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The story it tells is episodic, inconclusive and largely made up of trivial events. The language used is, by normal literary standards, very impoverished (5) How far do you agree with this statement? This statement suggests that “The Catcher in the Rye” is episodic in structure and the plot is inconclusive and made up of trivial events. The language is also described as impoverished. I think that this statement is extremely unfair; although the points may have some truth they make the novel realistic and easily related to. The book is about the protagonist Holden Caulfield narrating in the first person, describing what he himself sees and experiences and providing his own commentary on events and people. The novel is quite clearly episodic in structure; it is split up into chapters which could be seen as small episodes in the life of the teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield is recalling events from the past, in each chapter something new happens in his life. This is a very simple but effective structure of a novel; Salinger uses Holden to tell the story for himself in a colloquial and direct way to the reader. In the statement the episodic structure is seen as a bad point about the novel but it could also be seen to give the novel its deeper meaning. This deeper meaning is that it makes the novel realistic, this is because life is episodic being split up into hours or days, in each hour or day something new and different happens much like in every chapter in the novel. So the novel becomes a lot easier to follow and relate to. “First person narrative that centres around a single individual whose loosely strung escapades are connected by the fact that they are events in the life of the protagonist and develops the same theme of loneliness and isolation.”(1) The people that Holden meets try to help him overcome these feeling but he always rejects their help leading to his breakdown. Hence, the meaning is that Holden could prevent his breakdown but decides to be alone most of the time, rejecting help from others. The novel is also seen as “A coming of age story about a teenage boy who just isn't quite sure where he belongs or how to please the people around him while rebelling against that very notion.”(2) Holden’s coming of age begins when he leaves his school Pency Prep and goes to New York on his own. The story finally comes to a conclusion in Central Park in New York. This is another splitting up of the book into large episodes. As Holden goes from one place to
within the fact that this book has no immediate plot. It is more of a
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
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.
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.
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
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.
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.
so is a complicated issue, but what is rather clear is that the setting of the novel is ideal for such a
The book, Catcher in the Rye, has been steeped in controversy since it was banned in America after its first publication. John Lennon’s assassin Mark Chapman, asked the former Beatle to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning of the day he murdered Lennon. Police found the book in his possession upon apprehending the psychologically disturbed Chapman. However, the book itself contains nothing that might have lead Chapman to act as he did. It could have been just any book that he was reading the day he decided to kill John Lennon and as a result, it was the Catcher in the Rye, a book describing a nervous breakdown, that caused the media to speculate widely about the possible connection. This gave the book even more recognition. The character Holden Caulfield ponders the thoughts of death, accuses ordinary people of being phonies, and expresses his love for his sister through out the novel. So what is the book Catcher in the Rye really about?
The novel ,all in all, is like a sort of guide for teenagers lost in their own
...tionship has completely evolved and the narrator somewhat comes into her own a natural and inevitable process.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
...related to every generation with its life lessons. The novel can also be understood and therefore enjoyed by people of any age. The novel will stand the test of time and will become a classic.
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.