Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger

“The Catcher in the Rye” was published on July 16th, 1951 by author J.D. Salinger. We quite literally sit down next to Holden Caulfield, an emotionally troubled sixteen year old boy kicked out of four successive boarding schools. Holden tells his story as a patient, to us his psychoanalyst in a psychiatric ward in California, not too far away from his older brother D.B. Holden begins the story after getting kicked out of his fourth school Pencey Prep and escapes to New York City where he spends four days lonesome and alone in a deep fall. Holden envisions adulthood and childhood as two separate realms; the innocence of childhood ideal and sacred, while adulthood shrouded in ‘phoniness’ and deceit. He aims to preserve the innocence and purity of children by catching them from their fall into the hole of adulthood, serving as their catcher in the rye. “I keep picturing all these little kids playing this game in this big field of rye… [and] I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the

While Holden stood outside the Museum of Natural History, he pointed out how everything always stayed the same. The glass cases around the exhibits acted as a defense against touching, or tainting. “Like the children in the museum, to protect the innocent, the catcher must strictly refrain from touching; leaving them alone.” (Rachelle Crow, Prezi Presentation) Holden compares the innocence of a child to the artifacts in the museum. Holden expresses the fact that he wants to ensure security and stability during these times in life. He feels children need their own ‘glass case’ or someone to protect them from the hard and cruel times in life, preserving their purity for as long as possible. “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 would be you. Not that you 'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn 't be that, exactly. You 'd just be different, that 's all.”