Analysis JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye A - Z

by Andrew Cooper

The characters, themes, and places of The Catcher in the Rye. The museums, the frozen parks, trying to make small talk with a surly cabdriver, hanging out in a club full of phonies, playing in the snow and deciding not to throw that snowball because everything looks so perfect, spinning tall tales to Ernest Morrow's mother on the train, ducking out of the rain, sneaking into the Caulfield apartment in the dead of night, remembering Jane Gallagher and how she would always keep her kings at the back of the board, leaving the fencing equipment on the subway, staying in crumby hotels...

Genres: Classics

77 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 6, 2018

Reviews

[Izzy. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars* i finally finished this for book club and i will say i enjoyed this book. holden was an interesting main character to follow even if he was a huge hypocrite. the story and events were enjoyable all because it was told by him in first person. not my favorite, but still a good read

[Ava Gillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Catcher and the Rye is an enthralling tale of a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caufield. Holden, who reveals that he has been treated at a mental hospital or sanitorium, imagines himself as a kind of savior who has the ability to protect younger kids from the pains of growing up. He is deeply drawn to children in the midst of his own difficulties transitioning into young adulthood. The story follows Holden as he explores the adult world after being expelled from prep school. I especially enjoyed this classic novel because of its themes of alienation and critique of society, and I highly recommended it to anyone interested.

- Ava Gillan

[Flora Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of the timeless struggle we all must face, as we come to realize how artificial this world is, and embark on Man’s Search for Truth. There is a book I read years ago by Viktor Frankl called Man’s Search for Meaning, although it may not seem at first glance that these two books are nothing alike, I strongly believe the desire of the authors is to seek out our purpose in life while challenging others to do the same.
I feel this book has gotten a bad rap, because of the abrasive language and the open discussion of sex, I fear that those who judge this book too quickly (before reading it all with an open-mind) may miss the point. Holden is a soft hearted teenage trying to figure out right and wrong and where he fits in in this crummy word, while desperately trying to find out what the point of it all is. He is an atheist, but states that he really likes Jesus it’s just all those phonies in the Bible that never do what they should even though they talk a good game, as well as all the preachers who act one way out of the pulpit and “holier than thou” in the pulpit. He wouldn’t even be against Christianity if someone was willing to truly answer his questions, but no one does they just shame him and tell him the old line “don’t question, just believe”. He just wishes to find some authenticity in someone or something and looks for it in all the wrong places. Even when he hires a prostitute he immediately starts wondering what brought this poor girl to this point and ends up just trying to have a conversation with her even though she is throwing herself at him. He’s like, “I thought I could only not do this (have sex) with a ‘nice girl’”, but then he realizes that everyone deserves respect and he begins to feel sorry for this girl.
It really burns me up that like a lot of these types of stories he ends up in an asylum “recovering” from his ordeal. It is so depressing, as if the author is suggesting that he needs to come back to “reality” and that Holden won’t be “cured” until he stops asking the BIG questions and searching for truth and finding another way and become just one of those “big phonies” (complying) according to the societal norms and never being authentic.
Holden is an image of everyone who has looked deep into their own soul and been honest with themselves about who and what they are, he doesn’t know quite how to fix it, but he is searching. I feel like this book needs a sequel, yet I get the way the author ended it (it was masterful). In the last chapter, Holden’s brother asks him what he thinks about all the stuff that happened to him, almost the very last lines of the book read, “If you want to know the truth, I don’t know what I think about it.” I feel like these words are an invitation from the author, he didn’t want to do our thinking for us, Salinger wanted to challenge our beliefs and ask us to take a hard look at it and then ask ourselves “What do you think about all this stuff?”

Favorite quotes below:

...I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve. Everyone says that...It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think something's all true...Sometimes I act a lot older than I am—but people never notice it. People never notice anything. (pg. 13)

Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad. (pg. 67)

The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all...It didn't exactly depress me to think about it...Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway. (pg. 158)

"Did you ever get fed up?" I said. "I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something?" (pg. 169)

You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart. (pg. 181)

"You know what I'd like to be?...You know that song 'If body catch a body comin' through the rye'? I'd like–...Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kid, and nobody's around–nobody bid, I mean–except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff–I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. (ex. of pgs. 224-225)

"This fall I think you're riding for–it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started. (ex. from pgs. 243-244)

"...you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them..." (pg. 246)

It was so nice and peaceful. Then, all of a sudden you'd never guess what I saw on the wall...That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You many think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose. (pg. 264)

[Leah Arbogast · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did and i didn't really like the book that much. It was very hard to understand what was going on at times. It was hard to tell the kind of situation holden was in at first. I thought he was on his own at first. When i understood the book better i liked knowing the situation he was in. I saw how his emotions affected him and his negative coping skills. I related to how he coped with his emotions because it reminded me of a hard time i faced. We face challenges daily and i just wished he would have talked to people sooner about them. I personally wouldn't have read this book

[Dan]

I have no idea why this is or has been called an 'American classic'. I found the novel repetitive and one note. IMO, Holden is an uninteresting character and one dimensional. Sure, I get that he is a flawed person but there are lots of flawed people that are interesting. Holden isn't one of them. I struggled to get halfway into the book and just gave up. I found no joy in reading it and thus called it quits. ...more

[Molly Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

i also want to just be a catcher in the rye.
fav quote:
“the mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”

[Denise Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it a little boring at times.

[Chanel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty ok book. It was pretty slow and I didn't understand it until way after.

[Brooke Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holden Caulfield apologist

[Victoria Byrne · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok, but honestly a waste of time

[Whitney Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a bit to get into but he grew on me ♡