The Catcher In The Rye Is Holden Caulfield Your Typical Teen

A detailed Summary of The Catcher In The Rye Is Holden Caulfield Your Typical Teen

Everyone has to make choices about what is important to them during life, and often, the time when this is hardest is the teen years. In The Catcher In The Rye , author J.D. Salinger epitomizes the growing pains of these teen years. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a sixteen year old

boy who has many ideas and values typical to teens. He also has characteristics that for teens are not necessarily normal. Salinger uses a train of thought writing which shows the emotions and thoughts, as well as physical actions of Holden. His character is developed just as you would get to know him if you were meeting him. This style is effective in showing his different

characteristics and makes the change of normal to not normal traits more visible.

Looking at his normal side, Holden is rebellious against the world, and despises the fakeness of it. Mainly he hates people. He thinks that rich people are crooks, and that the more expensive the school is that he's attending, the more crooks there are. He says when he goes to visit Mr. Spencer that he's not too crazy about sick people. He doesn't like how Catholics stick together

and he doesn't like intellectuals. He hates the phoniness of people and says, "it drives me cra

talking to Mr. Spencer he informs us of this. "There's a word [grand] I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it." He also hates when people say something twice, yell good luck, and say "Glad to've met you." He hates it when an actor knows he's good, and how football players bash each other all over the place and act like they are supposed to commit suicide or

over the place...as soon as old Maurice opened the doors, he'd see me with the automatic in my hand and start screaming at me..but I'd plug him anyway."

Now, Holden ends up in an mental institution, and rightly so, in my opinion. The funny thing is, or maybe sad, or even odd, is that through the whole book you know that he is at an institution. The purpose of going to an institution is to get better. But Holden's attitude doesn't change at all. Through the whole reality of his insanity, he ends up the same way that he started out- cynical, defiant, and bitter.

If you still don't think that Holden is half a bubble off, here's more evidence. This crosses the line of being bitter and clearly becomes quite cynical. I think maybe Ackley may have thought Holden was a bit odd when he pulled the peak of his hunting hat around to the front, then pulled it

a person as 'that guy' or 'the blond girl', he calls people perverts, screwballs, pimpy- looking guys,whory-looking blondes, dopes, jerks, corny, and ignorant. His hatred is not limited to people though. He also hates cars and cliques, movies and money. He hates the word 'grand'. While

And as if appearing to be cynical wasn't enough, Holden comes right out and tells you, "But I'm crazy. I swear to God I am. About halfway to the bathroom, I sort of started pretending I had a bullet in my guts... Now I was on my way to the bathroom to get a good shot of bourbon or something to steady my

Some common words found in the essay are:
Holden Caulfield, Salinger Holden's, Madison Avenue, Central Park, Ackley Holden, JD Salinger, , Catcher Rye, started talking, mother darling, train writing, hates people,

Approximate Word count = 1243
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English