...One cannot hold onto innocence forever, the longer he or she holds onto it, the more they can lose sight of themselves. In The Cather in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield struggles with accepting his loss of innocence which leads towards his downfall. Holden is a struggling 16 year-old boy, trying to find his place in this world, clinging onto his innocence in urgent desperation. Over the span of three days, the novel follows Holden where he eventually accepts his loss of innocence, but not without going through many struggles along the way first. Through Salinger’s use of symbols, the reader is able to clearly identify Holden’s reluctance toward becoming an adult and surrendering his innocence. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, the author uses the Museum of Natural History, the erasing of profanity and the carousel to reveal that a person cannot avoid his or her loss of innocence. Holden visits his childhood spot, Museum of Natural History, symbolizing a world in which nothing has to change. While reflecting on his memories from the museum he realizes that the reason he loved it so much was because he could count on everything staying the same, “the best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move…the only thing that would be different is you” (Salinger 121). Just like the thought of preserving innocence, Holden revels in the thought of everything staying exactly the same, forever. However, Holden knows he has...
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...trying to say by using symbols and imagery. To someone who does not examine the book, The Catcher in the Rye, it may seem to be about a “messed up” teenager who wanders around town and doesn’t care about life. But when a range of ______ are explored, one will find that this book has common themes of innocence, changing, growing up and also death.... [tags: Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, ] 501 words (1.4 pages) $6.95 [preview] Symbolism in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye - Many novels cannot be fully understood and appreciated if only read for face value, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is no exception. The abundant use of symbolism in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is of such significance that it “proclaims itself in the very title of the novel” (Trowbridge par. 1). If the symbolism in this novel is studied closely, there should be no astonishment in learning that The Catcher in the Rye took approximately ten years to write and was originally twice its present length.... [tags: The Catcher in the Rye] :: 6 Works Cited 2836 words (8.1 pages) $49.95 [preview] Catcher In The Rye - From the Outside, Looking In Despite the debate that may wage on regarding the status to be afforded J. D. Salinger's writings, the author's books have not quietly faded into obscurity. Although published almost a half-century ago, the author's most famous work, Catcher in the Rye, enjoys almost as healthy and devoted a following today as the book did when it was first...
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...4141- 4141--- Cherished and Cursed:Towarda Social History of The Catcher in the Rye STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD THE plot is brief:in 1949 or perhaps 1950, over the course of three days during the Christmas season, a sixteen-yearold takes a picaresque journey to his New YorkCity home from the third private school to expel him. The narratorrecounts his experiences and opinions from a sanitarium in California. A heavy smoker, Holden Caulfield claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version...
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...Reading Response to "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger Dear Mr. /Mrs. I have read the book ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ that expresses its content in a total of 214 pages. The book, authored by J. D. Salinger, represents the coming-of-age genre which compares to the traditional period literature such as Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Indeed, the two texts tend to feature naïve and adolescent runaways as the spectators. Also, they both comment on the problems that existed in their timelines. This reading response seeks to explore the question of freedom and independence as portrayed in the book. "The Catcher in the Rye" begins with the protagonist directly addressing the audience and as the he starts to retell the events that cover three days from the past December. His story begins at Pencey Prep and the disillusioned departure from what could be the last in a number of educational institutions that failed to inspire and support him followed by a painful, and sleep deprived journey through the streets of New York. Interestingly, the author tends to create a harsh atmosphere from the start of the text with the main character being portrayed as lazy and a bit clueless about his future (Lomazoff, 1996). The entire story revolves around a flashback of the three day period with some few references to the present. The thing that separates the text from other literary works is the usage of profanity. There exists a significant measure of colloquialism which...
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...The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year with total sales of more than 65 million books. The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. The novel also deals with complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Plot summary Holden begins his story at Pencey Prep, an exclusive private school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with rival school Saxon Hall. Holden misses the game. As manager of the fencing team, he loses their equipment on a New York City subway train that morning, resulting in the cancellation of a match. He goes to the home of his History teacher named Mr. Spencer. Holden has been expelled and is not to return after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday. Spencer is a well-meaning but long-winded middle-aged man. To Holden's annoyance, Spencer reads aloud Holden's History paper, in which Holden...
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...and it’s evident in the way he views things, he sees the prostitute as a person, not as an object, and thinks of Jane as friend rather than a sexual being. It seems as though he prefers non-intimate relationships and resorts to just talking things out like with the prostitute and with Jane he does not make any advances towards her, he prefers to hold hands and talk. It is also evident that Holden was sexuality abused, and when his former teacher Mr. Antolini makes advances towards him, it adds to his negative idea of sexuality. Through Holden Caulfield, Salinger presents sex and sexuality as something that is shameful and private. ENG 2D1h May 21st, 2014 Assessment of Salinger’s Concept of Sexuality in The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the protagonist Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye represents the Western teen in the 1950’s, and through Caulfield’s ‘misadventures’ the themes of sex and sexuality come into play. Holden’s negative view of sex and sexuality stems from many things, he presents sex as something ‘crumby’ even though as he mentions he would not mind doing it if he opportunity came up but when the time comes he does not go through with it, sabotaging himself and in a way preserving his innocence. Salinger also ties in the theme of innocence, Holden subconsciously tries to preserve his innocence and it’s evident in the way he views things, he sees the prostitute as a person, not as an object, and thinks of Jane as...
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...“The Catcher in the Rye” is written by J.D Salinger which focuses on the reality of life through the eyes of a teenager who sees the world as a painful existence. The novel is written from the perspective of Holden who has been expelled from his fourth school. After a fight with his roommate, Holden leaves early to explore New York City alone. Holden battles with the reality of adulthood that has turn a different turn on his life. We get to this stage where we fear to grow up and see what will be coming for us next in the future. Salinger’s novel clearly displays the experience of being isolated from multiple activities which can lead to the theme of alienation, the creation of the character (Holden) and also the symbolism which can be unnoticed. Salinger tries to convey a message with his writing to also displaying human connection is a must. The theme of “The Catcher in the Rye” is alienation which connects to Holden (the protagonist)...
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...Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost...
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...| July 16, 1951 Books of The Times By NASH K. BURGER | THE CATCHER IN THE RYE By J. D. Salinger. | t is just before Christmas and 16-year-old Holden Caulfield has been kicked out of exclusive Pencey Prep, a boys' school in Pennsylvania. Considering everything, this reflects more credit on Holden than on Pencey. Life at Pencey is dreary, regimented, artificial and, of course, expensive. This happens, however, to be only the latest of a series of schools from which Holden has been expelled. Understandably he is in no hurry to encounter his parents, but he is also reluctant to linger a moment longer than necessary at Pencey. He therefore takes what money he has and departs for New York, where he passes several days in a weird jumble of adventures and experiences, is involved with a variety of persons including taxi drivers, two nuns, an elevator man, three girls from Seattle, a prostitute, and a former teacher from whom Holden thinks it best to flee in the middle of the night and most of all from himself. Holden's story is told in Holden's own strange, wonderful language by J. D. Salinger in an unusually brilliant novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." The Book-of-the-Month Club has chosen it as its current selection. Adolescence Speaking for Itself Holden is bewildered, lonely, ludicrous and pitiful. His troubles, his failings are not of his own making but of a world that is out of joint. There is nothing wrong with him that a little understanding and affection, preferably...
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...The purpose of this extended essay is to analyze the mental instability of Holden Caulfield, the main character of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, as well as explain how his Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder alter his perspective through comparisons between Holden’s accounts and reality. The scope of the essay includes The Catcher in the Rye, as well as __ articles detailing different interpretations of the cause of Holden’s problems. Holden is also the novel’s unreliable narrator, and his illnesses prevent him from accepting reality, thereby allowing him to create whichever reality he wishes were true. J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye is well-known for its themes of identity, loss, and growing up, but its most definitive quality is...
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...Tyler Ryan Professor Wheeler English 101 April 22, 2015 Catcher in the Rye Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger was born on New Year’s Day in the year 1919, in New York City, “the second and last child of Sol and Marie (Miriam) Jillich Salinger” (Alexander 1). As a young boy, Salinger was interested in theatre and dramatics. Growing up, he attended a public school on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. He was always a very quiet and polite young man. His parents, Sol and Marie, thought he would fit in perfectly in a private school – seeing how well-mannered that young Salinger was – they “enrolled him in McBurney School in Manhattan in 1932” (Alexander 2), but, just as one of his most famous characters, Holden Caufield, he did not fit in very well in the private school, struggling to keep his grades satisfactory. Concerned, Salinger’s parents sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy when he was just 15 years old. “There he was active in drama and singing clubs. He sometimes wrote fiction by flashlight under his blankets at night and contributed to the school’s magazine” (Alexander 3). Salinger graduated in June of 1936 from Valley Forge, and then went on to pursue a brief, but significant college career. He began his education at New York University, but quickly dropped out “to try performing as an entertainer on a Caribbean cruise ship” (Alexander 4). When he was 20 years old, he worked toward his college career once again. He enrolled in a class at Columbia University to learn...
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...The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, like many other great works, was met by scornful criticism and unyielding admiration. However, many literary critics also admired Salinger's use of language, which is used to make Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, extremely realistic. Such language includes repetition of phrases, blatant cursing, and bold statements in order to capture the informal speech of the average, northern American adolescent. Through Holden's thoughts and dialogues, Salinger successfully created a teenage boy that changed the literary world. The language used in The Catcher in the Rye has long been a topic of controversy to literary critics. Holden Caulfield's thoughts and comments serve to deepen his personality and to provide entertainment. Salinger wants to create a typical teenager while keeping Holden as an individual at the same time. Like most teenagers, Holden speaks in trite sentences. However, he also uses words in places that were then uncommon. Holden often leaves his sentences dangling with words like "and all" and "or anything." Salinger intentionally used such speech repetition to individualize Holden, and, at the same time, make him a believable teenager of the early 1950s. Moreover, Holden has other expressions that appear consistently throughout the novel. In some places, the expressions only serve to make Holden more realistic, while in other places Holden is trying to reinforce his values. Holden repeatedly comments on his hatred towards...
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...Parjit Sigh Dhaliwal Mr. Mannello ENG3U0-I 2015-12-10 Donnie Darko and The Catcher in the Rye Comparative Essay: The Transition into the Adult World When one’s views contrast with those of society’s, a societal phenomenon of alienation occurs. Both, J.D Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and director Richard Kelly’s film, Donnie Darko, emphasise this estrangement by contextually presenting protagonists who suggest that teen discordance is universal due to their opposing collective perspectives. The book, The Catcher in the Rye, is about a young-adult’s three-day experience living in New York city after being kicked out of his school. The narrator, Holden Caulfield, recounts his experiences and interactions within those three days through thorough analyzation. The film, Donnie Darko, is about a teen, Donnie Darko, who is supernaturally transported to a tangent universe, guided by a ghost, Frank, in which his actions determine the future of the normal universe. In both the book and the novel, the ironic nature of societal seclusion being self-inflicted shown through the rejection of society by the protagonists themselves, both works are able to reinforce the universality of teen discord. Although there is trust to be found in adults, superficiality is present in the mass majority of the adult society. This phoniness amongst adults is present in both the book and the movie ultimately which contributes to the prevalence of distrust amongst the adolescent protagonists...
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...There are many ways that authors can show their readers the time period that their stories take place in. They can say it outright in the narrative, include obviously dated references, or attempt to vaguely hint at the time’s culture and events. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is set in the late 1940s, early 1950s. Salinger paints an image for the readers, giving hints to let them figure out the time setting on their own. He mentions events just a few years past, references things that only would make sense in such a time, and goes even deeper, writing characters that most plausibly would have existed in such a culture, in such a time. When examining the historical aspects of The Catcher in the Rye, a reader can see how J. D. Salinger conveys the essence of the late 1940s; he does this through basic, obvious references to forms of entertainment, as well as through the more complex depths of the time period’s social constructs and the impending counterculture revolt of the 1960s. In the novel, many references are made to things that limit the possible time period for this novel. Many of these references dealt with forms of entertainment, from bar pianists to old-timey movies. Holden talks about his visit to a night club called Ernie’s which “was jam-packed…[but] it was pretty quiet, though, because Ernie was playing the piano” (Salinger 83). Compared to the nightclubs of today, this is pretty bland. Modern night clubs are overflowing with sweaty bodies dancing suggestively...
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...wait to grow up and join it all. However, as people grow up they begin to understand how the world works and realize that it is not as glorious as they once thought. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, sixteen year old Holden Cauldfield finds the world and the people in it to be unjust and unfair. Because of his dissatisfaction with the early death of his brother and the people around him, Holden develops a black and white view of the world and places everyone into two distinct categories: the innocents and the phonies. The young children, especially his younger siblings Allie and Phoebe, that have not yet fallen into the disillusionments of adulthood form up Holden's group of innocents. Holden’s late younger brother Allie and his younger sister Phoebe are two of the only people he cares about in the world. When Holden’s younger brother Allie lost his early battle of leukemia, it crushed Holden because Allie was his favorite because “he was … the nicest … kid” (38). Allie’s death is the biggest reason that Holden has his black and...
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