The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye, by J.
D. Salinger, describes a period of time in a young boys life. This boy is repeatedly gets kicked out of schools and he does again in thebeginning of the book. He leaves a few days before Christmas vacation starts, before hisparents get notice that he has gotten kicked out of his school.
He doesent want to gohome early, so he just goes back to Manhattan and tries to survive on his own. Holden Caulfield is a 16 year old boy. One character trait he has is insecurity. He seems insecure due to the fact that he repeats himself often. It seems as though he feels people aren’t listening to him. He is also very lonely.
He states that when one ofhis friends, Luce, he meets to have a few drinks with, says he has to leave. Holden is alsounstable. Throughout the book, his mental, physical and emotional state decreases. Hegets beat up, goes through a breakdown, and gets very sick. Another trait Holden has ishis insistence to care for the vonerable.
Examples of this is the way he cares for andworries about Pheobe, his old friend Jane Gallager, all young children, and the ducks inthe pond at Central Park. One theme of this book could be you can’t have control over everything. Holdenwants everything to stay the same always. One example of that is when he talks aboutThe Museum of Natural History. He also wants to be able to protect everyone, especiallyanything or anyone vonerable.
This is shown when he says to his sister Pheobe that hewants to be the catcher in the rye when she asks him what he wants to do in his life. Holden realizes that he can’t have control over everything when his younger sister tellshim to shut up. He realizes that things have changed and she has gotten older andchanged herself, and he can’t make anything go back to the way it used to be. I felt that The Catcher in the Rye was a very good book.
One thing that wasconfusing was how the main character seems to make a complete circle with his life. Inthe end of the book, it seems as though he is in the same position the he was in in thebeginning of the book. I enjoyed this book especially because I could identify with manyof the main characters thoughts and feelings about life, people etc.
