...Caulfield's “Catcher in the Rye” Fantasy Growing up, we have all experienced a particular desire to achieve something; an ambitious state of mind that gives us meaning to life. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, has a primary ambition - to become the Catcher in the Rye – the protector of the young and innocent, as stated in his conversation with Phoebe (Salinger, 191). Completely imaginary and a hopeless fantasy, this passage underscores what is prevalent throughout the novel - the issue of Holden's black and white perspective on the dark, phony world of adulthood juxtaposed with the light, innocent, world of childhood. The important passage contributes to Holden's clinical depression as a result of his beloved brother's death, therefore his cynical view of adulthood, and his anxiety about growing up, resulting in the overall angst and alienation palpable throughout the novel, leading to his eventual catharsis. Holden's imagery of “catching” children playing in a field of rye before they fall off a cliff is unrealistic, misheard from a little boy, and it serves merely as an escape route from what he fears most about adulthood – the change and overwhelming complexity. Holden wants everything to be easily understandable and eternally fixed, similar to the Eskimos and Indians in the museum. Opposed to acknowledging that adulthood scares and mystifies him, Holden instead invents a fantasy – that childhood is an idyllic field of rye, while adulthood...
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...THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. SALINGER I. Content of the Book Holden Caulfield is a very weird and interesting young man who likes to do things on impulse or because as he said 'he got such a bang out of it'. He has a brother, D.B. who is a writer in Hollywood, a little sister named Phoebe and another brother Allie, who has already died before the story even began. In the beginning of the story Holden narrates that he'll be leaving his school, Pencey Prep (a school full of Phonies from Holden’s point of view), because he flunked out in the four out of five subjects he was taking, the only subject he didn't fail was English. Holden tells the readers that he had come back to Agerstown, Pennsylvania though he was traveling with his team for a fencing contest, he lost all of the foils in a New York Subway, and so the match was cancelled instead. Holden even mentioned that on the way home his mates treated him to silence and he found this very amusing. Though there was a football game going on, Holden didn't go down and watch it, instead he went to visit his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is a very old man who wants to help Caulfield in his studies (since Holden has also been expelled in a few other schools as well) and at some point Mr. Spencer even read out Holden's examination paper and the little note that Holden had written in the end saying that if Mr. Spencer would like to flunk him then he'd be all right with it, Holden explained to the readers that the...
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...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...
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...the transition from adolescence to adulthood. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger communicates the conflicting emotions present during Holden Caulfield's journey into adulthood, reflected by his cynical attitude towards the adult world and his idealistic perspective of the innocence of youth. One of the prevalent themes of Holden's journey to adulthood is his cynical attitude toward the adult world. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden says, "You ought to go to a boy's school sometime. Try it sometime. It's full of 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...
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...Holden's obsession with innocence: In J.D.Salinger's the catcher in the rye Thinking childish in its simplicity can lead anyone to the path of innocence. The protection of innocence is something that holden searches for in J.D. Salinger's novel the catcher in the rye which shows that he believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and should be protected from the adult world. Holden is wanting to protect the innocence of those people who he thinks are really innocent. In addition, holden himself is innocent. As, he does many things that show that he is still not mature enough and should protect himself. Finally, he is willing to save his younger sister phoebe’s innocence from the world of phonies. Holden’s desire to save...
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...Another noteworthy symbol existing in The Catcher in the Rye is The Museum of Natural History. Holden mentions that the best thing about the museum is “that everything always stayed right where it was” (Salinger 121). Holden finds comfort in the notion that no matter how different he becomes, the museum will always be the same. This reveals Holden’s fear of change and desire to live a steady, consistent life (Alsen). The Museum of Natural History is in some ways, a safety blanket for Holden. It emblems calmness and stability, two things Holden craves. The ideology that “some things never change” is both pleasing and soothing to him. Throughout the novel, Holden constantly grapples with his viewpoint on growing up. He believes that nearly all...
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...T he Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium. The events he narrates take place in the few days between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is sixteen years old.As Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane Gallagher and, in a flashback, recounts how he got to know her. They met while spending a summer vacation in Maine, played golf and checkers, and held hands at the movies. One afternoon, during a game of checkers, her stepfather came onto the porch where they were playing, and when he left Jane began to cry. Holden had moved to sit beside her and kissed her all over her face, but she wouldn’t let him kiss her on the mouth. That was the closest they came to “necking.” Holden leaves the Edmont and takes a cab to Ernie’s jazz club in Greenwich Village. Again, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go in the winter, and this cabbie is even more irritable than the first one. Holden sits alone at a table in Ernie’s and observes the other patrons with distaste. He runs into Lillian Simmons, one of his older brother’s former girlfriends, who invites him to sit with her and her date. Holden says he has to meet someone, leaves, and walks back to the Edmont. Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, offers to...
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...Ena Mišković Leonarda 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...
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...Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost...
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...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...
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...January 1, 1919, in New York, J.D. Salinger was a huge writer. His novel, The Catcher in the Rye, set a new course for writing during World War One America and made Salinger famous in the literature world. What inspired J.D. to write Catcher in the rye was the sights and sounds of a guy named Devon in the town of Tiverton where J.D. Salinger spent three months during World War 2. Salinger Served in the U.S Army and was one of the soldiers that landed on Utah Beach on D-Day while serving in the army Salinger wrote this well known novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. The main theme of the novel is the protection of innocence the story follows the life of Holden Caulfield and shows how he develops and comes of age. Holden starts out as a 17 year old boy that goes to school at a school named Pency High School which is a more formal and rich high school. In a result of not applying himself in school he was kicked out of the high school....
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...In The Catcher and the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, we are introduced to Holden Caulfield , the 17 year old narrator and protagonist of the novel. In the beginning of the story Holden is at a resting home in California. Holden tells the readers what happened to him over a two day period in the previous December. In this essay I will identify a theme from this story and explain how it is developed in the novel. In my opinion an important theme of the Catcher in the Rye is the painfulness of growing up. Many people interpreted this novel to be a coming of age novel, due to the fact that it talks about issues teenagers go through. Readers can relate to Holden Caulfield because of his disdain to the process of maturity. For example, in chapter 16, Holden's thoughts about the Museum of Natural History establishes Holden's fear on change and how overwhelmed he is of complexity. Holden wants everything to be easy to understand and a fixed, An example of this is the statues of Eskimos and Native Americans in the museum. Holden doesn't really understand whats going on around him. He acknowledges this fear with his confusion on sex, “sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't”. Holden invents a fantasy that being an adult is a world of superficiality and phoniness. Holden also feels that childhood is a world of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. In my opinion, Holden's view on childhood and adulthood are immature and foolish. Holden conceptions are very shallow...
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...The Catcher in the Rye “Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior.... Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now... And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry” (Salinger, 246). These humorous lines from J.D. Salinger’s classic, The Catcher in the Rye refer to the monolog by Holden Caulfield. Holden defies the societal standards for the young adult at the time. Collectively, the 1950s evokes visions of nostalgia. The Nuclear family model thrived and men scurried between desk jobs and houses with picket fences. But for the newly coined “teenagers”, this time was very different for them. This generation was right after the baby boomers. There was a lot of rules and guideline that the new generation didn’t want to be part of, thus, a period of experimentation. Throughout this turbulent account of Holden terrible year, Salinger underscores...
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...Title: The Catcher in the Rye Author: J.D. Salinger Setting: Time: A long weekend in the late 1940s or early 1950s Place: Holden begins his story in Pennsylvania, at Pencey Prep. He then recounts his adventures in New York City. Themes: Alienation as a form of self-protection; the painfulness of growing up; the phoniness of the adult world Characters: • Holden Caulfield- he protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden is a sixteen-year-old junior who has just been expelled for failing from Pencey Prep. Although he is intelligent and sensitive, Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice. He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him almost unbearable, and he tries to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. The criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses, and at times displays as much phoniness, meanness, and superficiality as anyone else in the book. • Ackley- Holden's next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy; he often barges into Holden's room and is oblivious to Holden's hints that he should leave. • Stradlater- Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is handsome, self-satisfied, and popular. • Jane Gallagher - A girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer. Jane is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls whom he both respects and finds attractive. • Phoebe Caulfield...
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...Salinger's Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, is an upper-class boy who has gone from one private school to another, searching for -- something. He expresses his frustrations in language highly characteristic of adolescence; his extremely colloquial speech sounds just like that of teenagers today, even though Salinger's novel was written in the 1950s. But a particularly striking factor of Holden's narration is his frequent use of the words "phony" and "crazy", as well as his ongoing lapse into second person -- "you". These characteristics attain greater significance given Holden's desperate need to actually reach out and communicate with someone, anyone, who just might understand him. The novel takes place in the two days following Holden's dismissal from his latest school, Pencey Prep. Much of this two-day period is spent either making or contemplating a huge number of assignations and phone calls, most of which are never made. Each of these represents an unsatisfied need to reach out, to affirm the validity of his place in the world at that moment and have it confirmed by the response of another person. In almost every case Holden holds back from really touching another person who could make a difference to him. In fact, his very name -- Holden -- may stand for this attitude of "holding", of keeping himself so close to the vest that he is unable to communicate with the people he so desperately needs. Holden's first missed...
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