Catcher in the Rye

A detailed Summary of Catcher in the Rye

Rejection is the key to self-destruction. Rejection of an individual could possibly cause the mental deterioration (nervous breakdown) of that individual due to the repudiation of society. Ostracization is not always induced by the physical appearance of a person but is sometimes caused by a character flaw. In both J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime the main characters, Holden and Evelyn, feel rejected by society and in isolation turn inward and reject themselves.

The death of Holden Caulfield's younger brother Allie initiates Holden's nervous breakdown. Holden enters an unrecoverable spin of depression spiraling downward to the point of near suicide; "What I really felt like though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out of the window" (a-108) Holden lacks a friend or another compassionate influence to provide him with moral support, "just as one part of Holden drives him forward in his painful quest for a relationship, another deeper part urges his withdrawal."(c-556)

Without a caring husband, Evelyn Nesbit must turn to society for not only mental love, but also physical love; "There s

Holden realizes that he has a problem with being unable to accept anyone as sane and intelligent so he travels to the house of his old English teacher and asks him for help. The teacher Mr. Antolini quotes the phrase "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mature man wants to live humbly for one."(c-123) None of this is any use to Holden, who simply wants to know what makes him find so many people false and dishonorable. In the fragile state Holden is in he needs reassurance and love. However, the love the English teacher shows Holden is misinterpreted because Holden wakes up in the night in horror to find the man stroking his head. Caulfield, believing the act was homosexual and that his teacher is a queer phony, dashes into his clothes and escapes. "Holden's running from Antolini's apartment takes him some distance on the way in his fall from innocence."(c-557) After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally concludes that maybe he was not making a flirty pass at him. Maybe he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is really the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a different point of view.

Holden attempts to justify his isolationism by considering the entire sane population of the world phony; "If you sat around there long enough and heard all the phonies applauding you got to hate everybody in the world"(a-97) Holden makes reference to the word phony forty-four separate times throughout the novel, "each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity."(c-557) Holden is a perfectionist and can not accept blemishes in individuals' personality. He could be considered a hypocrite because of his view of society as imperfect.

Individuals' roles are determined by society, for without society an individual is nothing, an ostracized victim. Due to isolation the individual looks inward upon himself or herself and attempts to find faults in their character and eventually wind up loathing themselves. Society rejected three students wh

Some common words found in the essay are:
Evelyn Nesbit, Please I'm, Thomsen Hill, Antolini Holden, Tateh Nesbit, None Holden, Caulfield's Allie, Allie Holden, Central Park, Similarly Holden, holden attempts, evelyn attempts, taxi cab, cab driver, english teacher, lower class, nervous breakdown, taxi cab driver,

Approximate Word count = 1443
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous