Holden Caulfield: Twentieth Century Teen Template The Catcher in the Rye is the story of a young boy, who is just trying to find himself as he enters adulthood. The story is told through the eyes of Holden Caulfield recounting his adventures after being expelled from yet another school. Majority of the story takes place over the course of a few days, involves a trip to New York, nuns, prostitutes, teachers, an old girlfriend and family. Known as “The ultimate novel for disaffected youth,” let’s take a look how Holden Caulfield, goes through his awkward adolescence years and see how it continues to relate to today’s youth. J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, right at the end of WWII. During the war, many teens were required …show more content…
He is forgetting how to love, and it’s happening largely because he is starting to see the world and himself for what it really is. Many teenagers fall into the same skeptical outlook on life just as Holden did for that very reason. As they grow to see the world and get direction, they have found it difficult to find a place to bestow their love. In the end Holden is real and that is truly why teenagers resonate with him. Salinger did a wonderful job on making him real. The youth of the 20th century clung onto Holden’s attitude towards life as they learned about the world themselves. His process of growth attracts teen readers as they go through the same emotions and thoughts as he …show more content…
It has had a gigantic impact on our teens, as well as the development of our pop culture. The book itself has been quoted in movies and television shows around the world. The movie Charlie Bartlett follows along with the story line quite closely. The movie involves many similarities such as Charlie coming from a wealthy family and getting kicked out of countless private schools. Charlie also has issues fitting in at his new schools and gets into meaning less fights. There actually have been many movies that have followed very closely to the same story line as The Catcher in the Rye, but they never seem to have the same impact as this well written novel. The American pop culture can’t get enough of Holden Caulfield and his outlandish attitude. American band Green Day actually wrote a song called Who Wrote Holden Caulfield it talks about the young man and uses several quotes directly from the book such as “Where do the ducks go in the winter?” and “put my hat on and get out of
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.
Salinger, J. D.. The Catcher in the Rye. [1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 19511945. Print.
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.
The Catcher in the Rye has been described, analyzed, rebuffed, and critiqued over the years. Each writer expresses a different point of view: It is a story reflecting teen-ager's talk--thoughts-emotions--actions; or angst. I believe it is an adult's reflection of his own unresolved grief and bereavements. That adult is the author, J.D. Salinger. He uses his main character, Holden, as the voice to vent the psychological misery he will not expose -or admit to.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a classical coming of age novel that deals with a youth’s mental adjustment to a modern world. Holden Caulfield, Salinger’s troubled protagonist, has a flawed view of the world where youth and integrity fights maturity and corruption. Salinger explores this dichotomy using a variety of motifs and symbols.
In 1951, Little, Brown and Company published a novel written by J.D Salinger named The Catcher in the Rye. In detail, the genre for this book would definitely be a young adult fiction. Certainly, the way the author told the story was from an adolescent perspective and the speech and vocabulary made it very easy to understand and relate to. Also, the fact that The Catcher in the Rye was told from a first person perspective made the story flow from beginning to end. In summary, the main character and storyteller in the book is Holden Caulfield, a troubled teen who is alienated from the world and can’t seem to find where he belongs. His struggles in life take him to many different places and get him involved with many unsavory people. Holden’s problems and mischief get him put in a rest home where he was sent for therapy. The story begins when Holden expresses his distaste for his past and refusing to go into detail about it. The only detail he gives is that his brother D. B. is a Hollywood writer and he feels a certain anger towards him for adapting to the Hollywood lifestyle. Finally, he starts his story where he is standing on top of Thomsen Hill watching his old school, Pencey Prep, play football against their rivals Saxon Hall. Holden’s story is very sad and I believe that J.D Salinger made the story like that so the reader would feel compassion for him instead of reigning judgment on his downfalls. Overall this book was very good and what made it so good was the fact that it related to me. Since I am the same age as Holden was in the story, I can relate to his challenges of life. With that being said, I believe that this book should be used as a warning to all young adults.
As World War II reaches its end, Americans began to seek for modifications. They see this as a time to success, and hoped to achieve the American Dream in which everything is perfect. An ideal 1950s family had considered, “dad brought home the paycheck, mom did the cooking and cleaning, and the kids were respectful and well-behaved. In reality, life in the 1950s wasn't quite as good as Father Knows Best would like us to believe...”(Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe Members). People was not able to receive a pleasant results even though expectations were set to guide them. Furthermore, during this time period, J.D. Salinger, a author, had published a very popular and influential novel titled, ‘ The Catcher in the Rye’. Through his novel, J.D. Salinger
In 2003, Thomas C. Foster wrote How to Read Literature Like a Professor as a guide for students to develop strong literary analytical skills and to become well read. He discusses topics such as literary and rhetorical devices and how to approach a piece of writing. Fifty two years prior to How to Read Lit.’s publication, J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, a fiction novel following the quests of Holden Caulfield, an adolescent trying to find his place in the world. Three of the most significant devices Foster discusses are flight, illness, and symbolism; all present in Salinger’s novel. With substantial evidence, strong analytical skills, and a critical reading of The Catcher, Foster’s claims regarding literary analysis can be proven
Holden Caufield is the child trying desperately not to grow up into a "phony". He feels alone because the only people he sees in the world are phonies and children. Struggling for an adult role for himself he invents the "Catcher in the Rye", always saving children from the consequences of their mistakes. It is ironic that Caufield's ambition is probably shared with some of the people that have tried to censor this book. Holden gives people with this ambition a very wise piece of advice:
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he expresses this attitude through his dialogue, tone, and diction.
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
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.
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a remarkable book that gives readers a unique and perhaps gloomy perspective of the 1950's through Holden Caulfield, a cynical and peculiar teenager. Through The Catcher in the Rye Salinger describes important aspects of the 1950's. Salinger emphasizes several key characteristics of the 50's and criticizes them through Holden. In addition, Holden Caulfield is a very interesting character with several traits that put him at odds with society.
“Catcher in the Rye”, written by J.D Salinger, is a coming-of-age novel. Narrated by the main character, Holden Caulfield, he recounts the days following his expulsion from his school. This novel feels like the unedited thoughts and feelings of a teenage boy, as Holden narrates as if he is talking directly to readers like me.
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.