In this novel J.D. Sallinger chooses a different type of protagonist for a bildungsroman in Holden Caulfield. Holden’s seldom goal, some would say, is to resist the process of maturity itself. His thoughts about the Natural Museum of History show, he is scared of change and is in fear of complexity. We learn of Holden’s fear of growing up and entering adulthood.
The struggle of adolescence combined with the themes of loss and isolation through one Holden Caulfield. This coming of age story of Holden in J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is a famous all american masterpiece. Within the book, Salinger’s is known for his frequent and detailed use of symbolism from Holden’s hat representing his shield and childlike vulnerability to the ducks in Central Park as a reflection of his subconscious mind trying to get help. One famous symbolism is the small detail of Holden’s right hand, specifically his inability to make a fist gives a window into his character and reflects his current state of mind and his path to adulthood. Psychologically analysing Holden, his fist is an important symbolic indicator of
J. D Salinger´s masterfully created coming-of-age novel,” A Catcher in the Rye " takes place on Pencey Prep School and New York City during the early 1950´s, when the world is just recovering from the physical and psychological damage WWII caused. Holden Caulfield, a failed student at every school he attends, is still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. Holden is not only the main character, but he is also the narrator of the story. “A Catcher in the Rye” is not only a timeless classic that will live forever in the memories of whoever reads it, but it is also an incredible representation of the hardships of a common American teenager, an asset that few novels can brag about possessing.
In The Catcher in the Rye, it is observed that the novel is about grief. There are 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and finally acceptance. The Catcher in the Rye shows how Holden goes through the grieving process. By the end of the novel it shows how Holden has reached closure or a way to let go. Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by.
Teenagers often attempt to find happiness through the acceptance of others, as they believe it will make their life whole. In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist and narrator of the novel is a sixteen year old junior who is expelled from his school Pencey Prep for failing 4 out of 5 classes. Holden Caulfield seeks acceptance from the people surrounding him, which affects him both positively and negatively. In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, seeks acceptance from those around him when he goes home to look for Phoebe, when he goes to his old teacher expecting pity, and when he visits the nuns because he heard what good people they are.
Why do teenagers always face so many problems and feel confused about the world? After reading both Black Boy and The Catcher in the Rye, in which the protagonists deal with difficult situations during the coming-of-age process, I start to believe that life's struggles can force these teenagers to coming-of-age and affect their perspective of the world. In Black Boy, Richard's dad left him as he was four and he has had a very weak connection with his family members as he grows up. Most of the time Richard seemed to feel lonely and lost. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a 16-year-old boy who has been kicked out of another fancy prep school for failing 4 out of 5 subjects.
Second, J.D. Salinger uses the same three parts of voice: simile, tone, and diction in order to create a setting that Holden views as shabby and run down. The Catcher in the Rye is a story about loner Holden Caulfield who recounts his past few days where he was kicked out of school, left to visit New York, and shares his thoughts on almost everything in his everyday life, such as women and his dreams to be a catcher in the rye. First, to establish the shabby setting, Salinger uses similes. When Holden travels to his former teacher's home, he sidetracks from his original thought to complain about the bed he is sitting on.
Rhetorical Précis 1: In his essay, “ Love and Death in The Catcher in the Rye” (1991), Peter Shaw claimed that Holden behavior and way of thinking is due to common abnormal behavior in a certain time for teenagers (par. 10). Shaw supported his assertion of the young Holden by comparing the literary culture of the 1950s and how Holden’s fictional character fits within the contemporary Americans novels as a, “ sensitive, psychological cripples but superior character” (par. 3). Shaw’s purpose was to show that Holden’s sensitive and psychological behavior is not abnormal, but such like stated by Mrs.
On course to the final destination, a character named Holden was created by J.D. Salinger in the book, the Catcher in the Rye to symbolize a soul, privileged by the rich, wandering through a black mass of society, that the soul does not want to be part of but eventually became part of that society. Holden has lost the battle against the phonies and his ostracized life of existentialism had led him to his downfall of becoming a phony and an
J.D. Salinger, the author of this story, writes and explains the life of a 16 year old boy growing up in the 1940s in New York City. The Catcher in the Rye is about alienation and the lack of acceptance Holden receives from his peers and his family. Due to Holden not applying himself academically, he has failed out of many high-class boarding schools. The main character Holden is assumed to be writing his story from a mental institution, but after finishing chapter