Salinger, J. D. - The Catcher In The Rye

"Confused and frightened and even Sickened by human behaviour," he decides to see Phoebe once more, before running away to the West. But suddenly filled with love for her and the world, he knows he cannot leave. After going home, Holden has a nervous breakdown, but recovers to tell in his own way his story of these two dramatic days and of the experiences and feelings that lie behind them. At the end we have the timeshift into the present, when he is sitting in a sanatorium, and telling his story.

Main Characters

Holden Caulfield: He is the first person narrator and the hero of this book. He's a lonely, compassionate and a very dreamy 16-year old boy, who lives in a world of his own. He is "plagued" by the phoniness of his moral environment.

Stradlater: Holden's roommate. A tall, sporty guy who seems to be very attractive for girls, yet he doesn't really care about other people too much (that is, because he seems to be too concerned about himself).

Ackley: A "phony" guy, "seasoned" with pimples and liked by nobody. He lives next door to Holden and comes over whenever Stradlater is not around (as he can't stand him). Through him we can see to a certain extent, what kind of a guy Holden is, for he is the only one that Ackley come to (> Holden doesn't ostracize him)

Phoebe: Holen's younger sister (6 yrs younger), who is very bright, and also attractive. Holden lik es her above anybody else and really longs to see her. She also likes Holden very much, but is very concerned about him, because of the trouble he gets himself into.

Parallels

In this book, "The Catcher in the Rye" one can recognize parallels to various books such as "Huckleberry Finn" (it is said that Holden is a type of "modern Huck Finn") or "Crazy" (which is also about a boy at a boarding school who doesn't get good marks, and doesn't have a lot of friends), but there are also many parallels between the author and Holden (they both had a tough childhood, are intelligent yet fail at achieving good grades at school). Holden can be seen as a sort of a reflection of the author's life.

Interpretation

Holden isn't only a reflection of the author's life, but should teach us a little bit about life and make us think about life and how we treat others.

My Opinion of the Book

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger is an excellently written book, which is easy to read, and grabs one's attention nearly from right at the beginning. It is written in such a way, that one does indeed associate oneself with Holden, the main character.

Sources

- "The Catcher in the Rye", J.D. Salinger, 1951

- Dictionary to American Literature

- Internet: http/www.fundus.org