J.D. Salinger Essays

  • J.d. Salinger

    2961 Words  | 6 Pages

    Jerome David Salinger was to become one of America’s greatest contemporary authors. In 1938 Salinger briefly attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania where he wrote a column, "Skipped Diploma," which featured movie reviews for his college newspaper. Salinger made his writing debut when he published his first short story, "The Young Folks," in Whit Burnett’s Story magazine (French, xiii). He was paid only twenty-five dollars. In 1939, at the age of 20, Salinger had not acquired

  • J.D. Salinger

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many critics consider J.D. Salinger a very controversial writer, for the subject matters that he writes.. J.D. Salinger's works were generally written during two time periods. The first time period was during World War II, and the second time period was during the 1960's. Critics feel that the works during the 1960 time period were very inappropriate, because of the problems for which he wrote. The main characters were generally misfits of society. In most of his works, he has the protagonist of

  • Banning The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    1975 in almost every school district in the United States. The book was said to be so bad that in 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh-grade English class. Despite some opposition to the novel, however, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye should be on a reading list for the freshman students because it gives a crystal clear image on how the world is in violence, sex, and obscenity and the book also teaches the motifs of lying and deception. The world

  • A Perfect Day For Bananafish By J.D. Salinger

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Perfect Day For Bananafish By J.D. Salinger A Perfect Day For Bananafish was written in 1948 by the American writer Jerome David Salinger. This was just three years after the ending of World War II, where Salinger was stationed in Berlin, Germany. From further analysis of the short-story I have come to the conclusion that Seymour is Salinger’s role model. Seymour has just returned from World War II, as well as Salinger had when he wrote the story. Seymour returns to his native country very confused

  • Childhood and Adulthood in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Childhood and Adulthood in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield sees childhood as the ideal state of being. He thinks adulthood is filled with corrupt people. The only way anyone can win in the adult world is if the cards are stacked in his favor. The characters in The Catcher in the Rye play a diverse set of roles in the war between childhood and adulthood. Children do not think of appearances very highly, but in order to be respected in the adult world you must

  • J.D. Salinger is Holden Caulfield

    1681 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jerome David Salinger is an odd character with a colorful background. He was a young man unable to complete college and obtain a degree, yet he was made very popular due to his writing abilities. “Despite his slim body of work and reclusive lifestyle, ‘Salinger’ was one of the more influential twentieth century American writers.” states Biography.com, “His landmark novel, Catcher in the Rye, set a new course for literature in post World War II America.” The Catcher in the Rye told a story of Holden

  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    egregious trait. Everyone who overly desire or reliant on nostalgia can not be successful in life. The Catcher in the Rye begins with stating “the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born...but I don't feel like going into it...”(Salinger 6). This statement denies the inclusion of any nostalgic memories. The verbal irony lies in the fact that near the end of the book, the character Holden Caulfield, being the source of all nostalgia in the novel, is rejecting all chances that nostalgia

  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    wet cement. It is hard to overcome for a child because it is so foreign to them. Death leaves a scar on every person, but fo a child the wound is harder to mend because of their ignorance of death and innocence. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger due to Holden’s experience of the death of a close family member, he is left with unresolved feelings of depressions and loneliness, and an adoration of children. Holden Caulfield was so young when it happened. It, is referring to the day when

  • The Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye depicts a short span in the life of a sixteen-year-old boy who has a lot to say about others yet recognizes little about himself, in the beginning of the book. Holden Caulfield is not your typical bildungsroman protagonist. From open to close, the story only details a few days of life. This novel gives a new twist to the typical Bildungsroman story, as many might question if Holden

  • The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is one of the most controversial and timeless books written in our history. A “catcher in the rye” is someone that’s stands at the edge of a rye field and saves children from falling over a cliff. Holden Caulfield, a troubled young teenager and also the main character of the novel, pictures himself as being this “catcher in the rye” protecting all children from losing their innocence. Towards the end of Catcher in The Rye he realizes that this idea

  • Failed Support Systems in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    the Rye by J.D. Salinger Life is difficult especially for a teenager as they try to discover themselves. To make this journey of self-discovery alone is especially difficult. Support systems offer guidance and comfort along the way. The primary support system are parents. They begin the preparations for a child to take his place in society. Religion offers moral guidance. Friends offer positive self-esteem and encouragement. In the book, the Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger, the main

  • J.D. Salinger: His Own Character?

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    We might remember Jerome David Salinger as a man no one really knew. However, we may very well know more about him than we realize. To understand Salinger, we must not search, or invade the privacy he once so treasured, but take what’s right in front of us, and add it up. Looking back at Salinger’s past, we find many answers; but, what is the question? Well, there’s a question I’m here to answer, and that is: What in JD’s life led to how he wrote, what he wrote, and why he was oh-so-reclusive? Born

  • Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    innocence and naivety of childhood begins to fade into a hardness caused by the harsh realties of adulthood. Though the transition from childhood is hard, one most remember not to rush into adulthood savor your innocence . In Catcher In the Rye , by J.D. Salinger the main character Holden Caulfield is in the transitional stage, he finds it hard for him to grow-up and act like an adult. So instead of rushing in to adulthood, he finds slowing down the process and acting less adult like is better for him

  • A Perfect Day For Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll see if we can catch a bananafish" (Salinger 7). A bananafish is a fictional creature created in the mind of Seymour Glass, a character in J.D Salinger's "A Perfect Day For Bananafish." They are much like any other fish but they swim into holes where bananas grow, and eat so many bananas that they cannot escape. "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" was published in 1948 in the New York Magazine ("A Perfect Day For Bananafish"). The story is set on the sunny beaches of

  • Holden in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, a 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who lives in the 1940s, struggles to concur with the views of his society. After getting kicked out of boarding school once again, Holden runs away to New York. He decides to have an adventure of his own, instead of returning home. Holden's experiences in New York lead to further disruptions in his life, which eventually cause him to be put in rehab. Holden would struggle with the same issues if

  • The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    innocence when they witness or are part of a life-altering event. In the Catcher in The Rye by JD Salinger she shows how a person can lose their innocence at a young age using Holden as an example. She says how when Holden was 13 his brother died of leukemia. Holden talks about his brother, Allie like he was a saint. He said how “He was two years younger (he) was but about fifty times as intelligent” (Salinger, 38). Holden also had to go through another death of someone he knew. James Castle, a fellow

  • The Censoring of J.D. Salinger´s The Catcher in the Rye

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since its initial publication in the year of 1951, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, has been a target of controversy, debate, and discernment. This astounding novel is centered on a boy, Holden, who is writing his story within the confines of a psychiatric hospital. Through the recount, Holden encounters serious obstacles that are hard to deal with as a 17 year old. With prostitutes, teen sex, profanity, and other irrational behavior, one would understand the debated opinions of the novel

  • The Perfect and the Innocent: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perfection is a house on it’s own, but innocence is the landscape around it. The author of Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, tells an interesting story about a boy who has avoided his home after getting kicked out his fourth school. This boy, Holden Caulfield, loves perfection and innocence. Holden is a strange character, he makes a snowball, but can’t throw it, imagines the museum as a perfect place because things don’t change, daydreams about his childhood sweetheart constantly, and after seeing

  • Characters in A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Characters in A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger The characters in Salinger?s ?A Perfect Day for Bananafish? seem to exist in opposite worlds. On one hand, Salinger creates Muriel to represent materialism and superficiality and on the other hand, he creates Sybil to provide justification of the child-like innocence rarely found in society. Salinger?s main character, Seymour, is aware of the superficiality expressed in Muriel?s world and chooses not to be apart of it. Seymour wants

  • Childhood Immaculateness in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a novel about the period of growth from childhood to adulthood, portrays the disappearance of childhood immaculateness. The main character of the novel is Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old boy who suffers from PTSD because of the death of his younger brother, Allie. The story begins with Holden talking to, what is assumed to be, a therapist about crazy things that had happened in his life. The novel is a flashback in Holden’s perspective that takes