The Catcher In The Rye Dialectical Journal

The whole book is set as a flashback of Holden's past year. When he starts narrating the story, he mentions that he got "pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy". This says that Holden has had a tough year, with a breakdown, he is in some kind of place where he's taking it easy. His previous diction/word choice gives us hints that he might actually be in a mental hospital(words like madman). He describes the place as 'crumby' and also says that his brother, D.B., visits him every weekend. And, at the very end of the book, last chapter (26), Holden says, "...this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school next September." 'Psychoanalysis' is, according to FreeDictionary, " The method of

The story is written as a second person narrative. This style puts the reader in the position of the main character. We are never told the main character’s name, making it easier for the reader to relate to the character. Writing in the second person also challenges the reader, putting them in the position of the main character.

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

This character is going to tell it like it is, and he does. The most powerful emotional standpoint in the story is when Holden goes to his sister’s elementary school to deliver her a note. While he is there, he discovers two words scribbled on the wall. “Fuck you.” Most people would look at that and think nothing of it. Some would bow their heads in shame at the person who thought it was funny. Others might laugh. Not Holden. He did not think about the normal persons response to the note. He thought about the child’s response. About how a little kid is going to see that seemingly meaningless phrase and wonder what it means; about how some dirty kid would explain what it meant; and about the person who wrote it and how they are destroying the childhood of everyone who reads the ‘harmless’ graffiti. This section takes the reader to the door of Holden’s mind. It is at this point that one truly understands his emotions.

1. “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.”

When adolescents like Holden cannot find an “adolescence zone” in the real world, they would conjure one in imagination. A pivotal moment of the novel is in the midsection, which resonates with the meaning of the novels title. When his sister Phoebe asks what would make him happy, Holden describes to her an imagined picture, which is worth quoting at length:

Reveals about situation: This is a complete revolution from the last chapter. Previously, Holden described his love for Jesus, but his hate for organized religion. However, he is now giving nuns money for their next collection for charity. This proves that even if Holden disagrees with someone, he still respects them, their beliefs, and their actions. Additionally, it proves that Holden in fact has a big heart and cares about those he is around, even if he may not show it all the time.

means to him. Suddenly, they hear their parents open the door the apartment. His mother checks on Phoebe. Phoebe loans Holden her Christmas money, which makes Holden cry. He gives her his red hunting cap and leaves the building.

In this passage of the book, Holden is thinking scientifically. This supports the fact that he is smart after all, even though he his failing most of his classes. Often times, a teenager wants something so bad, they come up with crazy and somewhat stupid ideas and plans to help them obtain that something. Maybe this is because he does not want to try or maybe he wants to fit in with others who would not accept him if he was smart. In this metaphor, he is comparing himself the ducks in Central Park when the lagoon freezes over. What Holden is really saying is the fact that he would not know where to go if he stays living in a place full of phonies and rude people. The ducks cannot swim in ice and he will not stay in a school full of fakes.

Everyone has to grow up eventually, some just tend to take it better more than others, it could be the fear or gaining more responsibility or the fact that getting older means that your parents are too and with your old age comes their time to go, the fear of not being ready or prepared for what life has to offer you and you being on your own to find out

The passage begins on an unusual high note, with Holden’s three upbeat words, “The best thing.” But, by the end of the first sentence, Salinger hints that Holden’s reasoning might be more characteristically dark. To Holden, the best thing about the Museum is that “everything always stayed right where it was.” The reader isn’t sure what Holden means. “Nobody’d move,” he explains as a clarification, as if the reader would now understand. It isn’t until the third try that that Holden’s reasoning is clear. He likes that the displays of Eskimos, deer, and birds are frozen in action and never change. “Nobody’d be different” he repeats, completing the idea using Salinger's signature technique of repetition to drive the point home. To Holden, “the best thing” about the museum is that it never changes, unlike the real people in his

Society is never perfect, there has never been one that has. Countless problems come from every society, some less than others. There is always good when there is bad, and what is bad to some may seem good to others. In the 1950’s many things deemed socially acceptable are not in today's standards. Even so, the author realized what was wrong with his society and used Holden and his experiences to reveal the problems occurring in everyday life and how disgusting they seemed to someone from a different point of view.. The Catcher in the Rye has a focus on addressing the problems of the culture in the society of the 1950’s, using examples of women, children, and people in general.

“I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it.” It is very easy to automatically assume that Holden Caulfield is crazy. It’s even a logical assumption since Caulfield himself admits to being crazy twice throughout the course of the book. However, calling Holden Caulfield crazy is almost the same as calling the majority of the human race crazy also. Holden Caulfield is just an adolescent trying to prevent himself from turning into what he despises the most, a phony. Most of Caulfield’s actions and thoughts are the same as of many people, the difference being that Holden acts upon those thoughts and has them down in writing.

Summarize - Ishmael is told that he is going to live with his uncle’s family officially in two weeks. He was scared about how he’d act, since he’s been alone for so long. He says farewell to his friends in the center, and learns that Mambu is going back to the army because he won’t be taken in by his family. He says farewell to Esther, too. He realizes that he never told her how thankful he was for her support. He goes to his Uncle’s house, and loves it there. He shares a room with Allie, his older boy cousin. The family gathers together at night and listenes to stories, and they all laugh. Ishmael thinks about how nice but unusual it is for him to be around people who are so joyful and welcoming. He went to a pub with Allie one night, and meets a girl who he dates for a couple weeks. She breaks up with him because he won’t open up, and that’s what happens with the other girls of Freetown as well. One day, Leslie tells Ishmael that he has the opportunity to go to New York City and talk to the UN about boy soldiers and what has been

Every child must grow up because that is the process of life. There are many challenges and obstacles that we have to go through, but we learn how to overcome them as we grow. Life gets more challenging as we go through it and even though adolescents may not realize it, there are much more significant problems in the world than not getting the toy they wanted from Santa Claus. Our problems get larger and they get harder to deal with as we get older. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character is a teenage boy named Holden that is facing problems that he is having a hard time dealing with. He is having a hard time growing up because he doesn’t know how to face the problems that come his way. Salinger tells the journey of a teenager that portrays the hardest part of growing up is realizing that you’re not young anymore and living how you’re expected to live at your age.