...n this book, the fundamental character, Holden Caulfield, tells us a tale about what happened amid his Christmas excursion. Holden is a sixteen-year-old kid who has failed out of a private private academy. Since he is worried about the possibility that that his guardians would discover this, he goes to an inn in New York City as opposed to going home after he leaves school for Christmas get-away. In New York, numerous things transpire inside of a couple of days. For instance, he goes to the inn bar and meets three ladies after he first arrives there. The ladies leave not long after he neglects to chat with them, furthermore, Holden feels forlorn and discouraged. He goes to another bar to discover somebody to invest some...
Words: 335 - Pages: 2
...How does one become a grown-up? Is it something you are told to do, or must you learn for yourself how to mature? ‘’It’s time to be a grown up. Too late, you’re out of time. Be a grown-up’’ The first part last is a book written by Angela Johnson. The novel explores the life of Bobby, a young teenager who must take on the responsibility of becoming a father along side of his girlfriend Nia. There are three examples of symbolism in the book. The first example is a red balloon representing the childhood that Bobby is leaving behind. The second sign is the painting Bobby makes showing that he does not know who he is as a person yet, and the final example is the basketball he owns representing that he is still immature. All of these symbols in some way will show if Bobby has come of age by the end of the book....
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...Tyler Ryan Professor Wheeler English 101 April 22, 2015 Catcher in the Rye Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger was born on New Year’s Day in the year 1919, in New York City, “the second and last child of Sol and Marie (Miriam) Jillich Salinger” (Alexander 1). As a young boy, Salinger was interested in theatre and dramatics. Growing up, he attended a public school on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. He was always a very quiet and polite young man. His parents, Sol and Marie, thought he would fit in perfectly in a private school – seeing how well-mannered that young Salinger was – they “enrolled him in McBurney School in Manhattan in 1932” (Alexander 2), but, just as one of his most famous characters, Holden Caufield, he did not fit in very well in the private school, struggling to keep his grades satisfactory. Concerned, Salinger’s parents sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy when he was just 15 years old. “There he was active in drama and singing clubs. He sometimes wrote fiction by flashlight under his blankets at night and contributed to the school’s magazine” (Alexander 3). Salinger graduated in June of 1936 from Valley Forge, and then went on to pursue a brief, but significant college career. He began his education at New York University, but quickly dropped out “to try performing as an entertainer on a Caribbean cruise ship” (Alexander 4). When he was 20 years old, he worked toward his college career once again. He enrolled in a class at Columbia University to learn...
Words: 2078 - Pages: 9
...The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year with total sales of more than 65 million books. The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. The novel also deals with complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Plot summary Holden begins his story at Pencey Prep, an exclusive private school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with rival school Saxon Hall. Holden misses the game. As manager of the fencing team, he loses their equipment on a New York City subway train that morning, resulting in the cancellation of a match. He goes to the home of his History teacher named Mr. Spencer. Holden has been expelled and is not to return after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday. Spencer is a well-meaning but long-winded middle-aged man. To Holden's annoyance, Spencer reads aloud Holden's History paper, in which Holden...
Words: 3119 - Pages: 13
...Aha Moment- After having a strenuous few days, Holden has come to a realization about what he wants to do with the rest of his life. While talking with Phoebe about failing out of Pencey, she brings up the point about what he will do if he does not continue school. Holden stops and really thinks about this and all of a sudden has an idea, “That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye. I know its’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be”(Salinger 225). Although this idea sounds crazy, it must mean something because The Catcher in the Rye, ended up being the title of the book. It is also ironic that Holden wants to do something that helps others because he needs the help of other people to help him through his problems. This is a significant realization for Holden because now he can have something to aim for in life instead of being depressed all the time. Aha Moment- There are two occasion in the book where Holden has came up with a plan to move to a secluded place and to never be bothered by anyone. The first time this plan came up was when Holden was on a date with Sally Hayes. Out of nowhere Holden wanted Sally to run away with him to a...
Words: 2143 - Pages: 9
...unalterable nature of museums, likely because it is so contrary to his personal experiences. Before this point in the novel, there were several changes in Holden’s life which caused him to fear taking control of his life and daily life tasks such as going to college, working and starting a family. Thus, he believes that growing up will make his life more difficult. Secondly, Holden wants his girlfriend, Sally, to run away with him and escape the adult world. In the novel, he proposes the idea to Sally and she rejects it, suggesting that they should wait until they are grown up (Salinger ). In response, Holden calls Sally a “pain in the ass” (Salinger ). He believes her idea “would not be the same at all” as his (Salinger ). Holden is disappointed by Sally’s refusal to run away with him, as well as frustrated by her suggestion to wait until they are older, because he wants to escape the materialistic world of adults. He believes that adults are selfish and inconsiderate hypocrites, and unrealistically desires to run away and avoid accepting his own transition into adulthood. Finally, Holden’s desire to resist change is evident by his negative opinion of adults. In the novel, he tells children regarding adults, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 212). He wants safety for himself and desires to protect the innocence of children from his perceived phoniness of adults. Thus, he suggests to children that they avoid sharing their thoughts...
Words: 2134 - Pages: 9
...phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddamn Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls, liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddamn cliques”(Pg. 145-146). This explains/ demonstrates how Holden can easily be bothered by what high school boys are now interested in. Nor did he like the fact that people would hang out with each other that have the same interests because it was like being exposed to girls, sex, drugs and liquor. Holden says “ Do you mind cutting it out?” I said. “I’m not in the mood, I just had an operation…” “What the heck did you tell that crazy Maurice you wanted a girl for, then? If you just had a goddamn operation on your goddamn, wuddayacallit. Huh?” “ I thought you’d be feeling a lot better that i do…”(108-109); However it wasn’t necessarily the operation, Holden had on why he couldn’t have sex with her, the hooker he paid to have sex with, because he knew that by him having sex with this woman he would be exposing himself to adulthood. So instead of him having sex with her he just paid her and began to feel sorry for her and realizes that he failed to blend in with society or the human race because he just couldn’t do it. Another reason Holden failed to join the human race was because Holden didn’t like the way people would portray themselves, cause in a way they would portray...
Words: 1451 - Pages: 6
...However, Holden soon figures out that he has to grow up and live in the present as an adult. This shows holden that he can not live with allies life values. Holden realizes he can not attain most of the stuff in life this brings up more depression, also he can’t live with the same sociable values. Furthermore,Holden’s issue to be one with his feelings and so on it does nothing but affect his life in society. For example, Holden fails to express his feelings towards sally. Then, Sally doesn’t understand Holdens way of talking because he just insults her which ceases there conversations. This is revealed when Holden states, “you don’t see what I mean at all….they told me to go away and leave her alone, so finally I did… and left without her. I shouldn’t of... I was too drunk to give a damn”.This quote shows Holden has no control over his emotions and drinks to calm them or get rid of the...
Words: 1474 - Pages: 6
...Holden is a struggling 16 year-old boy, trying to find his place in this world, clinging onto his innocence in urgent desperation. Over the span of three days, the novel follows Holden where he eventually accepts his loss of innocence, but not without going through many struggles along the way first. Through Salinger’s use of symbols, the reader is able to clearly identify Holden’s reluctance toward becoming an adult and surrendering his innocence. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, the author uses the Museum of Natural History, the erasing of profanity and the carousel to reveal that a person cannot avoid his or her loss of innocence. Holden visits his childhood spot, Museum of Natural History, symbolizing a world in which nothing has to change. While reflecting on his memories from the museum he realizes that the reason he loved it so much was because he could count on everything staying the same, “the best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move…the only thing that would be different is you” (Salinger 121). Just like the thought of preserving innocence, Holden revels in the thought of everything staying exactly the same, forever. However, Holden knows he has become different, as he acknowledges in this quote. He realizes that he possesses less innocence than he did the last time he visited the museum. The concept of stability that this quote provides makes it evident that Holden is afraid of evolving into an adult with...
Words: 1744 - Pages: 7
...Pennsylvania which he just got kicked-out of for failing all his classes except English. Holden is supposed to arrive home days later, but he gets in an argument with his roommate Stradlater, and leaves to New York to stay at the Edmont hotel. He begins...
Words: 1002 - Pages: 5
...Lovrović Modern English Practice 1 15 January 2013 J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by the American author Jerome David Salinger. From its first publishing the novel has arose a lot of controversy. Salinger wrote his novel in the first person, addressing the readers in its very beginning, so the readers have a feeling that he speaks directly to them. Furthermore, sequences follow the exact thought processes of the main character, which brings him, as well as the complete novel, even more close to the readers. The story takes place mostly in New York in December 1949, just before the Christmas holidays. The plot follows a seventeen-year-old boy protagonist Holden Caulfield who retells several days in his life, giving his personal opinion of the society that surrounds him after being expelled from the third school in a row. The novel is presented as his own monologue written in a subjective style, which reflects the teenage colloquial speech of that period of time. A drop-out Holden has attracted a wide audience of adolescent readers, yet gained many negative critiques due to his rebellious way of thinking and acting, and his common use of street language; he expresses himself in slang, in a very witty manner, also using curses and swearwords quite often. However, the Catcher in the Rye has experienced a great success, and has been translated into many languages. It was and still is very influential book that created a new generation...
Words: 1163 - Pages: 5
...4141- 4141--- Cherished and Cursed:Towarda Social History of The Catcher in the Rye STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD THE plot is brief:in 1949 or perhaps 1950, over the course of three days during the Christmas season, a sixteen-yearold takes a picaresque journey to his New YorkCity home from the third private school to expel him. The narratorrecounts his experiences and opinions from a sanitarium in California. A heavy smoker, Holden Caulfield claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version...
Words: 12326 - Pages: 50
...plot is Holden’s quest for sympathy for his physical condition and for a place of peaceful refuge. Holden is denied this sympathy and refuge, therefore he breaks down (Alsen 7). In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden’s three important rejections lead to his breakdown. The blonde girl, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce are three of the many important rejections in the novel. The blonde girl rejects Holden, and this is the beginning of his breakdown. The blonde girl is sitting next to Holden in the Lavender Room at the hotel he is staying at in New York. Holden buys her a drink because he thinks that she is good looking. Holden also asks her to dance. While they were dancing she exclaims, “I and my girl friends saw Peter Lorre last night. The movie actor. In person. He was buyin’ newspaper. He’s cute” (Salinger 71). The blonde girl is obviously looking for movie stars, not conversation. Holden calls her a moron and calls it a dumb remark. He is obviously annoyed and upset. Therefore, he feels as if he has been rejected. The fact that she isn’t interested in him depresses Holden so much that he makes up an excuse so he can leave. Seng explains, “He would prefer a world that is honest, sincere, simple” (Seng 106). Holden doesn’t think the blonde has these qualities. He can’t take it anymore. He sais: “If somebody, some girl in an awful-looking hat for instance, comes all the way to New York- from Seattle, Washington for god’s sake-...
Words: 1081 - Pages: 5
...of corrupted youth in similar ways; through some days of their main characters Holden and Mud. Salinger and Gowdy tell the stories of youth suffering from the loss of their innocence in similar ways but both uniquely saddening. In the novels the main characters are forced to mature far too early in their lives, causing loss of innocence and harm to their older selves. Sadly, Holden and Mud endure the absence of parents, the expectation that they engage in sexual activity and the death of loved ones at such young ages. Throughout the novels, both Holden and Mud do not have the support of their parents which is a major part of a child’s...
Words: 1077 - Pages: 5
...Throughout the book, Holden is trying to grasp at maturity, doing things that adults do like drinking and smoking at bars. For a teenager, this kind of behavior and attitude is still applicable today. Teenagers today often try to be independent and smarter than adults, much like Holden. When he gets kicked out of Pencey, he travels to NYC and stays in a hotel instead of going home. He thinks he can handle being alone in New York City for three days. However, he gets beaten up, is robbed, spends all his money on pointless purchases- just to name a few. This is shown by this quote: “So what I decided to do, I decided I'd take a room in a hotel in New York--some very inexpensive hotel and all--and just take it easy till Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday, I'd go home all rested up and feeling swell. I figured my parents probably wouldn't get old Thurmer's letter saying I'd been given the ax till maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn't want to go home or anything till they got it and thoroughly digested it and all. I didn't want to be around when they first got it. My mother gets very hysterical. She's not too bad after she gets something thoroughly digested,...
Words: 733 - Pages: 3
