Consider the Importance of the Title of the Novel in Relation to the Events in the Novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.

The title ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, by the American writer J.D. Salinger, has a significant connection to the story; It portrays the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, and his feelings towards young adult life. Throughout the novel, Holden perceives adulthood as ‘corrupted’, vulgar and tragic. While admiring children for their kindness, genuine nature and innocence, he believes in the idea that adult corruption has ruined virtuous children. In the novel he states how he wants children to be protected from vulgarity and therefore wants to be ‘The Catcher in the Rye’: the one who rescues adolescents from falling into, what he considers to be, the phoniness of adulthood.

Throughout the novel, Holden has a positive attitude towards children and these relationships are essential to him. When Holden found out about the tragic death of his younger brother, Allie, he was devastated. He ‘slept in the garage’ and ‘broke all the goddam windows’. This illustrates a moment of traumatic agony for Holden and evokes the significance of the relationship he had with his brother. By smashing the windows, it suggests that Holden was unable to control his feelings. The reader would have an enormous amount of sympathy for a young child having just lost a family member, perhaps Salinger wanted to highlight this moment of pathos, and how it would have the potential to ruin a childhood