The Catcher in The Rye is a captivating novel by the author, J.D Salinger. It can be viewed from many perspectives. I have had many thoughts and feelings towards The Catcher in The Rye and the characters in it, by reading the book so far. In my opinion, The Catcher in The Rye is a very confusing book. Although it is very baffling throughout the chapters, the plot has intrigued me into reading more of it with the unpredictable plot twists. New characters have also been introduced that keep affecting Holden’s life greatly. Holden has so many problems, that it is hard not to feel sorry for him. His biggest problem is being kicked from Pencey Prep, which is the fourth high school he has been kicked out of. He hasn’t told his parents about this yet, but I think because of this, a greater problem may arise. At the start of the new chapters that I …show more content…
He connects the words together which makes it hard for the readers to decipher. Even from this mumbled talking, there is still a main theme that is emerging slowly into focus as I progress into the book. This theme is about “The painfulness of growing up.” The whole book is based on Holden becoming more mature as he goes through all these struggles, but still finds a way to get through it all.
After continuing to read the chapters, I have realized that this story is becoming more interesting because the author is adding in plot twists, and these plot twists just make Holden’s life more complicated and make him more depressed. I am assuming that Holden might even get sick because of all the sorrowness he is feeling. New characters will also be revealed that will either help Holden get out of the dark pit he is in, or push him further down it. I will continue to read the chapters as I am sure they will keep me engrossed and absorbed to know about the life of Holden
The book in it’s entirety deals with multiple subjects ranging from depression to dealing with being an adult but an important subject that goes unnoticed is the subject of grief. Holden throughout the book deals with multiple stages of grief. The stages of grief he deals with are anger, denial, and finally acceptance bringing the book to a
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a popular novel that was originally published in the 1950’s. In the book, Salinger explores various themes through the main character Holden and his interactions with others. Some of these themes include, alienation, loss and betrayal. Holden constantly feels betrayed throughout the novel by several people, including his roommate, teacher, and sister.
3) This quote reflects the overall theme because it is one of many quotes in the book that show Holden's fear of growing up. For example, he always describes adults as "phony" and children as innocent.
The climax is reached in the second last chapter of the novel. Holden reaches his lowest state of depression when he spends the night at Grand Central Station. The following statement is a clear indication of this, “and I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (pg209) - proves his demise into total depression. I strongly believe that at this stage, Holden has reached breaking point.
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most famous books in American literature. Written by J. D. Salinger, it captures the epitome of adolescence through Salinger’s infamous anti-hero, Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield learns about himself and his negative tendencies, and realizes that if he does not do something to change his perspective, he may end up like his acquaintance James Castle whom he met at Elkton Hills. Holden tries to find help to mend his outlook on life through Mr. Antolini so he does not end up like James, who did not want to face the problems he created for himself. This is proven by the similarities between James Castle and Holden, Mr. Antolini’s willingness to try and help Holden, and Holden’s future being forecasted by James.
Published in 1951, J. D. Salinger's debut novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was one of the most controversial novels of its time. The book received many criticisms, good and bad. While Smith felt the book should be "read more than once" (13), Goodman said the "book is disappointing" (21). All eight of the critics had both good and bad impressions of the work. Overall, the book did not reflect Salinger's ability due to the excessive vulgarity used and the monotony that Holden imposed upon the reader.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl.
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger that is told from the point of view of Holden Caulfield. Holden is a young man struggling with growing up and facing the adult world. As a misunderstood teenager, Holden learns to deal with the deception of the adult world and the consequences of his choices.
From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word “phony” to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who are“phony”, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden’s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character’s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character.
Ultimately, Holden Caulfield is a dynamic character due to the fact that he goes from being very anxious about growing up, but learns that in the end, one has to go through that point in life at some time. Throughout the novel, the audience feels sympathy towards Holden because of the hardships he had to go through such as the death of the one person he looked up to. This single death triggered the fear Holden had for a very long time which made his label everyone as phony and isolate himself from the world around him. Although Holden was scared to grow up, he had already matured because of the adversity he confronted. Thus, not everyone
The novel is essentially a really long flashback of the three days Holden spent in New York. Nothing memorable happens in the novel; I think that the novel is basically an endless repetition of Holden complaining and whining about everyone else. I personally could not bring myself to sympathize with Holden, much less empathize with him. I feel like the novel is just a long rant by an immature teenage boy who thinks he knows everything about humanity and their ‘phoniness’. At first, I found the novel’s style of writing quite unique and even enjoyable, as Holden seems to be talking honestly and openly to me.
At the beginning of the novel, Holden experiences the death of his brother Allie which makes him think initially that just like Allie could never grow up and experience adulthood, so to he also should not mature; this is the first step for Holden to create his view on adulthood. He then meets Jane who becomes an image of childhood for him, but that gets destroyed when he sees her going on a date with his roommate; when this happens, it makes Holden worry that maybe one day he too will have to move into adulthood. Finally, Holden learns through his sister, Phoebe, that advancing into adulthood is not a scary and that everyone needs to do so in order to live their lives in society and become accepted. In summary, throughout Holden's life he encounters three different minor characters who ultimately change his perspective on adulthood and make him realize that maturing is not only a good thing for him to do but a necessity for Holden if he wants to live up to his full
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
I agree with your theme that a child has to be protected. Since this book was written in the mid 20th century, I think that this message could be fully supported by this book because back then the expectation were low compared to today. With your theme, however, I would suggest using one of Phoebe's quote. She said, "I just lit one for one second. I just took one puff. Then I threw it out the window"(Salinger 195). This quote explains how things were not taken so seriously in children. And of course, Holden had deal with many things that he shouldn't, such as smoking, getting drunk, and
The Catcher in the Rye holds the number one spot on my "all time favorite novels". I first encountered this novel my sophomore year of high school. I was first warned of the language and adult content in the novel and then told about the author's life as a recluse. The mysterious nature of this novel instantly grabbed my attention. After reading the first page I was hooked; finally, a story about a kid who not only thought like I did, but also talked like a real person. I soon found out that I could quite easily see the personality traits of the characters in the novel and compare them with students in my own class, and I could see myself as Holden. My second year of high school was very difficult for me. Problems at home, and the discovery of my personality along with the stresses of schoolwork eventually depressed me and my grades suffered because of it. Just like Holden, I could no longer tolerate anyone around me and became very condescending and cynical. His solution to just run away from it all did not seem far off as a solution to my own problems. However, I read on. When Holden left for New York, he began to realize that the people he encountered were not much different from his former classmates. He began to isolate himself from everyone around him and eventually ended up in a mental institution. Running away from the problem did not work; I began to understand that I would have to learn to accept the differences between people before I could live life happily.