The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Setting: Early 1950's. The beginning of the novel takes place at Pency prep school. Holden leaves Pency and goes to various and sundry places in New York City.

Background: Holden is in a mental hospital. The entire novel is written in flashback. The reader does not know this until the end of the novel. Holden fails out of Pency. It is not the first school that has expelled him. Holden has a younger sister, Phoebe; an older brother, D.B. who is a screenplay writer in Hollywood; and a younger brother, Allie who died years ago of leukemia. After getting kicked out of Pency, Holden must go home and tell his parents. Instead of deciding to face them with his failure, he wanders around the streets of New York City, and comes into contact with some interesting characters.

Major Characters:

• Holden Caulfield- the narrator
• Robert Ackley- One of Holden's acquaintances at Pency.
• Stradlater- Holden's roommate whom he envies.
• Mr. Antolini- teacher who lets Holden stay at his apartment.
• Phoebe Caulfield- Holden's ten-year old sister.
• Jane- an old friend of Holden, who dates Stradlater.
• Mr. Spencer- teacher at Pency who informs Holden of his expulsion.

Plot Summary: Holden Caulfield is a 16-year-old prep school student who has failed out of school two weeks before Christmas. Several days before he's expected home for Christmas vacation, he leaves school planning to spend some time on his own in New York City, where he lives. Though Holden is friendly with many people at school, and though he has several friends in New York, he is constantly lonesome and in need of someone who will sympathize with his feelings of alienation. The person Holden feels closest to is his ten year old sister Phoebe, but he can't call her for fear of letting his parents know he left school. He spends his time with a variety of people, but can't make meaningful contact with any of them. After a day of futility, he sneaks into his home to see Phoebe, but she disappoints him by being annoyed at his being expelled from school. Holden decides the the only solution to his overwhelming problem is to run away and establish a new identity as a deaf-mute who will not need to communicate with anyone. On the verge of nervous collapse, Holden changes his mind and decides to rejoin his family. He then enters a hospital not far from Hollywood, and he is telling us his story while in this institution. At the novel's close, Holden isn't sure whether he'll be able to handle things better when he leaves the institution, and he is sorry that he told his story at all.

Possible Themes:

• innocence- Holden tries to protect the innocence of children.
• family- Holden's relationships with his parents and siblings have deteriorated.
• loss- Holden lost his brother, Allie.
• betrayal- Holden constantly feels betrayed throughout the novel.
• alienation- Holden feels alienated from society.
• adolescence- Holden is an adolescent in search for an identity.
• maturity- Holden is very immature, but believes that he is mature.
• mental deterioration- Holden ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
• failure- Holden is constantly being kicked out of schools.
• sexual experiences/frustration- Holden is a typical hormonal teenage male, yet he doesn't have sex with the prostitute when she offers.

Key Issues:

1. Holden is alienated from society. He feels that no one understands him and that everyone is a "phony". He thinks that no one is honest, and everybody wants to be something else. He feels that the only person who understands him is Phoebe. He does not have relationships with girls, or anyone because he feels that he is the only genuine person in the world..

2. Holden has to deal with loss. He loses his brother, Allie, to leukemia, and feels a tremendous loss. Allie wrote poems on an old baseball glove, and Holden cherishes this, and speaks about it in great detail. His brother D.B. lives in Hollywood, and is a screenwriter. Holden regards him as a "phony" and has little contact with him. He regards D.B. as a figurative prostitute, who writes only to make money, and not for intellectual redemption.

3. Another issue in Catcher is betrayal. Holden constantly feels betrayed, and that is a possible cause of his problems. Early in the novel, Mr. Spencer betrays him. He was one of the few teachers at Pency that Holden liked. Spencer broke the news of Holden's expulsion, and Holden felt betrayed. Stradlater betrays Holden by dating his best friend, Jane, whom Holden also had a crush on. When Holden returns home to see Phoebe, she is disappointed in him that he failed out of Pency. He thinks that she should accept him unconditionally, so he feels betrayed.

Life Applications:

Holden is an atypical teenager. He is alienated more than most adolescents. He also is in the midst of an identity crisis. All teenagers go through these phases, so everyone can relate to Holden to some extent. Holden is socially inept. Although he has many friends and acquaintances, he can not form lasting, meaningful friendships. Most teenagers, although they do have insecurities, are able to function in relationships.

Holden does not mature through the novel. He actually regresses back to a child-like state of mind. He is constantly dwelling on the death of his younger brother, and avoids his parents, and feels like the only person he can talk to is his ten year old sister.

Holden holds Allie and Phoebe in such high esteem because they are innocent. Holden's goal is to protect innocence in the world. When he hears the "Catcher in the Rye" song being sung by a little boy, he decides that he wants to be the person that keeps children from falling off a cliff. That cliff symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood, and he wants to keep them as innocent children, not phony adults.