Essay on J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye

He couldn’t give a single, solid answer to the question. All he said was Allie. But Allie is gone, and Holden is holding on the the past, a place where he feels, or felt, safe and wants to go back to his times with Allie, who he misses very much. This conversation with Phoebe made Holden really think about what he was been doing for the past years, pushing everyone to the side, not caring about anyone or anything; no friends, failing school, and he comes to recognize that childhood was good, not adulthood or this awful in-between that he is stuck in.

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a rather unique character. He has several complications with other characters that he runs into, and does not seem that he is able to relate to anyone. However, Holden has a younger sister named Phoebe, and he seems to connect with her in a way that he does not with anyone else. She is only ten years old, so she and Holden both have a childlike mind. On the other hand, Phoebe seems to have a positive outlook on life while Holden sees most things in a negative light. Another contrast between them is that Phoebe puts in effort at school, and Holden is clearly not concerned his performance at school.

Intro- Catcher in the Rye a book written by J.D Salinger writes about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who lost his brother from Leukemia.

Holden has matured in many ways throughout the novel. He had grown from an immature child who only cared about himself to a mature adult who wanted to make something of his life. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to

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

Although Holden describes the situation in a very attractive manner, he basically tells Phoebe that he wants to prevent children from growing up. He blames the world's evil on adults and believes that when he stops the children from growing up he will save their innocence and the world.

In chapter 21 Holden returns home two days early because he wants to say his goodbyes to Phoebe, when arriving at his family's apartment he walks over to Phoebe’s room and sees that she is not there, he then goes to D.B’s room to find her sleeping. Before deciding to wake up Phoebe, Holden sits in D.B’s room and looks at his brother’s desk and says “You ought to see her doing her homework or something at that crazy desk. It’s almost as big as the bed. You can hardly see her when she’s doing her homework. That’s the kind of stuff she likes, though” (Salinger 175-176). Phoebe is a smart, strong and a confident young woman. Phoebe redefines stereotypes by being intelligent which is one of the traits that Holden admires throughout the course of the novel. Phoebe embodies such a conception of perfection by being intelligent that she becomes an ideal for Holden as he thinks highly of

    Holden is a very dramatic character. Holden took this girl Sally out on a date. They were having a very good time. He took her to an ice skating ring. After a while Holden started to complain about his life and says something disturbing. He stated, “here’s my idea. I know this guy down Greenwich Village that we can borrow his car for a couple of weeks. We could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, and all around there see. I have about one hundred and eighty dollars in the bank. I can take it out when the bank opens. Well stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out. I could get a job or somewhere and we can live somewhere with a brook and, and later on, we can get married or something.” He is only 16 years old saying he wants to run

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character and narrator Holden Caulfeild walks many different paths of life. He jumps around different aspects of his life throughout the book, showing the reader many different sides to himself. This theme is presented through the author’s technique in crafting the characterization and symbolism. J.D. Salinger develops a puzzle of a personality for Holden throughout the book, to show the complexity and multitude of sides to Holden’s character.

The relationship between Holden and Phoebe forms a major theme that the novel aims to deliver. The fact that he is having this conversation with Phoebe, a child who is anything but simple and innocent, reveals the oversimplification of his worldview. Holden himself realizes this to a degree when he acknowledges that his idea is “crazy”, yet he cannot come up with anything more pragmatic; he has trouble seeing the world in any other way. His “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect that spirit. On the other hand, it represents his extreme disconnection from reality and his naïve view of the world. Phoebe exposes to Holden a living embodiment of childhood. And it is a scene with her where she exposes to Holden the illogical nature of his supervisory actions, indicating that his desire to preserve her innocence will only halt her own inevitable development. Phoebe is the Greek word for “protector of children” (Bloom 2009, p185). Within the novel she is Holden’s protector. She comforts him, provides him with financial security, and protects him from getting in trouble with their mother. Reiff describes this reversal of roles between Holden and Phoebe as “Now, instead of saving the world by protecting the children, Holden wants to reject the world and shut himself off from evil by becoming a ‘deaf-mute’ in the West. It is Phoebe who rescues him from this total withdrawal” (Reiff 2008, p71). Phoebe forces Holden to view her as a human—living and progressing— rather than as a forever preserved child, and it is this humanization that causes Holden to accept her eventual progression into

Holden visits his parents apartment because he wanted to see his little sister. Holden has to sneak into the apartment because if his parents see that he ditched school his father will “kill him”. He talks to Phoebe but Holden can’t stay their for a long time because soon his parents will wake up. As Holden is leaving, he passes Phoebe the red hunting hat; “Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and gave it to her. She likes those kinds of crazy hats. She didn’t want to take it, but I made her.”(Salinger,198). Phoebe is a very mature girl for her age, she is very smart and initiative. She is also very aware of her surrounding and reality, slowly losing her innocence. Holden as a big brother wants to protect and try to save her innocence. Holden “makes her” take the red hunting hat because he doesn’t want what happened to him, happen to her. He wants her experience her childhood and not race to adulthood. Phoebe at first is hesitant because she wants to live her own life. However Holden is scared of her falling out the rye, meaning going to adulthood. The fact that he gave her his favorite hat that he uses for protection show how he also wants her to be protected from the corruption of the outside world. Holden doesn’t just the desire of innocence but to preserve his sister's

Holden Caulfield, the main character in the novel, is not the typical sixteen year old boy. Holden has many characteristics that aren 't typical of anyone that I know. Holden is very afraid of growing up. He feels the adult world is "phony", everyone in it, and everything associated with it. Holden never actually states that he is afraid of growing up, or that he hates the idea of it, instead he expresses his resistance to become

The goal that that Holden has to try so hard to fulfil is symbolic of his need to differentiate himself from the "phonies" around him. Holden’s image of people is pretty bad because he believes no one acts how they truly feel. Growing up scares Holden because it leads to adulthood. In his eyes once he hits adulthood, it'll eventually lead into the same phoniness as the rest of the adults. His constant avoidance and dodging of people and situations causes him to become more and more distant from normal society and social stability.

Many novels cannot be fully understood and appreciated if only read for face value, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is no exception. The abundant use of symbolism in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is of such significance that it “proclaims itself in the very title of the novel” (Trowbridge par. 1). If the symbolism in this novel is studied closely, there should be no astonishment in learning that The Catcher in the Rye took approximately ten years to write and was originally twice its present length. J.D. Salinger uses copious amounts

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.