The Meaning Of Catcher In The Rye

Essay question: Analyse how symbolism was used to develop the key ideas in the written text.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger. It is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a cynical teenager who recently got expelled from his fourth school. Though Holden is the narrator and main character of the story, the focus of Salinger’s tale is not on Caulfield, but of the world in which we live. The Catcher in the Rye is an insatiable account of the realities we face daily seen through the eyes of a bright young man whose visions of the world are painfully truthful, if not a bit jaded. Salinger’s book is a must-read because its relatable symbolism draws on the reader’s emotions and can easily keep the attention of anyone.

People need to read Catcher in the Rye at least once before they die. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a book that takes the reader inside the head of Holden Caulfield, a depressed sixteen-year-old, who enters a strange series of adventures in New York City. Holden writes his story from a mental hospital in California, about how he was expelled from a fancy prep school, his experiences after spending a few days in NYC. The book has had critical success since its publication in 1951, selling sixty-five million total copies, after a splendid review from the New York Times. Catcher in the Rye is a great novel because of its subtle symbolism, amazing portrayal of Holden Caulfield and ends on a higher note than most people realize.

In many novels the title of the story is more important than most people initially think. It often reveals important information about the story. The Catcher in the Rye is a title whose significance gradually becomes apparent as the novel progresses. Written by JD Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye is a coming-of-age novel in which the main character, Holden Caulfield, wishes to preserve the innocence of children. Through the title, this theme is portrayed and emphasized. The title of this novel takes its name from a line in a poem by the poet Robert Burns.

It is known that humans require interaction between each other. As a result we tend to get attached and depend on them. We tend to advocate others from groups and keep to the same people. J. D. Salinger explores this in his book in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye. This book is beloved by many because it is so easy to connect to, even our generation now can connect to Holden and some of the things he goes through. The story is about a boy named Holden, he gets kicked out of school multiple times, and instead of telling his parents he wanders around New York in search of someone that cares and that he can make a connection with. Growing up is hard, and we need human connection to make through the hard times.

Although representation of the LGBT+ community is becoming more common in books, especially those targeted towards teenagers, it is still lacking in the majority of literature. This has caused members and supporters of the community to look for representation in places where most people would say there isn’t any. For example, to most people, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger is either about a pretentious teenager who complains about nothing or a depressed teenager coping with a disillusioning loss of innocence. The first analysis can be backed by reading the book at the surface level, the second by a more in depth understanding of symbolism used throughout. However, there is a third narrative that eludes many people. Holden Caulfield is attracted to men, but having experienced sexual abuse and living in a homophobic time, represses his sexuality.

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

Recently a teenager posted a racist comment on social media and it blew up. People from everywhere started sharing it, even people that weren’t apart of it. In today’s society these kinds of things happen all the time. We try to put a stop to it just like Holden, from The Catcher in the Rye, does. In the J.D Salinger novel the main character, Holden, goes into a bathroom stall and sees “someone written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall.” He tries to wipe it off so no kids see the vulgar word and start using it themselves. Through Salinger’s use of symbolism, he depicts the message of innocence in The Catcher in the Rye is that we lose our beautiful outlook on life and this is a problem because kids are becoming everyday sinners.

“I spent my whole childhood wishing I were older and now I'm spending my adulthood wishing I were younger.” Ricky Schroder. Some may want to grow old and some may want to stay young forever. Holden Caulfield describes his massive fears of change through symbolizes in his quick break of from school. J.D. Salinger displays throughout the revolutionary novel, Catcher in the Rye, that the wild that live in the pond in Central Park, New York, symbolizes multiple fears to Holden Caulfield.

“Where has my heart gone An uneven trade for the real world Oh I... I want to go back to

In Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the record, Little Shirley Beans, symbolizes Holden’s desire to preserve innocence and purity.

A literary symbol is a figure of speech where an object, person, or a situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning. J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye used many symbols that affected the way readers see the story. Symbols like preparatory school life at Pencey Prep, the red hunting hat that Holden always wears, and Allie’s left-handed baseball glove created the story. J.D. Salinger uses the technique of symbolism to enhance the writing and give more insight to readers.

The significance of Holden wanting to be a “catcher in the rye” is that it shows that he wants to preserve children’s innocence and almost would enjoy the sisyphean task as monotonous as it may be it is stable in his life and would be forever unchanging. An example of how he wants everything to be the same, “ The best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move”(121). This quote shows that Holden wants everything in his life to be the same just like the things in the glass cases and being the “catcher” his life would consist of one task, to save children losing their innocence.

world from a very unrealistic stance. His “catcher in the rye” fantasy highlights his gulf from reality, and indicates a simple, and naïve view of wanting to protect uncorrupted adolescence from being tainted. Phoebe exposes to Holden a living embodiment of childhood. And it is with her that he realizes such actions are irrational. Spiritually and physically, the “fall” is unable to be prevented (Baumbach 2003, p56). By trying to preserve and protect her, he is in fact preventing her inevitable maturation. Phoebe is the Greek word for “protector of children” (Bloom 2009, p185). Within the novel she is Holden’s protector, delivering safety from their mother and an ear for his contemplations. Reiff explains 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). Holden is forced to view Phoebe not as a stagnant being, nor a forever protected, forever-innocent child, but as a human who will inevitable grow and progress. And it is with this newfound knowledge that Holden is able to accept the development and maturation naturally resulting from the growth of an adolescent to an adult.

Considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, The Catcher in the Rye has affected readers around the globe since its publication in 1951. Its contemporary critics, however, gave the novel mixed reviews. Compared to the ideals of 1950s America, Holden Caulfield, the emotionally immature, extremely judgmental, teen-aged main character of “Catcher,” embodies the antithesis. Holden was an affront to the new social order, which demanded conformity and propagated the “father knows best” mentality. Americans, however, despite the postwar economic boom, remained suspicious of authority. In idyllic suburban neighborhoods across the country, while families huddled around their new television screens, people discussed their neighbors’ movements, made distrustful even of their closest friends by the “Red Scare”. The American Dream seemed like a golden ring just out of reach, leaving people feeling like they were going around in circles without a clear destination or purpose. With his sense of nostalgia for better times, his bleak perspective of the future, and his contradictory nature, Holden speaks directly to this sense of confusion at the world that Americans felt during the 1950s.