need to prepare for war was so strong that “political and social leaders agreed that both women and men have to change their perceptions of gender roles-at least as long as there was a national emergency” (“Changing Images” 1). America’s view on the woman was about to entirely change. Women were about to change the typical stereotype and prove to men that they could do anything they could.

To begin with, in J.D Salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye, Holden portrays as a character that

World War Two has regularly been depicted as a defining moment in the fight for balance amongst men and ladies. From the earliest starting point, ladies were continually attempting to pick up status, regard, and rights in their general public. Preceding World War Two, a lady's part in the public arena was viewed as somebody who cooked, cleaned, and conceived an offspring. The years amid and taking after the war denoted a defining moment in the fight for equity. Ladies, for once, were being viewed as people with abilities outside the kitchen, and we're interestingly allowed to substantiate themselves.

Before the outbreak of World War II, women were seen as weak and meant to be housewives. Alice Walker, author of Women, was born in 1944, one year after World War ll ended. Walker’s mother was living during the time when women were being persuaded to work on the factories while men were being recruited in the army. Women by Alice Walker demonstrates the use of diction and imagery that convey the readers how women were seen fragile at first, but now they are seen as leaders. Before World War ll started, men saw woman as if they were fragile, obedient, and were meant to be at home cleaning and cooking.

With a great amount of women in the workforce, the second World War was sure to change society’s perspective of women and women’s perspective of themselves. WWII changed the United States for women, and at the same time women changed their nation. Over 350,000 women volunteered for military service while 20 times as many stepped into civilian jobs, that were previously male-owned. More than 7,000,000 women who hadn’t earned a signal wage before the war, like me, joined the already 11,000,000 women who were already in the American work force. Between 1941 and 1945, several women moved away from their homes to take advantage of the wartime opportunities and enter the workforce, while many stayed at home to organize initiatives to conserve resources,

During the 1950’s, America was prospering after the second World War. According to History.com, “The United States was the world’s strongest military power. Its economy was booming, and the fruits of this prosperity–new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods–were available to more people than ever before” (History.com Staff). More jobs were becoming available, decreasing the unemployment rate. Despite having all the success, America faced many problems as a country. One of the most popular novels of the time, The Cather In The Rye written by JD Salinger, discussed the flaws in the society Americans had failed to realize. The book is about a journey of a teen named Holden Caufield who was expelled from his school for failing most of his courses. He leaves to New York early but waits at a hotel until the winter break, hoping his parents will not get as angry as they would. During his time in New York, he drinks alcohol heavily to soothe his depression. Later, he was sent to a mental institution to treat his depression and as a therapy, Holden writes about his adventure in New York. Throughout the novel, J.D. Salinger criticized many aspects of American Society specifically conformity and the oppression of teenage freedom in the 1950’s.

Jerome David Salinger, known as J.D., is an American short story writer and novelist. He was born on January 1, 1919 and is still alive at the age of 81. J.D. Salinger was born and raised in Manhattan. He went to prep school at Valley Forge Military Academy from 1934-1936. He spent 5 months in Europe when he was 18 or 19 years old. Then, in 1937 and 1938 he studied at Ursinus College and New York University. From 1939 to 1942, he went to Columbia University where he decided to become a writer. Salinger published short story collections and one novel. His best known work, The Catcher in the Rye, was published in 1951. The short stories he wrote were "Nine Stories" in 1953, "Franny and Zooey" in 1961,

When Salinger attended McBurney School, he tried to conform so he can fit (one way was calling himself Jerry). While at this school, he also acted in plays and wrote the school’s newspaper. This is shown through Holden as he doesn’t try to conform (which could be representing Salinger’s regret to try and conform), hates phoniness (as acting as a character [for example: in a play] is considered being phony), and likes writing (as shown in the beginning of chapter one as he tells the audience his story and how he admires his writer-brother, D.B.). Salinger himself stated, “My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book, and it was a great relief telling people about it” (interview by Shirlie Blaney).

The historical context in The Catcher in the Rye reveals the book was written during a period of anguish. As stated by Daniel Burt, “…a prosperous postwar period that gave rise to suburban conformity and teenage angst,” (Burt 2). This quote states that what was going on in society at that time was how Holden was feeling. The feeling of teenage rebellion and depression were taking over his life and leading him to do immoral things. Based on the quote above, we can see how Holden created a cultural mordancy that his readers can easily detect, leading to the thought that this book was created under the impression of loss and a world gone wrong. Burt writes, “Salinger’s novel, observes Louis Menand, provides adolescents ‘with a layer of psychic insulation.’ Critic Harold Bloom speaks to the novel’s enduring influence when he states, ‘The Catcher in the Rye struck a nerve for one generation, but it seems to appeal to sensitive young people in later generations as well…’” (Burt 3). This quote states that the novel has created a huge impact on society and has left an image that the book can be quite insulting. Because of this, we can see that this book is not only a mockery of society but is unfit for teens to read. According to Hochman and Mueller, “Whether Holden’s sense of society and culture comes from rebelling against prep school, family, friends, teachers, maturation, and even death, his character continuously scrapes against the grain of societal pressures and