Catcher In The Rye Themes

However in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the main character in the book, criticizes almost everyone for things that they can’t control. In this book, Holden acts to be older than he is,by drinking, smoking, and even hiring a prostitute (which he doesn’t end up doing anything with). The reason that Holden does this because of his insecurity about where he fits in the world.

From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.

So, that 's something about how Phoebe and Stradlater teach Holden about the coming of age. To Start, Stradlater teaches Holden that he shouldn 't be childish and not to act like a child. A quote that I think that has to mean is that this story explains how Stradlater and Holden get into a fight. ¨Why the hell dontcha shut up when I tell ya to?¨ he said. He sounded pretty nervous.

For example, near the end of the novel when Holden is talking with Phoebe, he describes his desire “to come out of somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 172). This shows Holden’s want to “catch” or protect children. This brings Holden’s good qualities and compassion to the reader’s attention.

He finds looking back at those resolutions somewhat entertaining. Krapp simultaneously seems to be bitter toward his younger self, since he did not change. Deep down he wishes he had changed, but this was impossible now due to how events had transpired. The Krapps however, are all individual people.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses Holden Caulfield to narrate his perspective of life through the voice of a typical teen. The use of key symbols such as the catcher in the rye itself, plays a significant role in developing the importance of innocence. The symbol of a catcher in the rye, directly correlates to Holden Caulfield as he hopes to become the catcher in order to fulfil his dream of preserving the

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text's major themes. One of the prominent themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and one of great interest to the narrator himself, would be the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs in his reluctance to interact with the living world, as his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded with. Holden becomes increasingly attracted to the idea and comes close to obsession, as his mind is flooded with thoughts of death and disappearance, as well as questions which are revealed throughout the novel.

Nobody did" (41). In the quote above Holden calls out the Navy guy for being phony because he is dating Lillian Simmons even though he didn 't like her much. Therefore, he is being someone he isn 't and lying to himself.

Ray Bradbury's short story “The Silent Towns” presents many different themes and outlooks. One theme the story establishes is that “Just because you start off feeling lonely and sad, does not mean you’ll end up feeling lonely and sad,you can be lonely and happy because of there's always a choice that you make that gives you your end result”. Firstly, Walter Gripp deals with an internal conflict in the beginning,where he's wondering why he's so alone seeing the town is really dead silent,and his internal conflict with himself makes him feel lonely and sad. Walter drew a glass of beer and sobbed gently in the bar and said “Why”, he said “I’m all alone. He entered the elite theater to show himself a film,to distract his mind from his isolation”

The Catcher in the Rye is often categorized as a coming of age novel and its title is directly related to Holden Caulfield 's longing to preserve the childlike innocence of those about whom he cares. Holden explains that he would be the “catcher in the rye,” saving children from falling off of a cliff—a

Even though he is skeptical of people he considers phony, such as Marty who lies about seeing a movie star, his negativity and judgement of others usually goes a lot farther than what is considered normal. For example, he doesn’t get serious in relationships with others, because he always seems to find flaws in everyone. Another example is when Holden’s history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand why he refuses to put in any effort. Spencer feels bad about failing Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him and possibly influence him positively. However, Holden gets upset and starts talking poorly of him once he hears this, and later excuses himself with a lie he made up to leave, showing both his self-defence mechanism and his skepticism towards people he liked.

in original). When Holden calls Carl Luce, an acquaintance whom Holden hates, as a last resort, he comes the closest to the truth about himself. By telling him “your mind is immature” (147), Luce acknowledges that Holden is in need of psychoanalysis or some such professional help, but, in true Holden fashion, he laughs it off. Instead, Holden starts formulating the idea that he will solve his problems by retreating to “a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and stay there for the rest of my life” (199).

Lonlieness is something that everyone deals with, but in of mice and men it is so common that it is almost normal, people can feel lonely for different reasons. It just happens to be that in this book it is usually because you can’t socialize with other people or because no one wants to socialize with you, in this book three characters that struggled with lonleyness was Curlys wife, crooks, and Lennie. Lennis and curlys wife wernt lonely because they had no one to talk to like crooks but because Lennie was stupid and thatisolated him from a lot of things and curlys wife was married to someone that didn’t love her. Point is lonelieness is a big issue and a lot of

Holden’s environment also had an effect on his personality. Holden would move from school to school and from place to place and would not feel a thing due to the fact that he would not become attached to anything. He states “This is about the fourth school I've gone to” (Salinger 9). This illustrates how Holden moves a lot which results in detachment due to on how he will leave it eventually. Holden tries to not become attached to things because he wants to avoid the future pain of loss.

Society is a changing at unimaginable rates. Rates that can be scary for any individual because they do not want to be left behind. One slip could be the beginning of a compounding problem. A problem that could stick with them for the rest of their life. This problem makes life unpredictable and chaotic.