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Catcher In The Rye: Trouble In Society

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Trouble in Society America up to the 1950’s endured many challenges such as World War II. During the 1950’s American society needed to reconstruct itself in order to overcome these traumas. Unfortunately because these changes were so difficult, Americans dearly wanted to turn a blind eye to reality. As a response to this disillusionment, writers such as Allen Ginsberg started the Beat movement to bring change in American Society. Catcher in the Rye provides space for Salinger to expose hypocracises while Holden explores to find his place in this pretentious society by representing the little buddha achieving zen. Within Catcher in the Rye, Salinger not only writes about the changes of American society, but also the effects on the individual …show more content…

The “need” to conform lead to a desire in conservative values. As a result, individualism was greatly undermined. A big conservative value was the stress for women to stay home and look after their husband. Legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein mocked this image in his opera Trouble in Tahiti. In Bernstein’s opera he refers to the affairs done by the husband and his secretary, while his wife stays home and prepares dinner. The issue brought up in the opera is that the lives of everyone at home and work have become separated. In Catcher in the rye, Holden asks Sally to live with him and travel but Sally stresses the importance off the “traditional male role”. It’s not until Holden becomes an adult within society that Sally promises to Holden that “There’ll be oodles of marvelous places to go” (Salinger 213). For Holden this is impossible because growing up and conforming to society was his biggest fear. This was also a big fear for Allen Ginsberg, an activist in the Beat movement. Although Salinger was not associated with the Beat movement, there is a strong connection between Salinger and the movement. The biggest similarity between Salinger and Ginsberg is the stress for the individual. In Ginsberg's poem Ginsberg’s nonconformism; America is ran by “responsibility”, that “Businessmen are serious. Movie producers are serious. Everybody’s serious

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In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger illustrates how children mature through their exposure to trauma. Salinger uses character interactions to show the effects of a child's mindset when experiencing childhood trauma. Holden experiments with many different illegal activities including drugs and alcohol, which connects back to his childhood home experience. Holden grew up in a very intense childhood home situation.

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Salinger, is also a very lonely character who loved to ostracize himself. In the documentary, “Salinger”, we find out that as a married man who had a child, Salinger would go off into his own “barn” that he would spend days writing in. The constant spending of time in the barn, took it’s toll on his daughter, whom didn’t get many chances to spend time with her father. Another example of Salinger’s ostracization from the world is shown, when we are told about how after writing his book, “The Catcher In the Rye” he avoided the media completely and didn’t want fame for his work. He even went a far as to completely shut out everyone who knew him before and live an entirely new life, that did not include his family.

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When attempting to comprehend an adolescent such as Holden Caulfield, one must always consider how he is a high born, lost, confused and an immature young man. That explains why his bewildered perception of women is greatly targeted and expressed throughout the novel, The Catcher In The Rye. J.D salinger, the author of the book, exemplified tremendous effort to objectify most women in the text. This created vast controversy between societies outlook on women in the book versus Holden’s perception of them.

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The book, The Catcher in the Rye, takes place in the years of the 1940s-1950s of New York City. Author J.D. Salinger expresses in the book about the struggles and the countless amount of stereotypes and establishments of the American society. Holden Caulfield, J.D Salinger’s protagonist, gives perspectives of society’s conflicts and facets of society. Holden addresses that would should not change, but should be preserved within a glass case at a museum. Now explore the varieties of encounters and how the give an example of the theme of conflict between control and independence that the protagonist confronts in the book, The Catcher in the Rye.

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The Catcher in the Rye Thematic Essay Imagine living a lonesome life, full of fear and little hope of better days to come. Imagine the toll this would take on a person’s life and how they develop as a person. For Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye this, is his reality. Holden is a sixteen year old troubled boy suffering through major mental issues and living a rather a depressing life for a teenager. Throughout the novel he goes through many hardships that only worsen his depression making him feel hatred towards his seemingly hellish world.

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Zimon Li English 9- Bailey 2/1/2023 Catcher in Rye Essay First Draft In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Holden’s mental health collapses from his dependence on Allie and inability to overcome grief. Holden’s inability to deal with Allie’s death causes his mental breakdown. Early on in the book, Holden is deeply traumatized by Allie’s death in their childhood. The loss of someone he deeply valued led him to sleep “in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 50).

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In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses themes of childhood and the transition from childhood into adulthood are shown through Holden’s actions and thoughts. Salinger explores these themes through his conversations with Phoebe, his walk inside Phoebe’s school and his experience with the carousel. Throughout J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the recurring idea of saving innocence shows Holden maturing as he eventually comes to realize that growing up cannot be prevented. Holden’s dream of being the “catcher in the rye” is introduced when he discusses with Phoebe what he likes and dislikes and this idea shows his immaturity in the sense that he is unrealistic about his future.

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Introduction Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger published in 1951 is a fictional story of a boy named Holden Caulfield who is suspended from his high school for bad grades. Written in the first person narrative through the voice of Caulfield, the narration brilliantly brings out the isolation and alienation that many teenagers feel. The novel has had a huge influence on modern society and on popular culture. It has been associated with many shootings such as that of John Lennon and the attempted assassination of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

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Non-conformity is an evident theme that both composers of the texts value, as shown through J.D. Salinger’s protagonist Holden Caulfield, and Chobsky’s protagonist Charlie. Both protagonists show similar characteristics of non-conformity, yet the way society in their time period perceived this affected each character inversely. The conservative 50’s American society strongly upheld their modest values and repressed individuality. This is understandable since America had just come out of World War Two and was also finding it’s place in the world, progressing at a rapid pace (e.g. the ‘space race’ between the Soviet Union). For an unruly and opinionated person like Holden this value does not seem fitting if one has to adapt their personality to meet the criteria of society.

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In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger makes a variety of choices regarding elements of the novel. Each of these elements contribute to the success to the text as a whole. The setting, the way the characters are introduced, and the order of the plot are all elements of the text. Salinger chooses New York City as the setting, introduces his characters to symbolize innocence and orders his events in means of a flashback. All of these attributes contribute immensely to the comprehensive impact of the book seeing as they make the book more sentimental, help captivate the reader, and better enhance the theme of the novel.

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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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