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Catcher In The Rye Text Analysis

2272 Words10 Pages

Text Analysis Practicum
Course Instructor: Dr. Lorelei Caraman
Dimişcă Bianca-Melania
Russian - English

Childhood vs. adulthood in J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel written by J.D. Salinger in 1951. The book is one of the most controversial books ever written and its popularity comes from the author’s rough attitude towards society from the perspective of a teenager. “The Catcher in the Rye” is thought to be J.D. Salinger’s masterpiece and it is listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. In 2009 Finlo Rohrer affirmed that even 58 years later after the book has been published it is still considerate “the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye) The novel tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-years-old teenager that is being expelled from the 4th school up to the present. The cause of expulsion are the 4 exams he …show more content…

The frozen lake and the winter are the illustration of his own winter. The careless nature and the unkind winter are as ruthless as his teenage years. The migration of the ducks and their retuning is like a hope for a ray of sunshine after a disturbing storm. (http://www.shmoop.com/catcher-in-the-rye/ducks-fish-other-wildlife-symbol.html) His desire of remaining pure is illustrated within the description of The Museum of Natural History. The exhibits are unchanged no matter how many times you go there to see them. The world from the museum is his idealistic world where innocence and simplicity are infinite (“Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.”). This universe he found in the museum tears him down because he realizes every time he goes there he is different.

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In the 1950’s the American economy was booming due to the conclusion of World War II. Economic prosperity transformed family life and people put more emphasis on the individual. Television programs represented how people should live the ideal life. With many changes in culture people began to have a different perspective on life. In the 1998 film, “Pleasantville” directed by Gary Ross and the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger both depict teenage culture of the 1950s.

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In Chapter 9-14 Holden Caulfield leaves Penecy Prep and heads to New York City. Where he will stay for a couple days before winter vacation starts and he will head home. Delaying breaking the news to his family he got kicked out of school for as long as possible. These chapters are where Holden’s loneliness becomes abundantly clear. The reader is subjected to many long rants by Holden about the company he wants, though he attempts to settle several times.

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As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.

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Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes.

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‘’I felt so lonesome, all of the sudden. I almost wished I was dead,’’ a quote from the classic novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger which relates to how some teens felt at one point in their life. The novel was published to attract adult readers and has become popular for its themes, motifs, and connections an individual has with the main character, Holden Caulfield. We tend to feel a connection to the struggles of Holden Caulfield as we put ourselves in his shoes and see life through his perspective. The book is still pertinent due to Holden facing challenges such as loneliness and the inability to make a connection to make with a purpose thus the readers see themselves in Holden.

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In his classic coming of age novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger crafts a memorable story by connecting with the readers on a personal level, tapping into their emotions. Salinger creates a pathos appeal through an informal tone, with a heavy usage of colloquial terms and a first person point of view, and the syntactical structure he chose, giving a stream of consciousness effect, in order to convey the message of his story on a more personal level that resonates deeply with the reader. The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, by the American author J. D. Salinger. Salinger served in World War II, and his experience in the war along with the post-World War II society in the United States contributed to his perspective when writing

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J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is considered a coming of age novel. Throughout the novel, Holden, a confused teenage boy, matures and understands more about himself. Salinger conveys Holden’s increasing levels of maturity by using a variety of symbols. The ducks in central park, the red hunting hat, and the carousel ring symbolize the the development of Holden’s adulthood.

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What does someone do when he is falling apart but has no one he can trust to turn to? This is the scenario that a young, unstable Holden Caulfield must face throughout his journey of adolescence. In the novel The Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a sympathetic character. The novel is a bildungsroman, which shows that at first the protagonist may not assimilate well with the rest of society. Holden is a troubled teenager who cannot form relationships.

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The Catcher in the Rye, written by JD Salinger, is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Undergone with mental treatment in a sanatorium at age 16, the story initiate a plot twist at Pency Prep, Pennsylvania. Failing four subjects, except English depicts how unconcerned and reluctant he is for a new change. After his exit from Pency Prep, he encounters a society beyond innocence, making it an interesting aspect to analyze and scrutinize the book into depth. Throughout the early chapters, the prevalence of a significant theme was ‘Individual alienation’.

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The purpose of my essay is to explore how different social backgrounds and the social norms that follow affect the personality of two fictive characters and encourage them to break out of their station to find an identity. The protagonists Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and Tambudzai in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions are both victims of social norms. Therefore, the foundation of this essay was to analyze the character’s social background, which has influenced their personalities, behavior and aspirations, and consequently their opposing actions against society. Holden Caulfield is an American adolescent during the period after the Second World War.

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In 1985 J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye was banned in a Florida high school for merely being unacceptable. The timeless American classic that represent the teenager struggle perfectly has been deemed “unacceptable” since its release in 1951. Continually it has endure scrutiny for its dark depiction of adolescent.

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In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Mr. Antolini gives Holden Caulfield advice when he is at one of his lowest points. Already aware of Holden’s mental state and position on school, he quotes Wilhelm Stekel, a psychoanalyst, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” (Salinger 188). Although Holden fails to grasp Mr. Antolini’s message, the quote applies directly to his life because of his relationship with death as a result of his younger brother, Allie’s, death. Mr. Antolini uses this quote specifically because he wants Holden take a step back and try to live for a noble cause instead of resorting to death.

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In the Catcher in the Rye, Salinger depicts the immature mentality of typical teenagers through Holden’s childish curiosity. Teens experience

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In this novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is the narrator that goes through a variety of problems. He has dilemmas, but meets/reconnects with people on his quest of life. This novel is more than just a simple story about a protagonist and his life events. This novel follows the structure of bildungsroman. There are four parts to it- character’s growth in social structure, a form of loss, process of maturity, and if the character ends in a new place of society.

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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text 's major themes. One of the recurring themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye is the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs because of his reluctance to interact with the living world. As his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded by.

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