Salinger 's ' The Catcher 's The Rye '

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s outlook in life is either the innocence of childhood or the cruelty of adulthood. He believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and it should be protected from

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a very complex and interesting person to take into consideration and psychoanalyze. His various traits make him a different person from the rest of the phonies in the world. Holden says, “All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't.” What Holden doesn’t realize is that he is a phony as well. This is ironic because he says you don’t know if you are a phony, but he is. Salinger’s life is reflected in the book, there are many similarities to his life and Holden’s. Holden is a perfect example of Freud’s

Instead of acknowledging that adulthood scares and mystifies him, Holden convinces himself that adulthood is a world of superficiality and hypocrisy, while childhood is a world of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. Holden tells Phoebe, when she asks what he wants to do with his life, that he would “just be the catcher in the rye.” (chapter 22). He imagines childhood as a golden field of rye in which children romp and play; adulthood, for the children of this world, is equivalent to death, a fatal fall over the edge of a cliff. Holden’s imagined understandings of childhood and adulthood allow him to isolate himself from feelings of pain, failure, and sadness. He wants to catch children before they fall out of innocence into knowledge of the adult world, which leads to his glorification of Allie, and protective feelings towards Phoebe. Holden has become so lost in this simple world that he cannot see the complexities of growing up. He views maturity as a fall, rather than an ascension into greater knowledge and a newer perspective on life. He would rather shelter the innocent from pain and loss forever, rather then let them meet reality, and grow into stronger, more perceptive human

J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield’s thoughts and actions as he tries to conquer New York on his own, while trying also not to grow up at the same time. Throughout the story, Holden experiences “growing pains of a teenager” such as depression and loneliness which only seem to follow him everywhere he goes. It is evident that Holden can’t seem to shake these feelings and the emotions he faces only grows worse as the story progresses as his only wish is that he could be young once again with Allie. Therefore, the song “Ribs” by Lorde seems to compliment Holden’s anguish he faces with these “growing pains”

Although there are approximately 171,476 words in the English language, Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye limits his vocabulary to a select few. The Catcher in the Rye recounts the days following Holden’s expulsion from Pency Prep and his mental health decline. With such a diverse group of words to choose from, Holden’s are symbolic of his slipping control over mentality as he searches to find comfort in others. But because Holden cannot feel this security and protection, instead he searches to find stability in the sameness of words. Holden’s use of language and the significance of repeated diction reveal his fears of a lack of human connection and a “phony” adult existence; consequently, Holden’s choice of words and

Often, Authors use specific objects, ideas, or characters to express larger meanings in the book, or in real life. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Salinger uses many symbols in his novel to show the difficulties of Holden’s life. By including the symbols of Holden’s red hunting hat, death, windows, James Castle, and the ducks, Salinger explores many of Holden’s inner thoughts and difficulties of growing up, especially with the loss of loved ones.

Catcher in the Rye is a very confusing book. Usually you can kind of guess what is going to happen next. For an example when Holden, the main character, is arguing with his roommate Stradlater you could tell that they were going to get physical with each other. Holden has a lot of conflicts that an everyday person would not encounter. I have never seen any 16 year old have to deal with the problems he has had. He is at the weird age where he is becoming an adult but yet he is still a child.

Our beliefs shape our perception of the world around us and the people in it. These beliefs have shaped Holden Caulfield’s perception greatly of the world around him, the protagonist from J.D. Salinger’s novel ''Catcher in the Rye''. In this case, these beliefs begin to force Holden into having a disillusioned perspective of his surroundings. He is unwilling to accept many of life’s realities including; change, dishonesty, and conformity. Thus by him not being able to accept this, he is ultimately unable to find happiness in life.

Is this book about baseball? Is the main character an outfielder? Do I really have to read all of it, or can I use SparkNotes? These were the first questions that came to my mind when I received the first assignment notice that we would be reading The Catcher in the Rye for English class. The title is most likely the single most important word choice that the author must make. J.D. Salinger uses the title in the book to allude to more than just when Holden sees the young child singing. J.D. Salinger's title, The Catcher in the Rye, alludes to the conflict Holden faces of sexuality when growing up.

There’s always been a need to hide certain thoughts or actions from the eyes of others. Society tends to look down towards others who doesn’t follow in the majority’s footsteps. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden struggles to make sense of his thoughts. Many times, he makes judgements or vocalizes his thoughts which leads to many judgments placed upon him. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses society’s reactions to Holden’s struggle to place himself within the society, in a light that emphasizes his behavior as irrational or in madness, demonstrating how the clouded perception that society has of others can lead to misconceptions of rational behavior.

In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is the seventeen-year-old narrator and protagonist of the story. He is a very troubled teenager; he cannot seem to cope with his younger brother Allie’s death, has been kicked out of four schools, and is constantly criticizing and judging other people, which he does in a hypocritical manner. Holden is often nostalgic about his childhood, seeming to be in the happiest state when he thinks about being a child, and resents growing up and entering adulthood; yet, he also seeks attention and connections from adults because he knows that it is time for him to change. Holden’s conflicting interests in the world he lives in causes him to be stuck between childhood and adulthood, and

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a book written by Jerome David Salinger, following the life of a Holden Caulfield. Holden is a 17-year-old boy who as a result of being expelled from Pencey Prep, a boarding school in New York and decides to utilize his expulsion to take an early Christmas break. Holden, conveying his unique thoughts, as well as his peculiar adventure, narrates the book with a hidden motive of self-reflection. Salinger uses Holden to give us an insight from a historic perspective on what life was like in the past. He highlights this with Holden's addiction to alcohol, depressive behavior about Allie's death, lack of family support and his interactions with women. Salinger illustrates this to expose the pressure teenagers faced from society to hide their emotions.

As a “gateway drug for a generation of teenagers,” Jerome David Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is a world-renowned phenomenon (Teicholz). On the surface it highlights a teenager’s mentally challenging journey of painfully trying to transition into adulthood, while also wanting to reject the adult world and seek refuge in his idealistic childhood recollections. However, these ideas can be analyzed on a deeper level, not only to better understand the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, but also to acknowledge the repressed or latent feelings of the book’s reclusive author, J.D. Salinger. A fictitious character is more than a figment of the author’s imagination; the character is a “product of the author’s experiences” (Polukis 4-5). Since a character in a work of fiction is a cumulative representation of the author’s experiences, readers can use the pretentious character of Holden to scrutinize the unvented ideas of the author, J.D Salinger. In fact, Salinger mirrors many elements of his real life in The Catcher in the Rye and bases several characteristics of Holden off of himself. Similarities include that Salinger was born in New York City, had unstable school conditions, left one or more schools due to academic troubles, attended the McBurney School alluded to in The Catcher in the Rye, was atypical, valued innocence, and wished to be isolated from society (Ducharme). Furthermore, in an article recognizing Salinger’s death, it states, “Holden is dead. Long Live

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, is a classic novel that recognize as a perfect tale of teenage rebellion. Salinger highlights the impacts of depression in this novel. After the World War II, The Catcher in the Rye became so popular because it was the first book that revealed the true feelings of teenager. Holden Caulfield, the main character in the novel, symbolizes a teenager revolting against a society and struggles to transit into an adult world. Moreover, his personality reveals uncertainty, turmoil, and depression and this is conventional to all the teenagers after the time of World War II. Although many people have questioned whether the novel is still maintaining its original appeal to today’s teenagers as the time progress, the novel actually remains relevant to teenagers today because of its depression, criticism and actions and the suspicions on the benefits to an individual. Even today, teenagers are able to relate Holden’s characteristics due to the pressures from the family, friends and community, and some teenagers even reject the values of their society. All these demeanors are demonstrated through Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.

J. D. Salinger 's novel is often called, " . . . the forbidden fruit in the garden of literature" ("The Catcher" 116). J. D. Salinger is a writer from the 1950s, a time where literature has questioned the ideas of traditions placed in a community. Through his life and through his characters Holden Caulfield and Phoebe Caulfield in the 1950s realistic fictional bildungsroman The Catcher in the Rye, the postmodernist author J. D. Salinger focuses on the theme of self isolation in society in order to create independent opinions.