Catcher In The Rye Thesis

J.D Salinger was born on January 1, 1919 in Manhattan, New York City. His father Sol Salinger, was Jewish and his mother, Marie Jillich, was Scotch-Irish. He also had an older sister named Doris, she was eight years older than him. When J.D was thirteen his parents sent him to McBurney school. It was a boys preparatory academy in NYC. It was very similar to the schools Holden Caulfield gets expelled from. After two years at McBurney his parents moved him to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania. J.D used Valley Forge as the model for Pencey Prep in the book. J.D’s childhood leads to the reason why he wrote The Catcher In The Rye. The book takes place around the 1950’s and the narrator is Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old boy. Holden is telling the story the whole time from a mental hospital down in California. The book

Holden wants to become The Catcher In The Rye because he wants to save kids growing up and becoming an adult. Holden doesn’t like the idea of adulthood because he just thinks that all adults are liers and he hasn’t really gotten the idea of sex yet. We know he isn’t ready because when the prostitute came into his hotel he freaked out and said he just had surgery. He wants to catch his sister from going into the adult world. That is why he wears the red hat because it makes him feel special and like he is a little kid. I understand Holden a lot because soon I will be graduating high school and I don’t know if i’m ready to go out into the real world. Once I go out into the real world I will have to start working to provide for my family. I am scared of the idea that I will leave my parents and be on my own. But what I think J.D Salinger is trying to get us to understand is that yeah we all want to little forever but everyone grows up. The only way we are going to get through it is that we prepare ourselves, life is going to keep going whether we are ready or