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Catcher In The Rye Internal Conflict

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The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that was written by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company and was originally written for adults, but became popular among teenagers for its teenage main character, who deals with problems a large number of adolescents face in their transition into adulthood. It is not a difficult book to read, especially considering it is only 234 pages. The story revolves around the protagonist, a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who recently flunked out of a prestigious preparatory school. The conflict of the story is internal, because it revolves around Holden’s struggle between wanting to stay as an innocent child and reject the “phony” world of adults, and his desire to become …show more content…

In The Catcher in the Rye, that decision is when Holden decides to have Phoebe meet him at lunch during her school day. This decision sets up the story for the climax, which happens directly after that. If he did not choose to meet with Phoebe, he would have probably gone through with his crazy plan to hitchhike out west to California. As a result of this choice, Phoebe causes Holden to have an epiphany about the fact that he should not be worrying about trying to grow up super fast and do things he is not ready for. This signifies the end of his emotional hardships, which can be observed through the quote “I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth” (Salinger …show more content…

If the book is read solely on its surface level, it just seems like a book about an annoying teenager who just complains about everything, but the messages it carries are actually profound. For example, near the end of the story Holden is upset by some profane graffiti on the wall at a museum that says “F*** you” (Salinger 224). He is upset by it because he is worried some little kids will see it and wonder what it means, and then be curious enough to find out adn have their innocence stolen. He finds the graffiti multiple times in the museum. The profane graffiti, if looked at beyond the surface level, symbolises the fact that Holden can not do anything to stop little kids from losing their innocence. This connects to the theme of the story, which is that people should not force themselves to grow up when they are not ready yet. Throughout the novel, this theme is emphasized by Holden's love for the innocence of children. Overall, The Catcher in the Rye is an amazing novel to read, and very much deserves its position as a classic of American

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