Literary Analysis Essay On The Catcher In The Rye

“It always rains the hardest on the people who deserve the sun” (Quotes New) In the book The Catcher and the Rye there is events throughout the novel that force the reader to consider why bad things happen to good people. This question first surfaces when Holden details Allie’s tragic death.“God he was a nice kid, though. He used to laugh so hard at something he thought of at the dinner table that he just about fell off his chair. I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage” (J.D. Salinger, 44). Losing a loved one is hard and it makes people question why tragic events happen to good people. The same question arises when Holden details his conflict about James Castle’s

“I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie” (Salinger, 44). Allie’s death tested his family member’s mental health immensely. "They live right in the goddam ice. It's their nature, for Chrissake. They get frozen right in one position for the whole winter”(Salinger, 92). Fish do not go anywhere during the winter but they freeze over in the water and the ducks just fly away for the winter. Holden is similar to the fish, after Allie’s death Holden is frozen in the time of grief. Everything comes back to Allie throughout Holden’s life and he is stuck in the anguish of his brother’s death similar to the fish stuck in the lagoon because of winter. Throughout the book Holden learns to accept his brother’s death and now is free from the frozen time of his brother’s death, similar to the fish being free because of spring. Allie’s death has made Holden a stronger person and he made it so he would want to help people out and he finally finds something meaningful in life like being the catcher in the rye. Some may believe that God made a path for everyone and maybe

“Hangman is great. It teaches you that by saying the wrong things you could end someone’s life” (Pintrest). James Castle said something to someone and refused to take it back, he was then abused so he decided to make the ultimate decision and ended his life. “‘The thing is, it drives me crazy if somebody gets killed-- especially somebody very smart and entertaining and all-- and it's somebody else's fault. Romeo and Juliet, at least it was their own fault”’(Salinger, 124). Even though James’s death was devastating and he did not deserve to die, but his death gave an example to everyone how actions hurt