The Catcher In The Rye

825 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The symbolic meanings of A Catcher in the Rye

'If you really want to know the truth, I felt sorry for the bastard.';(54) This is just one of the colorful lines that is often repeated in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye. When the book was first released, it was considered highly controversial for its time. Many people tried to ban the reading of the book in schools. Although The Catcher In The Rye has very colorful dialogue, and deals with crude topics, it still sells over 200,000 copies annually. This is why.
Holden Caulfield is the main character in the story. The entire story is a reflection by Holden while he is staying in a mental hospital. His story begins at a private school, called Pencey. Holden has been recently kicked out of the school for lack of effort and for poor grades. Holden dislikes everybody at the school, mainly because they are ignorant and conceded. Christmas break is coming up and Holden has to wait until then to permanently leave the school. Then one night, Holden gets into a fight with his roommate. He gets so upset that he can't stand staying there anymore. In the middle of the night, Holden packs all of his belongings and heads for his hometown, New York.
The rest of the story takes place in the city, where the reader starts to see Holden's bad habits. Holden needs a place to stay because he can't go home, yet. The reason for this is because his parents have not yet found out about their son's expulsion. So Holden decides to stay in a low-class hotel. While in the hotel, Holden decides to go down to the bar. He meets three older women and 'chews the fat'; with them for a while. They soon leave and Holden is now very lonely. On his way back up to his room, Holden meets a pimp and then buys a prostitute. Once the prostitute is in his room, Holden gets an odd feeling. The more he looks at the prostitute, the more depressed he becomes. So he tells her to leave. Soon, there is a knock on his door. It is the pimp and the prostitute. She said that Holden did not pay her enough money. Holden refuses to pay the money that the prostitute says he owes her, so the pimp roughs up Holden. It is now evident that Holden is suffering extreme depression.

Show More
Related

  • Salinger's Catcher in the Rye

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Catcher and the Rye

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thesis statement:     The relationship Holden and Blanche have between family and people in society leads them to an inner turmoil, which eventually results in their psychological breakdowns.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Inevitable in The Catcher in the Rye

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden Caulfield has failed out of three other prep schools before his parents enroll him at Prencey. The first chapter takes place during the last days of Holden’s first term at Prencey. He has failed four of his five classes, and because of this, he has been asked to not return for the next term. The headmaster has already verbally informed Holden, and is writing a letter to his parents to inform them. Since there is nothing left for Holden at Prencey, he decides to leave the school before the official end of the term. He goes to New York to relax until his parents expect him home for the mid term break. Holden’s experiences during this long weekend lead him to some sort of mental hospitalization. At the end of the novel, Holden is in the hospital recovering and is somewhat optimistic about attending a new school.

    Read More

  • Sympathy Lacking in J.D Salinger´s A Catcher in the Rye

    1741 Words  | 4 Pages

    In summary, Holden Caulfield is a troubled adolescent whose personality, improper feelings and habit of running from his problems prevent him from receiving sympathy. Since his personality includes being lazy and insincere, it is difficult to feel sympathy for him when he fails to try or tells lies. His improper feelings depress him over nothing or leave him lonely and isolated. His habit of running away from his problems make it difficult for him to receive sympathy because he chooses not to face his problems. Holden is a character that causes his own sadness. His actions prevent sympathy from being felt for him because most circumstances are all avoidable. Sympathy will be felt for the distraught protagonist when he fixes his personality or makes better decisions. Until then, Holden Caulfield is a character that it will be difficult to feel sympathy for.

    Read More

  • Catcher in the Rye

    329 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Lousy In Catcher In The Rye

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    After spending some time at Mr. Spencer, his history teacher's house and getting lectured regarding his poor efforts in school, Holden fabricates a story to leave his teacher’s house without seeming rude. On his way to his dormitory at Pencey, Holden claims that he is an exceptional liar, and would lie even about the most insignificant facts, such as where he is going. He then goes into detail about whom his dormitory is named after, and how much of a phony the man is.

    Read More

  • The Catcher In The Rye

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, describes a period of time in a young

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    In JD Salingers' Catcher in the Rye, a troubled teenager named Holden Caufield struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. The book gets its title from Holden's constant concern with the loss of innocence. He did not want children to grow up because he felt that adults are corrupt. This is seen when Holden tries to erase naughty words from the walls of an elementary school where his younger sister Phoebe attended. "While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy.

    Read More

  • The Catcher In The Rye

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1950 J.D. Salenger captures one of society’s tragedies, the breakdown of a teenager, when he wrote The Catcher In The Rye. Holden Caulfield, a fickle “man” is not even a man at all. His unnecessary urge to lie to avoid confrontation defeats manhood. Holden has not matured and is unable to deal with the responsibility of living on his owe. He childishly uses a hunter’s hat to disguise him self from others. The truth of his life is sad and soon leads to his being institutionalized. He tries to escape the truth with his criticisms. Knowing he will never meet his parents’ expectations, his only true friend is his eight-year-old sister Phoebe, to whom Holden tells that he really wants to be ‘the catcher in the rye”. Holden admits his only truth and shows that Phoebe is his only friend. Another form of escape for Holden is his acting, which he uses to excuse the past. Holden has tried to lie, hide, and blame his way through life; when he finds that it is not the answer he collapses.

    Read More

  • The Catcher In The Rye

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a novel, the theme is the insight of real life. J.D. Salinger’s initiation novel, The Catcher In The Rye, describes the adventures of 16-year old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and first person narrator, who refuses to grow up and enter manhood. The most important theme developed by Salinger is Holden’s problem of dealing with change; he has trouble dealing with death, he refuses to accept children’s loss of innocence as a necessary step in the growing-up process, and has difficulties with growing up.

    Read More

  • Catcher in the Rye

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    He even condemns people he doesn’t know as phonies, such as the man that his

    Read More

  • The Catcher in the Rye: Stuck In Adolescence

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holden returns to school and goes to his bedroom in the dorm. In his room quietly reading, his neighbor Robert Ackley came in. Holden describes him as a pimply, insecure, annoying boy with a bad dental hygiene. When Holden’s roommate Stradlater who was “madly in love with himself” (27) arrived home after the football game, Ackley abruptly left. Stradlater tells him that he has a date with a friend of his, Jane Gallagher. Jane is someone that Holden really cares for and because he knows the way Stradlater is, Holden became worried for her. “It just drove me stark raving mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky’s car”. (48) Holden became depressed and lonely, so out of the blue Holden decides to pack his things and leave for New York a few days earlier. On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates. Not wanting to tell his whole life story, he told her his name was “Rudolf Schmidt”, the name of th...

    Read More

  • The Catcher In the Rye Should Not be Banned

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    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, people, and experiences. Holden's psychological battle within himself serves as the tool that uncovers the coming-of-age novel's underlying themes of teen angst, depression, and the disingenuous nature of society. The novel tackles issues of blatant profanity, teenage sex, and other erratic behavior.

    Read More

  • Holden's Cry for Help in The Catcher in the Rye

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    Holden is the main character of the book. He is a complicated boy how seems to get thrown out of boarding schools left and right. He is constantly thinking about depressive thoughts of his past, like times he was with his brother, who is dead. His thoughts of his brother bring serious rage for some reason. In one instance he tells about the day after his brothers death, and Holden was filled with such anger and loneliness, he punched through all the glass doors in his garage. This required him to go to the hospital, and unfortunately his stay at the hospital forced him to miss his brothers funeral. He also keeps thinking about his old girl friend Jane. Holden is reminded of past times with her, where her father upset her, and Holden was the only one there to console her. So with that in mind, he thinks he still may have a place with her, and Holden believes that all his happiness will rest with her. Holden is just a guy who is searching for something to get him out of his depression, but he has no idea what it is, and above all how to get it.

    Read More

  • Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about The Catcher In The Rye

Open Document