The Catcher in the Rye Essay

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.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

What was wrong with Holden was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood. The book is full of the voices and the delightful antics of children. Especially he adored his stalwart and understanding little sister, who in the end undoubtedly saved him from suicide. And there were the memories of his dead brother, whom he had loved, and a teacher in the first school from which he was dismissed. He had no other friends, dead or alive. He accepted his parents, whose union had been happy, as one of the stable factors in a devastating world. When he ran away from school he knew that he had three days before they would hear of his dismissal from the headmaster. His desire to escape from the ordeal of their disappointment in him and to hide in New York, to go underground, is understandable. Not every boy would have done it, but the reader is convinced that Holden would and that his behavior throughout the book is

When Holden goes to visit Phoebe’s school, he finds profanity that had been written on the stalls of the bathroom, and says that it “drove me damn near crazy. I thought of how Phoebe and all of the other kids would see it” and that if he found the person who had written it, he would “smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and godd**m dead and bloody” (Salinger 201). Holden is disgusted with the behavior of the mystery vandal, and he is afraid that this act will cause the children to lose their innocence and fall off the cliff and become phonies when they grow up unless he can ‘catch them from falling’ by attempting to smudge the writing off the wall so they won’t have to be exposed to things before they are old enough. He then goes to visit the museum that he went to frequently as a child, he remarks that “the best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was… The only thing that would be different would be you” (Salinger 121).

The character of Holden Caulfield has been built by Salinger to represent the stereotypical juvenile delinquent. He wears his hat backwards (p.15), swears using words like “goddamn” (p.18) and “crumby” and uses a lot of slang such as “chew the rag” (p.23) meaning to chat and “bucks” (p31) meaning dollars. Holden also involves himself in fights (p.36-39), smokes and flunks out of school these are all actions of rebellion against the expectations of adults. These behaviors highlight Holden’s attitude towards himself and others, and how others may perceive him as a person. Of course, we only appreciate this

In the novel, Holden focuses on how others feel, but he never self- reflects, or even acknowledges his emotions. For example, in the first sentence of the book, Holden says “... and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” (page 3) Holden says this in regards to talking about his personal life. Just by reading the first sentence of the book, we can already learn that Holden has a pretty poor attitude towards life in general. Moreover, when Holden was talking to his teacher, Mr. Spencer, about him getting kicked out of Pencey Prep, Holden continued to neglect his emotions. Mr. Spencer was telling Holden about how Holden’s parents will be irritated

Within these three days that the book takes place, many things happen to Holden. For starters, he is already getting kicked out of his current school. Holden seems to hate this school. He hates the people, the classes, and he hates how everybody is so phony. Holden continues to tell us that all adults are phony through this book. He can’t stand that all the adults are trying to imitate someone they aren’t and they continue to do awful

The Catcher in the Rye is a book that’s written by J.D. Salinger and narrated by a sixteen years old teenager named Holden Caulfield. At the beginning, Holden has just been kicked out of Pencey Prep because he’s failing his classes, and it’s not the first time or first school. He went to say goodbye to his teacher, Mr. Spencer. Then, he tells us about his brother Allie and how he died, and this is the reason behind Holden’s problems. Holden’s roommate is dating a girl Holden knows, Jane Gallagher. After, Holden and his roommate got into a fight. A three days before returning home for Christmas break, Holden decides to go to NYC. In NYC, Holden gets to explore more people that he calls them phonies. Also, he gets to go on a date with his old

Holden realizes that the luxury of having no responsibility isn’t real. Holden’s sanctuary of comfort is like the “Fuck You” on the school wall. “That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose.”

As Holden wanders around the city, he’s hoping to find someone who will be willing to listen to his story but since no one is, he views everyone as phonies. Everyone disappoints Holden; from his favourite teacher to his friends and family who just don’t get him. What makes this book so captivating is not the history or hidden intentions but the fact that it taps into our psyche that we all can relate from time to time; those moments when we see the world and think that everything around us is

Holden appeared to be really directionless. He didn't even have ‘the faintest damn idea’ where he could go. Holden didn't want to go home because he was flunked by the school. Besides, he was contemptuous of the part of ‘phony’ society his family belonged to. At the same time, he couldn’t fit in the lower class society because of his background and unfamiliarity with their cultural norms. He was an

Holden is a fictional character from .J.D. Salinger’s, “Catcher in the Rye”. Holden Caulfield, the 16-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel, speaks to the reader directly from a mental hospital. Holden’s location is unknown to the reader until the end of the book. Throughout the book, his narrations tell a lot about him, including his blatant disregard for his future, flunking out of almost all his classes and putting in no effort at school. Often referring to himself as sad and lonesome, he is found spiraling downwards after he is expelled from Pencey, a well-known boys school. One of his downfalls is his failure to connect with people, often calling then “phonies”. Holden is terribly judgmental, calling almost all of

Holden is just a young man, but he is going through a very cruel and unforgiving world that will change him forever. He overcomes many obstacles and barley gets out of it with his sanity still in tact. Holden is a different kind of person and he is just not wired like everybody else. He is represented as an outsider that is clearly different. Holden can change in his views quickly and they can stay that way for quite a long time. Holden in the beginning is very very innocent, and doesn’t exactly know how bad of a place the world is and know how bad people can become. Holden is also very immature and doesn’t understand what he is doing wrong in being immature. Holden has many emotions and views that he does not exactly know how to deal with, or when to deal with. He has certain views that are very hypocritical and immature. He thinks that he wants to do something, that in the end he would only regret, and he never does do these things, but the fact that he thinks about it clearly shows off his immaturity. Holden fails to grow up, and that hurts him throughout the novel multiple times causing, ultimately his path to be very different than he expected. In J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, is fails to evolve maturely throughout the whole novel, regarding women, thinking out his actions, and killing.

“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.

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.