Catcher In The Rye Ap Language

Annie Nguyen
Mr. Montalbano
AP Language and Composition, Period 4
17 February 2016
Catcher in the Rye Essay In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character Holden tries to find himself in the world while being pressured to change and be more mature. Throughout his journey, his interactions with various minor characters such as Ernest’s mother, Sunny, Sally, Ackley, Stradlater, Mr. Antolini, Mr. Spencer, Phoebe and many others highlight Holden’s qualities as a young adolescent experiencing adult life. They challenge Holden to overcome his obstacles and to think and act more like an adult. Out of all the minor characters that Holden interacted with, his relationships with Sunny, Mr. Antolini, and his little sister Phoebe

Holden throughout the book seeks comfort among a variety of women. He dreams of relieving his sexual desires for them, but is never able to complete it. His relationship with women are obscure. For example, when Holden agrees to having a fling with Sunny, a prostitute, he later on says, “...I don’t feel very much like myself tonight. I’ve had a rough night. Honest to God. I’ll pay you and all but do you mind very much if we don’t do it?” (Salinger 96). Holden wishes that he could start a sexual relationship with Sunny, but the longer he waits for her to arrive, he starts to get nervous. When Sunny does walk in and tells him to get things over with, Holden gets even more nervous and starts to reject Sunny’s advances. Holden’s retreat emphasizes his insecurity in his sexuality and how inexperience and innocent he is. Not only is he insecure about his sexuality, but also because he realizes the situation

Within the book, Holden receives advice from two adults that he respects. They are Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini. Holden has known Mr. Antolini for many years and so his relationship with Mr. Antolini is stronger than Holden’s relationship with Mr. Spencer. While Mr. Spencer lectures Holden to “follow the rules”, Mr. Antolini shares empathy with what Holden is going. It can be infer within Holden’s descriptions of Mr. Antolini, “He was a pretty young guy, not much older than my brother D.B., and you could kid around with him without losing your respect for him. He was the one that finally picked up that boy that jumped out the window I told you about, James Castle” (Salinger 174), that he holds admiration for Mr. Antolini not only as a teacher and a friend, but as someone who is brave enough to reach out towards James Castle when no one else would do it. The close relationship strengthens Mr. Antolini’s purpose in helping Holden to overcome his obstacle. His advice for Holden is “The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply with” (Salinger 187) and then he later follow up the statement with, “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. You’re by no mens