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Holden Caulfield Setting

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Catcher in the Rye is the recounting of the weekend after the main character gets expelled for the umpteenth time from another uppity private school. The name of the main character, "Holden Caulfield," can be broken down in such a way that it reveals the character in question's tendency to hold onto and protect happier memories and childhood innocence from this big, unfair, scary game we call life, without realizing that he would be stunting the growth of those whom he is protecting. The character's first name, "Holden", can be interpreted as a pun for how he wants to "hold on" to better times. Throughout the story, Holden speaks fondly about his childhood summer memories, talking about when he used to play checkers with Jane Gallagher (p.17), or when he, his younger siblings, Phoebe and Allie, went to the park every Sunday (p. 37) to play, and often brushes the more serious moments he has experienced off, instead of going on a tangent like he usually does (p.21). …show more content…

Holden being sent out in an unfamiliar world, without help, is like having to play a board game without knowing how to play. His name relates to him being a player in this game called life because to field means to send a player out into the game. IN this case, Holden is the player, and life is the game. When Holden arrives home to talk with Phoebe, he brings up how he wants to be the “catcher in the rye,” and do nothing but that all day (p. 93).Through this entire story, Holden has been struggling to transitions from a child to an adult and wonders how ducks know to leave the lagoon in the winter and fly south. Holden being sent out in an unfamiliar world, without help, is like having to play a board game without knowing how to

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