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 this novel, Salinger denotes innocence by the way Holden views a variety of characters. First, Jane Gallagher, Holden’s childhood friend, displays innocence through her actions, and Holden’s opinions of them. She shows this trait by the unique way she played checkers with Holden. Holden describes this saying, “What she’d do, when she’d get a king, she wouldn’t move it,” (Salinger 31). This demonstrates her protectiveness and innocence, and additionally can be used to show her irreproachable lifestyle. Another thing that promotes Jane as an innocent character is the way Holden claims to know that she did not let Stradlater get sexual with her, while on their date. By assuming this, Holden shows that Jane is sexually innocent, and will always be seen by Holden as a permanent virgin. Another character that portrays innocence is a young boy Holden hears walking on the curb of the street singing, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye,” (115). This boy displays purity by naively walking next to the curb, while cars are rushing a couple feet away from him. This boy’s actions show being on the line of adolescents, the side walk, and adulthood, the street, while not falling into either side completely. Holden admires this boy’s morality because Holden is at the point in his life in which this is happening. Lastly, Holden’s younger sister, Phoebe, displays innocenc...
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...te to come to his room, which displays Maurice’s corrupt persona. Another instance of when Maurice is acting immoral is when he goes to Holden’s room and hustles him for money. (101) This is unjust, and Holden is shown to be immensely afraid. These three characters help Salinger promote the universal idea of corruption.
The numerous symbols and motifs used in this novel are used to explore many character’s adolescent and adult attributes. Holden wants to protect all pure characters in the novel, and tries to take this job upon himself. Through his challenges, and other individuals helping him overcome them, he learns that this is not possible. However, he learns from his experiences, and finally realizes that adulthood is inevitable, and he must deal with this.
Works Cited
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.
Salinger uses specific motifs and symbols to illustrate Holden’s naive and unrealistic view of the world. A great example of this is when he believes he can be the catcher in the rye. By doing so he imagines he is able to maintain all the innocence within society. Holden
“All of a sudden I started to cry. I’d give anything if I hadn’t, but I did” (p. 103). This occurs when Maurice argues with Holden about money that Holden owes to a prostitute. The situation becomes too much for Holden to handle, and he breaks down like a child. Holden also tries to have immature conversations with people who have become adults.
All of these things that Holden experiences are used by Salinger to show that in real life, while corruption may seem to be rare, it is actually commonplace and can hurt people. That is why if one experiences corruption in their life, such as underage drinking, people acting differently around someone than they normally act, or someone corrupting children, then they must attempt to stop the corrupt actions before they hurt someone. If society as a whole realizes the evils of corruption, and endeavors to prevent it, the world will become a better place.
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.
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.
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.
Through Salinger's use of symbolism, as a society, he depicts the importance of preserving innocence. We want to save innocence. In court people try to plead not guilty, meaning that they are innocent. Holden Caulfield tries to protect kids from becoming guilty. He wants to make people never become guilty. Holden's brother died when he was growing up and throughout his life he has always been getting kicked out of school. Later, he then goes to New York for a couple of days so that he doesn't have to go home early and explain to his parents that he got kicked out. He then goes to his sister Phoebe's school to give her a letter and finds something inappropriate written on the wall and scrubs it out. At the end of
Sunny embodies what Holden desperately wants and fears – physical affection. Prior to meeting Maurice, Holden is feeling “depressed and all” (Salinger 116) and “sort of lousy” (116). His negative feelings beforehand initiate him to make a decision he otherwise would not have made –agreeing to hire a prostitute - but acknowledges that “it was too late now” (119) to invalidate what, arguably, he commits to purely on impulse. He feels “a little nervous” (120) because sex is a novelty for him – he’s had “quite a few opportunities” (120) to engage in intercourse, yet hasn’t gotten around t...
Holden is a pessimistic, remote, and miserable character and he expresses this attitude through dialogue, tone, and diction. Throughout the book he has remained to be a liar, a failure, a loner, and lastly, a suicidal guy who feels like he has no purpose in life. Perhaps Salinger expressed his perceptions and emotions of his teen years in this book and it was a form of conveying his deep inner feelings of his childhood. Readers can see this clearly shown in The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.
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.
In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an example of a prosaic rich adolescent boy,with a pedestrian set of problems, but a psychoanalysis reveals that Holden has a plethora of atypical internal conflicts. Internal conflicts that other students at Pencey, such as Stradlater and Ackley, would not normally experience.
Holden attacks various weaknesses in the 50's society. He criticizes nearly everything that he observes, and refuses to pull punches. Often Holden uses his brilliant talent of observation to discover the true motives behind the people he calls "phony." Through his observations the reader can interpret Salinger's view of the 1950's culture. Holden's perceptions of paranoia, conformity, and the consumer culture convey Salinger's views.
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.