Literary Analysis Essay On The Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman novel, written by J.D. Salinger, portraying the story of Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy who is struggling in his adolescence. In a young age, Holden loses his younger brother, Allie. As a result, Holden’s emotions stop developing, preventing him from adapting a ‘comfortable’ living in his daily life. Fortunately, as the story progresses, Holden gradually begins to identify his inner self, understanding the perspectives of childhood, and adulthood.
As a child, Holden used to attend a school named Pencey Prep, in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. However, he was expelled from school because he was failing four subjects. At school, Holden did not get along with his classmates, and isolated himself. For instance, one of the greatest football games in Pencey

Although Holden is still a teenager, he shows signs where he does not know how to adapt in various ‘lonely’ situations. Holden should have started a conversation with someone, or should have just left the club. However, he chose to light a cigarette. We have seen many situations in the novel in which Holden is interactive, but in his loneliness, we don’t see it as often.
Moreover, in a bar with Sally Hayes, Holden’s friend, he confesses one of his habits, to himself. “Then I sort of started lighting matches. I do that quite a lot when I’m in a certain mood. I sort of let them burn down till I can’t hold them any more, then I drop them in the ashtray. It’s a nervous habit.”(pg. 140).
With the help of this quotation, we can understand that Holden uses cigarettes when he is nervous, lonely, and angry: triggering his emotions to light a cigarette. As shown before, smoking is one of Holden’s symbol of isolation he can not successfully deal with.
Furthermore, when Holden and Sally went to a bar after a night at Radio City ice-skating rink, he decided to talk about running away from