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j.d salinger the catcher in the rye analysis
j.d salinger the catcher in the rye analysis
salinger, preface
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Salinger's Franny and Zoey
It is the consensus of most critics that Seymour Glass is the most important character and the leader of the Glass family. This is a point that is obvious from the stories that Salinger has written about the Glass family. Seymour is looked up to and revered by all the children in the family and is his mothers “favorite, most intricately calibrated, her kindest son”(Franny 89). When catastrophe strikes in Franny and Zooey, the only person Franny wants to talk to is Seymour. Why is Seymour the most important person in the Glass family?
Seymour is the eldest child. Therefore, all will come after him. In a sense, nothing new can be done after Seymour has done it. All that is left is to imitate and learn from the child genius. This is what all the Glass children seem to do. In Franny and Zooey, we learn that Seymour and Buddy educated all of the children. Together, the eldest boys of the Glass family taught their siblings literature, philosophy, and religion.
Seymour was also looked up to and relied upon by the children of his family. In Seymour: an Introduction, we learn that Seymour and Buddy were both active in taking care of their younger siblings but there was a slight difference in the reactions of the children to each of them. Buddy says:
When Seymour told one of the twins …to take off his or her rubbers on coming into
the apartment, each and all of them knew he mostly mean that the floor would get
tracked up if they didn’t and that Bessie would have to get out the mop. When I told
them to take off their rubbers, they knew I mostly meant that people who didn’t were
slobs. (193-194)
This is an important difference because it shows how bo...
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... learn from. He exists to teach us a lesson. This is why he is the family storyteller. He is our teacher, our example, and our leader. What is the lesson we are to learn from him? Maybe only Salinger knows that for certain but I believe Salinger would have us each search out our own “pieces of holy ground”. He would have us all find our one true thing we are to do, even if it is only to go to teach in a small classroom with less than average writers, as is Buddy’s holy ground, or to live alone and write for only yourself, as is Salinger’s holy ground. He would have us all admit to ourselves what it is we are supposed to do and go out and do it instead of forever complaining and searching for better. Through Buddy, Salinger is trying to give us his version of the meaning of life. The ultimate message: Find your holy ground, there lies happiness and truth.
Young adulthood is often a time for maturing spiritually. Franny Glass, the protagonist of J.D Salinger’s novel, Franny and Zooey, began to question her religious beliefs, during this time of spiritual growth. Franny’s quest for religion caused her to become pessimistic, bitter, and emotionally unstable.
Salinger went through many of the experiences Holden went though. Salinger much like Holden had a sister that he loved very much, in the novel Phoebe is the only person that Holden speaks highly of; both men also spent time in a mental institution; Holden is telling the story from inside a institution; they were both kicked out of prep school and most importantly they were both a recluse from society. This is why Salinger uses Holden as his persona all though out the book. The ‘catcher in they Rye’ is almost like an autobiography for Salinger. He is using Holden as his persona to let us, the reader, dive into his thought pattern and find out some of the thoughts that he kept locked up in there.
This book is a good book. "What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1
The Stanley family consisted of Jackie, the mother, Claude, the father, two daughters, Nicole and Omega, son Keith, and two twin boys, Claude and Claude (Frontline Video, 2013). With a large family such as the Stanley 's, financially supporting everyone in it is difficult with a stable economy, let alone during a period of struggling (Frontline Video, 2013). During this time, the middle class was in poverty, meaning people in poverty originally, are far financially worse (Frontline Video, 2013).
The main actor of the play was Miles D. Farmer who played Seymour. The actor did a good job of portraying a "nerd". The character Seymour is considered to be mothers by with a pocket protector and a squeaky high-pitched voice. The character was dressed in tight clothing and wore glasses that should have been taped together. Seymour works at a not to busy flower shop on Skid Row. The people with whom Seymour come into contact with take care of him and at the same time take advantage of him.
Instead, they waited for it to come to them. That was why they ended up with
John Steinbeck wrote the play Of Mice and Men in 1937 (Steinbeck). It is a play about two ranch workers who do not have the best of luck. The two workers were named George and Lennie. George was a more small bodied man. His partner Lennie was a giant among average sized people. They are on the road going place to place working numerous jobs. Lennie has a learning disability. The two work hand and hand. George is there to keep Lennie out of trouble. Lennie in a way helps keep George together. Sometimes it gets difficult for the two but they always get through everything together. They both work hand and hand. George is the brains and Lennie is the muscle. Lennie is a very powerful man so he can do a lot of things normal men cannot do. George is Lennie’s only family or friend he’s all Lennie has in this world. In a way Lennie is all George has also. The two keep one another going throughout their long journey. They work together escape trouble together and keep each other pushing forward. In the end the only thing they have is each other. This story shows that no matter how different two people are they still can relate to each other. It also shows that no matter how independent one thinks he/she is someone can always help them with something (Steinbeck).
Jerome David Salinger was an influential writer in the 1950’s. He reflected his own personal life in all his fictional stories and several of Salinger’s fictional characters appear to be alter egos at various stages of his life. The autobiographical fiction “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a reflection of Salinger’s own war experience and his marital infidelity. The story focuses on the main character Seymour Glass, who is a veteran of World War 2 and consequently a victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result of the traumatic event he had encountered, Seymour Glass grew feelings of detachment and estrangement from the society that surrounded him. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” J.D. Salinger ingeniously uses conflict, characterization, and motivation to reveal how victims who have suffered a traumatic event may be driven to a state of isolation.
Born New Year’s Day, 1919, to the Jewish Solomon Salinger, and his Christian mother, Marie-eventually changed to Miriam, to better fit in with her husband’s side of the family-Jillich. With that, it’s safe to say that even as early as his conception, Jerome already had an identity crisis high-tailing him. As Salinger grew, this mixed religious background caused him to question his own social identity, and to be keenly aware of social divisions and prejudices; considering this, a thought may cross that instantly reminds some of J.D.’s famous literary character, Holden Caulfield, whom readily called out many “phonies”, and claimed to know a lot about anyone he encountered. Not only this, but Mr. Salinger also spent a few of his school years as a prep school student; the same can be said for Holden Caulfield. Keeping that thought in mind, Salinger had a great deal of difficulty with getting along in both public, and prep schools, still reminding us of the critical part of The Catcher in the Rye’s plot: Holden getting expelled, and more-so, mentioning how consistently irritating his roommate, and dorm-neighbors were. Still in similarity to Holden, Mr. Salinger was born to an upper-class family in New York City, as well. Both Mr. Salinger ...
J.D. Salinger recently pasted away at the age of 91. With his passing, several people speculate he left behind a treasure of completed novels and short stories involving their beloved characters. A person with a gift of writing that Salinger processed would not give up writing even though he stop publishing his stories. Salinger used writing as a way of expressing his ideas and feelings. Also he took his life experiences and inserted them into his stories making them entertaining for the readers but at at the same time provided a glimpse into what he experienced. Possibly with the discovery of new stories , Salinger's fans can get a greater understanding of his life because as he stated in a interview, “It's all in the books, all you have to do is read them.”
...doesn’t like anything. This makes him an unlikely hero since most heroes are about pleasing people and of the people. This can also be used to show how he has changed a minuscule amount. In the beginning he didn’t like anything, but by the end of his journey he began to sort of miss people. This again shows how Salinger perceives heroism as small changes that occur over a journey.
The world today is very deceptive and phony. J.D. Salinger’s well known novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey attack this fake and superficial society which is evident through the lives, ideas, actions, and words expressed by the characters in these literary pieces. The transition from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood is inevitable. The protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through this stage and finds himself in a crisis. He alienates himself from everyone who is around him and tries his best not to grow up. Holden often dwells upon his childhood and the life he had with his family. Franny in Franny and Zooey has already passed this stage but finds it difficult to live in a world where everyone she is surrounded by is only concerned with outward appearances. In these worlds, both characters, Holden and Franny, reveal their struggle of growing up and trying to live as an adult in a world full of deception and shallow-minded people who only care about appearances.
His grandparents, Willie and Elizabeth Davis had twelve children. Willie worked hard as a coal miner and Elizabeth was a homemaker who cared for the children. They raised all of the children including Ernie equally and with the same amount of love. Ernie called his grandparents mom and dad because he was treated just like their other children. He learned to be generous and appreciative by living in a big family. His grandparents also taught Ernie to have a strong trusting, relationship with God (Gallagher, 20).
...Rye” is important in shaping the life of Holden Caulfield. Phoebe and Allie show how Holden is not ready to grow up; how he only sees innocence and happiness in childhood. Jane and Sunny show Holden’s desire for sex and love. Holden wants both but he wants them at the same time; he does not want to use Sunny but Jane and Holden don’t have a good relationship. Mr. Antolini and Holden’s parents show how Holden sees adulthood as a negative aspect in life. Every adult figure has betrayed him; to Holden being an adult is bad and destructive.
In many novels written by J.D. Salinger, there is a recurring theme of love that