Catcher in the Rye

A detailed Summary of Catcher in the Rye


JD salingers book, "Catcher in the rye" captures a few days in the life of Holden Caulfield.

Holden's journey of self descovery begins when he is kicked out of Pencey College.

Holden's feelings, the people he encounters and often his concerns are revealed to the reader through his thoughts.

He adresses the reader as "you" and often repeats what he says, as if he is talking to you.

It is an autobiography with a mix of comedy, satire, drama and adventure. Salinger begins with telling the reader that it is not going to be a typical autobiography.

Holden is kicked out of Pencey a week before the end of school, a letter is sent to his parents - but he leaves earlier and spends three nights hanging around New York city.

The book is set in the 1950s, around Christmas time when it is winter in America.

Before Holden sneaks out of Pencey we are introduced to his classmates Stradlater and Ackley. Holden describes them using his favourite word

From this and other criticism of upper class American society we can clearly see the authors


The physical journey from Pencey and around New york is what shaped Holden's state of mind - made him feel and act the way he did. Physical interactions with others is what started the domino effect - untill disappointment after disappointment Holden snapped.

The last chapter in the book reveals Holdens feelings about the journey. Holden calls this physical journey and emotional descovery - that eventually lead to his mental breakdown

They put him away because they could not handle Holden's behavior just as he could not handle theirs



Some common words found in the essay are:
Ackley Holden, Catcher Rye, College Holden's, , Caulfield Holden's, America Holden, physical journey, catcher rye, kicked pencey, marvelous idea,

Approximate Word count = 729
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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