The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, is a widely known book known that many people would consider to be one of the greatest books of all time. This book is considered to be a ‘great’ book because of the many hidden meanings, or messages written by the author. Many people connect to the main character in this story, Holden. Holden is very depressed with his life which some readers can connect with and how he considers the people around him are phony which more people connect with as well. A major theme, that is connected to the title of the story, is how Holden is dealing with growing up. The Catcher in the Rye shows growing up through Holden wanting to protect children from any suffering, he does not want to let go of his childhood, and …show more content…
When Holden goes back to his home to visit Phoebe,because he wants to say goodbye to someone before he goes out west by himself. He gets into an argument with her and he tells her what he wants to do with his life “I keep picturing all these little kids playing ... And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all" (Salinger 173). This shows us how he wants to protect the kids from any sort of suffering in their lives. He wants to be there to save any child that would come too close to crossing a deadly boundary. This is Holden’s fantasy because a catcher would have been able to save Allie or, if he wasn’t able to, save Holden from falling into his descent into loneliness and pain. By the end of the story Holden has given up this fantasy of becoming a ‘catcher in the rye’ and decided that staying home is best for him. Holden has a new way of saving kids, "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them." (Salinger 211). This shows the reader that Holden has moved …show more content…
At the beginning of the story when Stradlater asks Holden to write a paper for him. Holden, having nothing to write about, writes about his brother Allie who died a couple of years ago. Holden’s brother Allie had a major impact on Holden because Allie always made Holden feel better. Holden always thought that Allie was better than him. Then Allie died of pneumonia and Holden couldn’t handle it and he broke all the windows in the garage with his bare hands, ”It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know it, and you didn’t know Allie. My hand still hurts me once in a while, when it rains and all, and I can;t make a real fist anymore.”(Salinger 39). Holden never forgets this point in his life because it is very heart-breaking that his beloved brother died. Even though he is much older now he still regrets his past decisions and doesn’t move on past that point in his life. Later on in the story when Holden is talking with his little sister, Phoebe, she is able to see what Holden really likes “‘I like Allie,’ I said, ‘And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking,and thinking about stuff, and--’ ‘Allie’s dead-- You always say that!”(Salinger 171). Holden has to address that Allie is dead and become incredibly depressed again like he does in other parts of the
When Phoebe asks Holden what he likes, he replies by saying, "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,'" I said. "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (Salinger 173). The top of the cliff symbolizes the innocent child life, but below the cliff symbolizes the adult world of phoniness. Holden wants to catch the children before the run off into the phony adult world. In conclusion, Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye” as he wants to catch children’s innocence before they fall into the phony adult
The death of Holden’s brother Allie at a young age adds to Holden’s negativity as well as stopping Holden from accepting inevitable change. Allie dies immaturely of leukemia. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (p. 39). Holden is in the hospital because he broke his fist, and he was unable to attend Allie’s funeral. Holden has trouble accepting Allie’s death because he never said goodbye to Allie. His relationship with Allie is similar to his maturity. Just as Holden is unable to accept his brother’s death, Holden is not able to accept that
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.
The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in
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.
“The Catcher in the Rye” is about a sixteen year old teenager talking about the story of his mental break down. It is really impressive because J.D. Salinger’s writing style is very direct as if Holden is talking exclusively to me and telling me about his struggles between childhood and adulthood. “The Catcher in the Rye” illustrates Holden’s hope to protect childhood innocence from adult phoniness.
In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.
Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually
One of the greatest American Literature writers, J.D. Salinger, was familiar with a rough childhood by experience. He was able to parallel his experiences to the experiences of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in Rye. In this novel, Holden experiences conflicts that most youth are not familiar with. The conflicts in Holden Caulfield’s life are caused by various forces and circumstances.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about growing up. It explores the obstacles we all face during our transition from child to adulthood. The tragedies and triumphs, the breakthroughs and setbacks, the happiness and heartache. As you follow the book's protagonist, Holden, through his journey into adulthood, you learn about his life, but more importantly, you learn about your own. You grow to sympathize with the young rebel, and you begin to see traces of yourself in him.
In the story he says “ When somebody says please to you that’s depressing as hell”Also in the story he said “Boy, did she hit the ceiling when I said that. I know I shouldn't've said it, and I probably wouldn't've ordinarily, but she was depressing the hell out of me.” when things didn’t go as planned with Sally hayes. One of the major things that depress Holden is the death of his little brother Allie. Holden introduced us to his younger brother allie in the fifth chapter of the book. Holden says, “ He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You'd have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent.” this was an unusual way to introduce a loved one that past, at this point we can infer this upsets Holden. The same chapter also states, “ I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken”. At this point we know allie played a big part in Holden’s life and holden loves him a lot. Holden brings up Allie because he still has Allie’s baseball glove from
J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.
Holden connects to and feels a kinship towards kids. When Holden tells Phoebe, his younger sister, about why he wanted to be The Catcher in the Rye. Holden says, “I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.” (173) it shows how important it is to Holden to keep innocence. He does not want other children to lose like he did he doesn't want them to endure the pain of being an adult and “falling off the cliff” to soon they should have their childhood.
The Catcher in the Rye was aimed at an adolescent audience who would relate to Holden’s problems and the overall themes in the book, such as protecting innocence, authentic versus artificial, and death. Salinger’s purpose was to tell a coming-of-age story and show how Holden rejected his responsibilities due to his anxieties about becoming an adult. The title of the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” refers to Holden’s dream job; standing in a field of rye and protecting children from falling off of the cliff. Symbolically, Holden wants to protect other children from adulthood and keep them from losing their innocence. Holden’s struggle with becoming an adult is also due to his conflict between what is authentic and what is artificial. Holden
When Holden is questioned by his younger sister, Phoebe, regarding what he would like to do when he gets older, Holden replies, "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going. I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." Here Holden exposes his deepest desire and interprets the book's theme. Holden attempts to keep children in the innocence of childhood and his wish to save other children from the descent into