Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger, is the story of Holden Caulfield, a cynical sixteen-year-old with prematurely gray hair that appears older than his age. Holden is caught at the awkward age between adolescence and adulthood. Set in the 1950s, the story begins with Holden recovering from a breakdown stemming from his expulsion from Pencey Prep School. Holden has already flunked out of three other schools. This man/child is torn between his desire to take on the trappings of adulthood and his desire to preserves the innocence of childhood. The title is a reference to the way Holden sees the world and his desire to preserve its purity.
The scene in which the author reveals the source of the book's title takes place in Chapter 22. Holden has left school and snuck back into his parents Manhattan apartment. He is speaking with his ten-year-old sister Phoebe in his…...

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Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye was first published in 1951. The novel deals with the issues of identity, belonging, connection and alienation. This paper will review five articles written on the novel.

"Holden's Irony in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye"

This article by Lisa Privitera was published in Explicator in 2008. The article postulates that the irony of Holden Cauldfield is that the harder he tries to keep his family and friends at arm's length, the closer he comes to making unexpected discoveries about them and even himself.

This article points out that Holden has a sensitivity that keeps him from finding his place in the world. This makes the character readily identifiable to many teenagers. The character's perspective on life keeps him from readily making friends. He also wants nothing to do with the "phonies" who inhabit the adult world. And though Holden claims he…...

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Works Cited

Privitera, Lisa. "Holden's Irony in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye." Explictor, Vol. 66, Issue 4. (Summer 2008): 203-206. Web. 26 May 2012.

Shaw, Peter. "Love and Death in Catcher in the Rye." Cambridge University Press, (1991): 97-114. Web. 26 May 2012.

Svogun, M. duMais. "Repetition, Reversal and the Nature of the Self in Two Episodes of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye." English Studies, Vol. 90, Issue 6. (December 2009): 695-706. Web. 26 May 2012.

Takeuchi, Yasuhiro. "The Burning Carousal and the Carnivalsque: Subversion and Transcendence at the Close of The Catcher in the Rye." Studies in the Novel, Vol. 34, Issue 3. (Fall 2002):320-336. Web. 26 May 2012.

J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. The writer discusses the isolation that is experienced by the protagonist Holden and how that isolation is illustrated in the book.
In today's world teenagers are said to have a harder time than those of yesteryear. Many experts disagree with this statement and point to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye to illustrate that teens have historically had a hard time finding their way before bursting onto adulthood ready to live (lkind pg 24). When teens become lost and isolated, both in fictional works, such as Catcher in the Rye and in real life it is often because they have not had limits or boundaries according to the experts. "Without such limits, values, and leadership, young people drifted into states that bordered on mental illness. Holden Caulfield, the hero of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, is an example of such a rudder-less…...

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Elkind, David, The family in the postmodern world.. Vol. 75, National Forum, 06-01-1995, pp 24.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye

Back Bay Books (January 2001)

Introduction
One of the great American novels, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is a spot-on depiction of disaffected, disillusioned youth attempting to come to grips with the sad reality that growing up means selling out.  Holden doesn’t want to sell out; on the contrary, he wants to be the “catcher in the rye”—the one who allows children to live forever in their innocence and maintain their state of grace in a world determined to destroy it.  In this article, we’ll discuss a dozen topics that relate to the novel, give a brief summary and analysis, describe the characters, and identify a few quotes and themes that will help you in your writing.



Topics

Realism

Holden is the anti-Romantic hero.  His blunt honesty could easily be confused with cynicism, but the fact is that Holden just wants to be honest—which is ironic considering how often he tells lies to others in order to…...

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Resources

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

With such a vivid description of this densely populated, and optimistic city on the east coast during a time of growth and construction itself after the Great Depression of the 1930's, this element leaves a reader to focus in on the lead character here. Plus, elements such as his age and his "red hunting hat" demonstrate that he will direly hold on to that sense of self. However, his demand to defend and preserve that sense of self is hat excludes him from the world, prevents him from interacting, and therefore makes him feel both left out and victimized.
eaders can see that Holden Caulfield's alienation is the cause of most of his pain. He is his own restraint and self-absorbed sense is what blinds him. At times, he has an inflated sense of superiority, but more often than not he feels unwanted and unwelcome.

On the other hand, the title…...

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References

Ulin, David L. "J.D. Salinger: a gift of words and silence." Los Angeles Times, Jan. 29, 2010.

Gopnik, Adam. The New Yorker, February 8, 2010, p. 21

Graham, Sarah (2007). J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye. Routledge.

Hader, Suzanne.

Antolini when he takes refuge on the man's sofa. He is rude to the girls to whom he is attracted, showing a discomfort and immaturity regarding his sexuality. The only person to whom Holden can relate is little sister Phoebe.
When imagining a future for himself, Holden can only envision becoming a 'catcher in the rye.' This imaginary occupation is someone who prevents children playing in rye fields from falling off a nearby cliff. The cliff symbolizes a 'fall' from innocence into the worldly corruption of adulthood. Holden does not want to grow up: he only feels happy when not moving forward, as symbolized by his enjoyment of watching Phoebe going in circles on a carousel in the park. He does not want to conform but he cannot imagine a way of growing up in a non-conformist, non-'phony' way.

Holden is alienated from society, but because he is still young, he…...

Because Salinger allows him to stay in that world, we can cling to Holden as a pleasant memory.
The Catcher in the Rye is told from Holden's perspective and this aspect of the novel allows it to remain innocent and suspended in time, so to speak. Holden is like Peter Pan in that he does not wantr to grow up but he is facing the glorious future that includes his grownup self. Readers can read this novel and remember feeling this way themselves, reviving their bond with Holden. In reality, we must all grow up and shed some part of the innocent of youth. Holden remains young and forever clinging to that which must eventually fade away. He represents a certain sadness associated with growing up because the truth he must face is not easy. However, there is not much to be done for the innocence that dies with youth.…...

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Works Cited

Baro, Gene. "J. D. Salinger." Modern American Literature. Dorothy Curley, ed. New York:

Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. 1969..

Baumbach, Jonathon, "J. D. Salinger." Modern American Literature. Dorothy Curley, ed. New

York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. 1969.

An author is controlled by language just as much as he or she controls language when writing. The meanings imbued in a text do not belong to the author; they are universal human meanings. Authors are therefore not as omniscient as readers often imagine them to be. Coincidental with the "death of the author," then is the "birth of the reader." Readers are empowered by critical understandings of text that acknowledge an author's fallibility and bias. Authors are assumed to have authority.
Foucault suggested that the author as a powerful figure is a historical construction. The role and the idea of the author varies from situation to situation but also varies across different cultures and across time. Foucault also pointed out that ancient manuscripts were often circulated without authorial attributions. The author as a powerful entity matters most in societies in which the law protects intellectual property. In other words,…...

'How else can men be when they live for their brothers?'" (Rand 151) Not only is there no separation between self and others but also living for others without thinking for one's self or tolerating disagreement, living in a kind of frozen state of agreement, is considered normal. Instead, Equality 7-2521 finally "discovers my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom. I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for anyone." (Rand 237)
Equality 7-2521 must break every rule and constraint of his society to realize his basic humanity. To lose one's individuality is not a stage of development in Rand's future, it is the norm -- but a perverted norm that Equality 7-2521 must defy. hat strikes Holden as perverse, however, often has more to do with Holden's anger at…...

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Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Bantam, 1951.

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. New York: Signet

Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger, is the story of Holden Caulfield, a cynical sixteen-year-old with prematurely gray hair that appears older than his age. Holden is caught at the awkward age between adolescence and adulthood. Set in the 1940s, the story begins with Holden recovering from a breakdown stemming from his expulsion from Pencey Prep School. Holden has already flunked out of three other schools. This man/child is torn between his desire to take on the trappings of adulthood and his desire to preserve the innocence of childhood. The title is a reference to the way Holden sees the world and his desire to protect its purity.
Salinger's book concerns the isolation of adolescences and the personal struggle that one goes through during the quest to establish one's identity. I believe this novel's universal appeal lies in the fact that it addresses feelings that are common among…...

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Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print

Catcher in the Rye
Troubled Teen Kicked out of Pency Prep, Rejects Adult orld, Seeks Meaning in NY

Gordon's Books in Manhattan

212-555-READSixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who lost his fencing team's equipment on a New York City subway -- and caused the match to be cancelled -- has been dismissed from Pency Prep and is seeking emotional and psychological shelter in New York. Caulfield, still grieving over the death of his ten-year-old brother Allie -- who died of complications resulting from a struggle with leukemia -- has now failed to meet the requirements of three prep schools. Asked about the nature of his discomfort regarding attending these schools, the teen says that "Everybody sticks together in these dirty little cliques…even the guys that belong to the goddamn Book-of-the-Month Club stick together…" (131)

A reporter asked Caulfield what he has done in New York City now that he has been unsuccessful in prep school and is…...

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Works Cited

Salinger, Jerome David. (2010). The Catcher in the Rye. UK: Penguin Books.

1. "I can't see anything religious or pretty, for God's sake, about a bunch of actors carrying crucifixes all over the stage" (137). ironic in his rejection of martyrs.
2. "we looked at the stuff the Indians had made in ancient times" (118). This simplicity makes Holden happy

3. "They gave me Out of Africa" (18). Allusion to a more mysterious and exotic place, but escape is still desired (implied in the title)

4)

"the trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they'll say he has an inferiority complex" (136). Ironic because Holden does, and desperately wants to be liked by a girl.

5)

Both the rain and snow quotes above exemplify this, as does the rain at the end

6)

Loneliness is destructive, but company isn't always much better.

7)

The book is told from Holden's point-of-view, looking back.

8)

Holden's handkerchief, page 56 (and others). A symbol for genteelly…...

Sets up the fact that no one can really be trusted.
f. "They were always showing Columbus discovering America" (120). Shows Holden's disillusionment with the world and discovery.

g. "told her I was going to South America with my grandmother" (58). Illustrates his conception of exoticism; depth/scope of imagination

5)

Antolini's (possible) sexual advance -- ironic because it is what Holden was seeking from girls through much of the book, found unsought and unwanted with this man

6)

The rain in the final scene matches the mood and acts as a purifier for Holden.

7)

"I let it drop. It was over her head anyway" (72). One of the major themes is Holden's arrogance and perception of his own wisdom compared to everyone else's.

8)

The point-of-view is first person, but looking back on the events after they have passed -- not long after, either, given the tone of the book.

9)

Being a Catholic. Occurs many times, but especially page…...

Bird in the House and the Catcher in the Rye
Both J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye and Margaret Laurence's collection of interrelated stories A Bird in the House highlight the struggles of the main characters as they come of age in unforgiving times with largely unsympathetic families, but the ways in which either character deals with these issues differ greatly, and comparing the two will help to reveal the particular statements each narrative makes about growing up and coming of age.

Holden Caulfield, the central character of The Catcher in the Rye, does not deal with his journey into adulthood well, not least of all because more than anything he desires to keep others from having to leave their childhood behind, and wants to become the titular catcher in the rye, catching children before they fall off a cliff that is adulthood. Of course, even Holden's desire to…...

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Works Cited

Laurence, M. (1993). A bird in the house. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Salinger, J.D. (1951). The catcher in the rye. New York, NY: Little, Brown, & Company.

Abstract
Crafting a Catcher in the Rye essay on J.D. Salinger’s famed and beloved novel is an exercise both enjoyable and challenging. The book has done what so few pieces of literature have attempted to do and failed—it has remained relevant to youths everywhere, over half a century after its release. As a result of its celebrated quality, writing an essay on the novel can be daunting. This is because so many of themes and symbols have been picked apart and devoured repeatedly by scholars and critics. However, the better you understand the novel and the major concepts that shape it, the more primed you will be to write the most original and thoughtful essay you are capable of creating.



Related Topics


How does the loss of Allie motivate many of Holden’s actions, thoughts and feelings?
Authenticity matters tremendously to Holden. Is he authentic? Explain.
Jane is a pervasive force in the novel…...

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