The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, describes a period of time in a young boys life. This boy is repeatedly gets kicked out of schools and he does again in the beginning of the book. He leaves a few days before Christmas vacation starts, before his parents get notice that he has gotten kicked out of his school. He doesent want to go home early, so he just goes back to Manhattan and tries to survive on his own. Holden Caulfield is a 16 year old boy. One character trait he has is insecurity. He seems insecure due to the fact that he repeats himself often.
It seems as though he feels people aren’t listening to him. He is also very lonely. He states that when one of his friends, Luce, he meets to have a few drinks with, says he has to leave. Holden is also unstable. Throughout the book, his mental, physical and emotional state decreases. He gets beat up, goes through a breakdown, and gets very sick. Another trait Holden has is his insistence to care for the vonerable. Examples of this is the way he cares for and worries about Pheobe, his old friend Jane Gallager, all young children, and the ducks in he pond at Central Park.
One theme of this book could be you can’t have control over everything. Holden wants everything to stay the same always. One example of that is when he talks about The Museum of Natural History. He also wants to be able to protect everyone, especially anything or anyone vonerable. This is shown when he says to his sister Pheobe that he wants to be the catcher in the rye when she asks him what he wants to do in his life. Holden realizes that he can’t have control over everything when his younger sister tells him to shut up.
He realizes that things have changed and she has gotten older and changed herself, and he can’t make anything go back to the way it used to be. I felt that The Catcher in the Rye was a very good book. One thing that was confusing was how the main character seems to make a complete circle with his life. In the end of the book, it seems as though he is in the same position the he was in in the beginning of the book. I enjoyed this book especially because I could identify with many of the main characters thoughts and feelings about life, people etc.
