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Essay on the theme of the catcher in the rye
Analysis of holden the catcher in the rye
J.D. Salinger the catcher in the rye analysis
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Recommended: Essay on the theme of the catcher in the rye
The 1951 novel, The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, is a classic that should be read throughout the decades. Salinger accurately portrays the struggles of being a teenager and finding yourself. The author did base many of the situations presented in the book on moments of his own life: the moving from school to school, knowing an older Columbian student, and many other ones. Salinger did an impressive job in captivating his readers from page one to the end, and it probably has to do with the unusual protagonist, Holden Caulfield. The story of Holden Caulfield begins on a Saturday in December, and Caulfield has just failed out of Pencey Prep. The story is told from the perspective of Holden in the 1950's and the reader finds out pretty quickly that he is very pessimistic. The story progresses and he introduces many key characters such as Ackley the nuisance, Stradlater the “sexy bastard” of a roommate, Mr. Spencer the phony teacher, and Jane Gallagher the childhood friend. After a fight with Stradlater, Holden decides to stall going home to his soon-to-be furious mother, and heads to New York with some money he was given from his forgetful grandmother. On the train to the city, he meets a mother of a fellow student and is ashamed of his phoniness when he tells her what a great son she has, even though he is lying through his teeth. In New York, he is able to acquire a swanky hotel with a terrible view, and he meets many strange characters, as well as sees a few of them from his hotel window. Holden ventures to the Lavender Room, a club inside the hotel, to either get lucky or drunk, but gets neither one. He dances with three phony girls and then leaves, reminiscing about Jane Gallagher and their wonderful childhood together. H...
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...status”. J.D. Salinger created a book that will continue to stun the readers of many generations to come, and maybe eventually it will be removed from the banned books list. This is definitely a story that should be handed down, and although it is hard to decipher why this was the motive to shoot the famous Beatles singer, John Lennon, parents shouldn't be afraid when their child picks up this book at the library. Holden Caulfield, the unusual protagonist, is able to teach the people who read his story that being lonely is almost always self-inflicted; there is always someone around the corner waiting to enter your life, you just need to look up.
Works Cited
Salinger, J.D.. The Catcher In The Rye. 1951. Reprint. : , 1974. Print
"The Catcher In The Rye: Plot Overview." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 6 May 2014. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/summary.html.
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
Due to J.D Salinger’s personal and relatable narrative treatment, Catcher in the Rye continues to engage audiences, even 64 years after it was first published. The way the book deals with alienation and disillusionment in regards to Holden’s past trauma - through the closeness of first person narration and conversational writing among other techniques - creates a personal connection to Holden’s character and helps adolescents relate his troubles to their own.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
Note: the main objective of the movie is to present The Catcher in the Rye in visual format. This means to follow as closely as possible to the original plot, dialogue, settings, etc. as written in the book unless truly impo...
One way for readers to measure their level of comprehension in this story, is to explore the meaning of the title, it's effect on the book's theme and how it provides a deep look into Holden's character. Being an attention demanding tool, the title also can provide a mystery to which the reader can understand by pulling together the clues, hidden in the text. To an experienced reader, who may be familiar with the book, imagery of a catcher in the rye is apparent throughout the story. However, for a new reader the journey begins past the middle of the book.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a coming-of-age novel set in New York during the 1940’s. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story, is a detached seventeen-year old boy harboring feelings of isolation and disillusionment. He emphasizes a general dislike for society, referring to people as “phonies.” His lack of will to socialize prompts him to find nearly everything depressing. He’s alone most of the time and it’s apparent that he is very reclusive. This often leads him to pondering about his own death and other personal issues that plague him without immediate resolution. Holden possesses a strong deficit of affection – platonic and sexual – that hinders and cripples his views toward people, his attitude, and his ability to progressively solve his problems without inflicting pain on himself. The absence of significant figures in his life revert him to a childlike dependency and initiate his morbid fascination with sexuality. In this novel, Salinger uses Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce to incorporate the hardships of discovering sexual identity and how these events affect adolescents as they try to understand their own sexuality.
The book The Catcher in the Rye is centered on Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old narrator and central character of the novel. He addresses the reader directly from a mental hospital or sanitarium in southern California. Holden begins at Pencey Prep, a private school in Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with school rival, Saxon Hall. Holden finds himself in many unusual situations. He keeps running away from home and not even thinking of turning back. He went to New York one time to experience life there. Holden’s conflicts are like what Salinger had growing
In J.D. Salinger's brilliant coming-of-age novel, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old prep school adolescent relates his lonely, life-changing twenty-four hour stay in New York City as he experiences the phoniness of the adult world while attempting to deal with the death of his younger brother, an overwhelming compulsion to lie and troubling sexual experiences.
Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist of Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggles with having to enter the adult world. Holden leaves school early and stays in New York by himself until he is ready to return home. Holden wants to be individual, yet he also wants to fit in and not grow up. The author uses symbolism to represent Holden’s internal struggle.
The common adolescence struggle of self-identification is found in both J.D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield’s lives. Salinger was born in New York into a well-to-do family (Klingenberger 18). Growing up, he had a hard time in school and “found school uninspiring and struggled with grades. he attended a number of private prep schools before his father sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy just outside Philadelphia” (Klingenberger 18). His lackadaisical attitude towards life and academics heavily influenced his creation of characters with similar qualities. Salinger’s most famous character, Holden, struggles with the same challenges. Holden and Salinger both feel the need to give up because they are afraid of failure. “Do you ever get fed up… I mean, did you ever get scared that everything was going to be lousy unless you did something?” (Salinger 130). His motivation to amount to something bigger than himself is miniscule, which proves to be a problem for him as the book progresses. Salinger’s ability to take his experiences with teenage depression and relate it back to his novel The Catcher in the Rye is his own form of therapy, especially with his struggles overcoming P...
Jerome David Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is based on the life events shaping main character, Holden Caulfield, into the troubled teen that is telling the story in 1950. The theme of the story is one of emotional disconnection felt by the alienated teenagers of this time period. The quote, “ I didn’t know anyone there that was splendid and clear thinking and all” (Salinger 4) sets the tone that Holden cannot find a connection with anyone around him and that he is on a lonely endeavor in pursuit of identity, acceptance and legitimacy. The trials and failures that Holden faces on his journey to find himself in total shed light on Holden’s archenemy, himself.
Catcher in the Rye is a complicated book about a young man going through, what appears to be a nervous break down. This is a book about the boy’s negative self-talk, horrible outlook on life, and a life itself that seems to keep swirling down the toilet. He keeps trying to fill his life with something, but the reality of it is he doesn’t exactly now what he needs. It’s complicated to understand at parts, because all he does is think of things in the worst possible conditions.
Everyone struggles with change and loneliness in one shape or form every day. While some of us only know how we handle these problems, it would help us more if we knew how others handled them. In Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a now ex-Pencey Prep student grapples with all of his many fears and problems. All while traveling around New York so not to go home and face his angry parents. Holden, who experienced the death of a close family member at a young age had problems with school; and was expelled from many. Now, as Holden is traveling through New York he is recalling past memories and struggling to find his way. Making some possible bad choices along the way, though in the end Holden realizes what he needs to do. Throughout the book many themes are present, through how Holden reacts. The themes of fear of change and loneliness are ever present in Catcher in the Rye, they both stop one from moving forward and they co-exist together.
In J.D. Salinger’s controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in no hurry to face his parents. Holden travels to New York for several days to cope with his disappointments. As James Lundquist explains, “Holden is so full of despair and loneliness that he is literally nauseated most of the time.” In this novel, Holden, a lonely and confused teenager, attempts to find love and direction in his life. Holden’s story is realistic because many adolescent’s face similar challenges.
Assorted Professors. "Jane Gallagher Character Analysis." The Catcher in the Rye: Shmoop Literature Guide. N.p.: Shmoop University, 2010. 93-94. Print.