The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a story about a boy named Holden Caulfield, a socially awkward 16 year old that has too many problems that he just cannot cope with, like getting kicked out of Pencey Prep, the third school he has been expelled from. He does not tell his parents about getting kicked out of Pencey so he wanders aimlessly around New York, cheap hotels, and clubs for a few days, trying not to face his academic problems, doing a lot of ridiculous things during that period of time. Holden is a teenager who is extremely quick to judge people as phony, but he doesn’t realize that he is the phony one. He likes to act like an adult, a suave player who is good with the older ladies, to distract himself from his mess of a life. …show more content…
Jane is a girl who Holden became very close to when she used to live nearby to him, and he has always had very strong feelings for her. When Ward Stradlater, Holden’s roommate at Pencey, has a date with her, he becomes very worried and nervous that they would like each other and that the date would go a little too well. However, when Stradlater says Holden can go out to see her too if he really wants to, he makes an excuse. He is too shy to confront her, and he is also too shy to tell Stradlater how he feels about Jane. Holden even gets in a physical fight with Stradlater after his date with Jane. Although Holden tried to act like he was just angry because of what a moron Stradlater was, he is mad because he is jealous, but of course, he does not say this. After Holden left Pencey Prep, every time he came across a phone he would always debate whether or not to call up Jane. He would always end up make an excuse such as ‘I didn’t feel like it’ or ‘I just wasn’t in the mood’, anything to avoid facing his real feelings for this girl. However, it was clear that he was just too shy to talk to her, and he distracted himself from his relationship problems with Jane by constantly unsuccessfully trying to hook up with other girls. Holden has many reflections on their past together, like when they used to play games together and watch movies with each other. When Jane was …show more content…
He tries his best to avoid his feelings and complications in his life and act like none of these problems were happening. He does not say much about his problems and his real self because he wants to pretend to be confident and carefree. He is unable to cope with all the terrible things happening and he has no idea how he can deal with them, so he tries to act like he is someone he is not, the version of himself he wants to be. Sometimes, his problems put so much pressure on him that he cannot handle them, which is why he suddenly decides wants to run away and start a new life somewhere else towards end of the book. Holden acts like he does not know where this is coming from, but he really just wants to run away from all of the issues he is facing and how much they are depressing him. He realizes in the end that he cannot run away from it all. There are still so many people and things he knows he would miss, like his little sister Phoebe or even Stradlater, no matter how phony Holden describes him as. There any significant examples of Holden being unable to deal with his problems, like the advice from Mr. Spencer, Allie’s death, and his fondness of Jane Gallagher. Although Holden desperately tries to hide his problems and act unbothered by them, there is still no way he can avoid dealing with his issues
Holden allows the reader to hypothesize that he is attracted to a girl named Jane Gallagher, by constantly telling of his fond memories of her, but when push comes to shove his tendency to alienation himself from society, to "protect himself from losing his innocence", takes him over. On page 116 of the novel, Holden tells the reader that after he got his sister a record he went to a phone booth and called Jane's house. But when her mother picked up the phone he hung up. Holden tells the reader that he "didn't feel like getting into a long conversation with her mother" so he hung up but in reality Holden's personal preference of alienating himself frightened him and prevented him of making any contact with Jane.
The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger is a coming of age story. It is a story narrated by the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who is a sixteen year old boy, but has a mind of a ten year old innocent kid. In the beginning he thinks of innocence as important, but later he realizes that growing up cannot be stopped. He wanders around the New York City by himself and gains experience of life that teaches him to become mature. This book is clearly written to show the theme of coming of age because it shows many symbols of coming of age, it shows the changes of young adults in modern life, and it creates an image of Holden growing up.
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.
The Catcher in the Rye was about Holden, who admires in children attributes that he struggles to find in adults to talk to him and he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. Holden Caulfield,who is 16 year old teenager went to three schools, but fails four of his five subjects only passed English he also struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. In the novel, Holden tells the reader through a few days of his life, in which he flaunts his hostile environments. Throughout the book,
JD. Salinger’s 1951 book, The Catcher in the Rye, shows us how society treated their confused and changing teenagers during their transition into adulthood. The book’s main character Holden Caulfield is being pressured into growing up even though he doesn’t feel ready, to lead an adult life. He is still struggling socially and mourning for his deceased brother whose death turned Holden upside down and into a negative, hopeless person from a young age, which causes him to be distracted, indifferent and to flunk every school he goes to.
Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas,
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he
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.
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 is deathly afraid of conforming, growing up, and having to assimilate into the phony adult world. As a result he comes off as hypocritical as he is the most prominent phony in the novel. He constantly lies, refuses to connect with others and overlooks his own pain, letting it deeply impact his life. Holden is a compulsive liar; he does not have one honest conversation with anyone except his sister and Jane for the duration of the novel. When he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, for instance, he claims his name is Rudolf Schmidt and preaches about what an amazing guy her son is, even though he is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school.” (61) This shows that Holden falls victim to the same social conventions as everyone else. He says exactly what Mrs. Morrow wants to hear, despite the fact that he
For my book of choice, I decided to read the book The Catcher in the Rye, written by J. D. Salinger. This story was published on July 16, 1951, by “Little, Brown and Company”. The reason I chose this book was because of the controversy surrounding the book. Numerous shootings, assassination attempts, as well as the assassination of John Lennon have been tied to Salinger’s book. This book is intriguing but I felt that there was not much of a plot. The story focuses on Holden Caufield, an underachieving college student that has been kicked out of school for not applying himself. I found Holden to be very negative. He would often describe things with a negative attitude. He frequently uses the words “goddam” when describing something and he would often refer to the boys at his school as “phonies”. The story ends quite abruptly. Holden goes from one sequence of his life to another, then he tells the audience that everything past a certain point does not matter. He also states that he became sick, and is now in an institution.
The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has just flunked out of his third private boarding school. Unwilling to remain at school until the end of the term, Holden runs away to New York City. He does not contact his parents, who live there, but instead drifts around the city for two days. The bulk of the novel is an account, at once hilariously funny and tragically moving, of Holden's adventures in Manhattan. These include disillusioning encounters with two nuns, a suave ex-schoolmate, a prostitute named Sunny, and a sympathetic former teacher who may be homosexual. Finally, drawn by his affection for his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, Holden abandons his spree and returns home.