The Catcher in the Rye

Background of the Novel

The Catcher in the Rye is J. D. Salinger’s (1919-2010) only novel and was first published in 1951. It was an immediate success and skyrocketed Salinger’s fame. Before this novel, he had published many short stories in various magazines, and some of them contain the rudiments of this novel. He was a person who didn’t like fame, and for this reason, after the publishing of this novel went to a reclusive life. In his later years, he didn’t publish new works and avoided contact with the media.

Salinger didn’t ever graduate from any university. He attended a fiction writing class at Columbia in 1939. This was the impulse that strengthened his writing skills, appearing in The Catcher in the Rye. He was enlisted in the US Army and fought on different war fronts. It was the time when he worked on the early drafts of this novel.

There are autobiographical traces in this novel. There can be much resemblance seen between Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel, and Salinger. Caulfield, like Salinger, fails and is unable to reach the college. There are several other references to his personal life in fictional guise. He participated in the second world war, and this had an impact on him.

He developed certain opinions regarding life, and these are expressed in the novel. He believes and shows in this novel that adulthood is the acceptance of the surrender to the grossness and meanness of life. He didn’t think responsibilities as true responsibilities and thinks of them as a sort of escape from reality to shallowness. He considers this a change from a genuine personality to a faked one.

He is cynical of the society and its standards because there is a difference between its narrative and deeds. An example of it is the second world war when the soldiers were told that it was a war to end all the wars. But it gave birth to many other wars, and this proved the distrust of society. This distrust is exhibited in this novel through the mouth of the protagonist.

It is a work of unprecedented freshness and uniqueness in the American canon, and there are not many influences known that had impacts on this work. He met Ernst Hemingway during the war, and scholars think if he had any impacts on Salinger. This work is ranked as one of the best coming-of-age stories, which makes the reader perceive the world differently. In Salinger’s short story, ‘This Sandwich has no Mayonnaise,’ he prepares the ground for this novel and suggests its story years before it came to publishing.

There is a focus on mental illness, which shows this problem worsening after the second world war. It shows the anger of the young and their dissatisfaction with their society. Along with gaining acclaim from the reader, this work has been the target of unjust criticism. It was rejected by the first publisher, but Salinger soon found another publisher, and it was published.

Some critics have called it obscene, but still, it is read widely by young readers. It is both a beloved and controversial novel. It has topped the lists of banned novels, and the latest of it is being banned in schools in Washington, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida in 2010. It is celebrated by young readers as a coming-of-age rite.

The Catcher in the Rye Summary

Chapter I

It opens with Holden Caulfield, who is the first-person narrator. He shows his boredom with his past life and refuses to discuss it. He describes the nonsense events that happened last year during Christmas, and he left his house to come and live with his brother, who is a writer at Hollywood. He relates his story of how he came to leave school on Saturday. He was expelled from Pencey Prep, this school is a respected institution, and it claims that it gives society enlightened and clear-thinking men.

He remembers how he watched a football match from a hill. He stood on the hill near the stadium and thought about the fewer number of girls who resided in the precincts of Pencey. The only girl that he liked was the headmaster’s daughter Selma Thurmer. He was a team manager of a football team and lost the team’s gear trying to read the map. He then left for Mr. Spenser’s house to meet him before leaving school.

Chapter II

He arrives at old Spenser’s home and is ushered to his room. He calls him by his last name Caulfield. He tries his best to show politeness, but Spenser is rude, and this behavior annoys him. His scolding tone is annoying to Holden. While Spenser is trying his best to treat Holden like the worst student, he tries to correct him.

Holden tells him that the incidents he is describing are about the time when he was sixteen, and now he is seventeen. Holden explains his behavior that sometimes he behaves like mature people while sometimes he behaves as if he is thirteen years old. Spenser continues his criticizing, and Holden keeps listening. He tries to fulfill Spenser’s expectations by coming up to say what he expects from him.

He listens to Spenser dumbly and pretends if he is listening to all that is said but thinks about Central Park ducks. He is asked whether he cares about his future, and he responds with an excuse by saying that he is going through a phase, and it’s hard for him to behave the way he is expected to do.

Chapter III

Holden confesses that he is a terrible liar that the reader would ever have seen. He tells Spenser that he is going to the gym and instead goes to his dormitory. He wears the red hunting suit that he has brought with him from the city and sits to read a novel. His side-roommate, Robert Ackley, enters his room. He is a badly groomed person and doesn’t know the etiquettes. He disturbs him with his incessant talk. Due to his pestering, he pulls his hat over the eyes.

Ackley now starts insulting his hat. He starts discussing his expulsion. He then demands Holden to get him scissors so that he can trim his nails. While getting the scissor, his roommate, Stradlater’s heavy tennis racket falls over his head and again makes him the target of Ackley’s mocking. After getting the scissors, he starts saying bad of Stradlater while Holden tries to defend him. He continues it until Stradlater comes to the dorm. He greets Ackley with a pretending friendliness, and he responds with a grunt.

Chapter IV

Stradlater goes to the sinks to have a shave, and Holden follows him there. Ackley is a contemptible person and shows his disgust for Stradlater because he thinks he focuses much on his appearance and is a narcissist. Stradlater asks Holden for a favor to write his English composition assignment for him, which is about the description of a place.

Holden is bored and starts dancing on the stone floor in front of the mirror. Stradlater starts laughing because he is imitating a persona. He imitates a young boy whose father wants to send him to Oxford while he is interested in dancing. Stradlater tells him about his date and tells him that his partner Jean Gallagher knew him. Holden clarifies the name and tells him that she is Jane Gallagher, and she has been his neighbor one summer. Stradlater then tells him that he won’t tell her about his expulsion.

Chapter V

Holden and his fellow student, Mal Brossard, take their dinner and decide to watch a movie. Holden invites Ackley to accompany them, and he readily agrees. They board a bus to the movie theater. They watch a movie, eat in the town, play pinball and then return to the dormitory.

Ackley again shows his bad grooming and, despite Holden’s hints, sits in his bed. He starts talking about a sexual encounter that he had last summer. Annoyed by his jabber, Holden gets him out of the room. He then sits and starts working on Stradlater’s paper. He writes about his younger brother Allie’s baseball glove that he keeps.

He describes Allie as an intelligent child who is interested in poetry and a good baseball player. He used to write poetry with green ink on his glove so that he can read it while he is free during the game. He died of Leukemia when he was eleven. At that time, Holden was eleven, and due to unbearable grief, he broke garage windows with his fists.

Chapter VI

Holden waits for Stradlater’s return and is worried because he knows he is an unscrupulous person. He returns and picks up the assignment. He reads and strokes his chest showing his narcissism. When he completes the reading, he is angry with Holden because it doesn’t describe a place; rather, it describes a person. At listening to this, Holden takes hold of the assignment and tears it into pieces.

He then asks him about Jean at which Stradlater responds that he spent the day in the coach’s car, and they got a little late. He forces him for details, but Strad refuses to tell. He is annoyed and reprimands him for taking advantage of a girl of whom he doesn’t know even the first name. He is pinned to the ground by Strad and beaten, his nose bleeds. He then leaves, and he wears his red hat to see himself in the mirror.

Chapter VII

He leaves his room and enters, stumbling to Ackley’s room. He asks him for permission to lie in Ackley’s roommate’s bed. It is dark, and he tells him that he fought Strad because he called Ackley a lousy person. He lies in bed while Ackley snores.

He thinks about Jane and Strad silently lying in bed. He can’t bear the silence. He wakes him up, and they argue. He leaves his room and can’t stand his silent dorm and thus leaves for a cheap hotel to stay. He wants to spend a few days there before he can face his parents.

Chapter VIII

He goes to the train station and there cleans blood from his nose with snow. He boards a train for the city. When the train stops at a station, a woman boards the train. She is a middle-aged person and sees the Pencey stickers on his suitcase. She asks him if he is at Pencey. He responds in affirmative. She tells him that her son, Ernest Morrow, is also at Pencey.

He thinks this person a jerk but praises him.  He introduces himself with a fake name. She asks him about his untimely leave, and he responds that he is doing so due to an emergency. She invites him to her home in summer, but he refuses and tells her that he intends to go to South America then.

Chapter IX

He arrives in the city and wants to talk to someone, but he wants to find someone who won’t tell his parents. He takes a taxi to go to a hotel and irritates the cab driver with his questions. He reaches the Edmont Hotel. It is a cheap residence and has ugly rooms. His luggage is carried to a room, and from there, he looks to other rooms, and the sight disgusts him.

He considers talking to Jane on the phone but gives up this idea. He then remembers a stripper’s phone number and calls her. She refuses to come there because he sounds younger.

Chapter X

He wants to talk to someone, and then Phoebe, his sister, comes to his mind. He considers calling her but knows that his parents would pick the phone. He describes Phoebe; she is a young writer. She is ten years old and writes stories. She leaves them unfinished, having no logical end.

He changes his clothes and comes to the hotel’s club, which is called the Lavender room. He tries to persuade the waiter to sell him an Alcoholic drink. He then comes to three women who are in their thirties and have come from Seattle. He asks with one, and the other two laugh. They have come to New York to see the movie stars.

They take a drink together and don’t offer to pay for his drink. He pays his own bill and thinks of them out-towners who are excited to see the city.

Chapter XI

He exits the Lavender Room and remembers the days when he and Jane played golf together. He remembers the time when he kissed her, she didn’t let him kiss on the mouth, and he did it on her face.  She wasn’t beautiful, but he liked him because she appreciated Allie’s mitt and had a reading habit.

He thinks that she wouldn’t have allowed Stradlater to exceed his limits. He is bored at this place and leaves for Ernie’s club.

Chapter XII

Holden takes a cab, and it drives through the empty streets. He is desirous to talk to Phoebe but can’t. He then asks the driver about Central Park’s ducks, and he tells him that he doesn’t know about it. He tells him about the fish there that survive getting their food through pores when the lake is frozen.

He reaches Ernie’s and sees a lot of college and preps school students there listening to Ernie. He considers them jerks who don’t understand or are able to appreciate music. One of his acquaintance’s friend Lillian Simmons recognizes him and introduces him to her date, who is a ‘manly’ man. He is bored by their talk and excuses to take leave and leave the club.

Chapter XIII

He is back to his hotel and is wearing his red hat. The elevator operator offers to send a woman to his room, and he agrees. He sits in his room and in a little while the prostitute comes there. She is doubtful about his age and expresses it. She takes off her clothes and sits in his lap.

He doesn’t want to have any physical interaction with her but bears her as she continues her dirty talk. He tells her that he has recently had surgery in his “clavichord.” He is afraid to make love to her and wants to send her away as soon as possible. She asks for ten dollars, but he pays five, and she leaves.

Chapter XIV

He lies in his bed and feels depressed. He thinks about Allie with whom he used to talk on such occasions. He used to tell him to take out his bike, and then they would meet at Billy Fallon’s house. He remembers once he had prevented Allie from a trip and now fantasizes about taking him along.

In a little while, there is a knock on the door, and when he opens it, he sees the prostitute and the elevator operator standing in front of him. They have come to take the remaining five dollars from him. They force him and take five dollars from his wallet. The operator punches him in the stomach and leaves. He lies in his bed, fantasizing about it as a bullet shot and thinks he avenges it with six shots. He sleeps, thinking about revenge.

Chapter XV

He sleeps all night and wakes up late, at ten. He wants to talk to Jane but instead calls Sally, and she agrees to meet him at a show. Once he considered her an innocent and intelligent girl, but she also turned out to be a deceitful one. He takes a cab for Grand Central Station, where he will store his baggage, he intends to go back home on Tuesday.

He sits at a sandwich bar to take his breakfast. Two nuns come and sit near him. They take a simple breakfast, which is coffee and toasts. He feels guilty for the luxury he is having and gives them a small sum of money as charity. They discuss literature with him, and he is amazed at how do they read such sensual things and don’t feel any desire for it.

Chapter XVI

Holden visits a record store and tries to find a record that Phoebe would like. On the way, he comes across a church where people are coming and going back. He is cheered up there, but suddenly he is depressed again. He finds the record and leaves to give it Phoebe. He buys a ticket for Sally and himself to watch a drama, though he doesn’t like Dramas.

He goes to Central Park and asks children of her age that where she is. There is a classmate of Phoebe and is told that she would be in ‘The Museum of Natural History.’ He remembers his days there when he used to go there with his classmates. He heads for the museum but changes his mind.

Chapter XVII

Sally arrives and greets him in a phony manner. They go to the theater, and at the intermission, she meets a person there she has met once. They talk as if they had known each other for years, and this irritates Holden. After the play, they leave the theater, and he asks Sally to be out with him on camping, and when they run out of money, they will get married. She talks like adults, and this annoys him. He shouts at her, and she leaves.

Chapter XVIII

He thinks about calling Jane to have a dance with him and finally decides. But his call is not answered. He phones Carl Luce; he has been his acquaintance when he has attended Whooton with him. He then goes to Radio City Music Hall and watches the show going on there. He is disgusted at the putrid, phony stuff there and leaves.

He leaves for the bar to meet Luce. He remembers his elder brother D.B and his war days. He imagines serving in the war with people like those around him and thinks he would better sit on top of a nuclear bomb.

Chapter XIX

He arrives at the bar where he has told Luce to come. He doesn’t like this place and waits for him. Luce talks about flits, and Holden thinks he is gay. He arrives, and Holden wants to get advice about sex. Luce refuses and tells him to consult a psychoanalyst.

Chapter XX

He stays at the bar till late and then wets his head with water to reduce the effect of drinking. He is told by the bar employees to leave for home, but he sits there and weeps. He then leaves for Central Park and watches ducks. He breaks the record he has bought. He then fantasizes about dying from Pneumonia and imagines his aunts and cousins coming to his funeral.

Chapter XXI

Holden arrives at his apartment and heads for D.B’s room, where Phoebe likes to sleep. He stays there for a while, smoking and then awakes her. She tells him that their parents are out for a party. He shows her the broken record, and she accepts it as a gift. She comes to know that he has been expelled, and this news saddens her. He tells her that he will work on a ranch.

Chapter XXII

He tries to justify his decision and tells her about the things he didn’t like. She questions him what it was that he liked, and he doesn’t respond satisfactorily. Finally, he tells her that he doesn’t want to step into adulthood.

Chapter XXIII

He phones his teacher Mr. Antolini and asks if he can come there, which he accedes. He smokes, and suddenly his parents appear. He hides in the closet, and Phoebe tells her mother that she tried a puff. He then asks her for some money which she gives, and he slips out.

Chapter XXIV

He arrives at Antolini’s apartment, and there they discuss the reasons for his expulsion. They talk late at night, and then he goes to sleep on the couch. He then wakes up in the dark and finds Antolini sitting near the couch and patting his head. He takes it as homoerotic and leaves his apartment, telling him that he has to fetch his baggage from the station. He believes it was pervert stuff that happened to him.

Chapter XXV

He had slept on a bench in Grand Central and wakes up there. He fantasizes about life at a cabin as an ordinary worker and marrying a beautiful deaf girl. He fantasizes about keeping his children away from the world. He leaves a note for Phoebe to meet him at the museum. She comes there and asks if he really meant goodbye. He affirms, and she follows him. He wants her to go, but she doesn’t leave him alone.

Chapter XXVI

This chapter is about a monologue that relates the days before Christmas. Holden doesn’t want to discuss all that happened, wants to know about it. In the same manner, Holden can’t answer these questions. He advises the readers not to discuss anything with everybody, and he regrets his telling of the story to everybody. He advises the reader not to share because one starts missing everybody.

The Catcher in the Rye Characters Analysis

Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of the novel. The story he describes had taken place a year ago when he was sixteen years old. He retells of the days when he was coming of age and had madman experiences. He belongs to a financially stable family and is a sensitive, thoughtful person. He is attracted by stories, either true or false because these are individual experiences and help the reader make sense of life.

He isn’t able to stay at a single school and is expelled because he can’t put up with pretense and deceit. He seems disinterested in adult life because it seems dull to him and hates its monotony. He senses what is about to come in the future and isn’t mature yet, so he is confused and can not decide what to do. He is an unreliable narrator, though he is relatable. He has been through many traumas, and his description of things makes the readers feel, understand, sympathize, identify themselves with him.

He is a judgmental person and compares people around him to his own standards. He doesn’t want to change with people but evolves throughout the novel. He is a secretive person and acts like an extrovert at a single time. His personality is complicated. He shows symptoms of nostalgia, as evident from his memories of his younger brother and desire to contact Jane.

Phoebe Caulfield

Phoebe is Holden’s younger sister and confidante. She is adored by her brother and thinks of her as a possible replacement of his younger brother Allie. She shows traits that are similar to Allie; for instance, she is interested in literature, loves music, and has a close connection with Holden. Her brother speaks of her being quirky and showing creative traits.

She, for some reason, doesn’t like her middle name and thinks about coming up with a new one. She likes dancing, writes diaries, and is the perfect embodiment of the joyous childhood that Holden imagines. Holden has named her ‘Old Phoebe,’ and he much loves her endearing ways. Phoebe is the only person Holden trusts.

Though she is a child, she is much more mature than her brother and shows sagacity. She shows interest in her studies and career. She expresses it when she asks Holden about what he intends to do in his life. This shows that she is a foresighted person. Her maturity is exhibited by her advice, which she gives Holden. She tells him to face the traumas and horrible experiences not to escape.

Allie Caulfield

Allie is Holden’s younger brother. He has died of Leukemia, and his death has grieved Holden much. His death has created a big space in his life because the death of a loved one is not easily forgettable. Probably due to his death, Holden has encountered the question of existence and fears to face it. He is probably afraid of the answers and doesn’t want to search for them. He wants to find escape in suicide and fantasizes about this idea because he thinks that it can be a possible solution.

Allie is a red-haired boy, and probably, for this reason, Holden uses a red hat. He is loved by his older brother because he is a creative boy and loves poetry. He is an intelligent and affable person, and for this reason, Holden doesn’t want to forget it. He thinks if he was alive, he would have been his support. He was the one whom he thinks to be fit to be a companion and could have helped him get out of the mess he has created.

Holden finds comfort in his memories and uses them as support when he finds the world dark around him. He uses them as a lifeline at the time of exhaustion, grief, and terror.

D.B Caulfield

D.B is Holden’s elder brother. He has served in the second war and has been through trauma. He is a talented person and serves as a writer in Hollywood. He is not clearly described in the novel, but there are traces of his personality scattered in the novel. He is a caring brother and wants to know what bothers Holden.

Holden doesn’t like his job because he thinks he is wasting his talent. He thinks that the works and characters he creates are phony and not originally human. He is considered by Holden as a person who is selling his talent. This shows that he is a pragmatic person because he didn’t waste his life after trauma by living his life purposelessly like Holden, who wants to escape.

Mr. Antolini

Mr. Antolini is Holden’s former English teacher, and he is the only person who he looks forward to a bit of advice. He understands the complications of the teenage and doesn’t lecture him for his failures. He is the only adult in the novel who listens to Holden and his problems. He is not considered by Holden as ‘phony.’

He doesn’t judge, nor does he order him to complete his homework; instead, he believes in dialogue to understand people. He believes that education provides an insight into a meaningful life. He advises Holden to read as much as he can so he can cope with the problems he is facing now and those who are to come later.

Sally Hayes

Sally is a typical teenager who knows how to deal with people. She wants to be experienced in reaching her ends, and for this purpose, according to Holden, she is phony. She is stepping into the adult world and knows how to act at this age. She has dated Holden in the past, but now she behaves differently in the theater. When asked about marriage, she tells him that she will think about it after college. From her character, it is evident that she is a pragmatic person.

Stradlater

He is Holden’s roommate at Pencey. He is the most influential in Holden’s life of the people around him. He is a good looking and confident person. He behaves sensibly, and his moves are in accordance with the need. He is successfully stepping into adult life. He is Holden’s foil, they are roommates and in clear contrast to each other. One behaves like adults while the other behaves like a child, and his decisions are foolish. Holden doesn’t like him, and quarrels with him but still looks forward to his approval.

Ackley

He is Holden’s side-roommate at Pencey. He is a grown boy, and his actions are that of adults. He is an irritating person and badly groomed. He doesn’t know the etiquette and is often a source of discomfort to those around him.

Horwitz

Horwitz is a cab driver. He drives Holden to Ernie’s Club. He thinks that fish in Central Park survive in winters because they get their food through pores.

Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield

They are Holden’s parents. Holden’s father is a lawyer and is seen only in his thoughts; he doesn’t appear in the novel. His mother is shown in the novel as a loving person. She still grieves for Allie’s death. She, in contrast to her husband, appears in the novel.

Jane Gallagher

Jane is Holden’s former neighbor. She is dating Holden’s roommate. Holden respects her because he thinks of her as a genuine person.

Luce

Luce is a student advisor and tells the younger students that he is sexually experienced but doesn’t know much.

Lillian Simmons

She is D.B’s friend and sees Holden at Ernie’s. She dates a person much older than her. 

Sunny

Sunny is a prostitute and is sent to Holden’s room by the elevator operator. She is tired and wants Holden to do what he wants so that she can leave.

Themes in The Catcher in the Rye

Phoniness

Moving from childhood to adult life, Holden notices hypocrisy, shallowness, inauthenticity, and fakeness, which he names as phony. It is usual in our where the majority of the adult relations are based on lies. Everyone tries to make every possible gain out of a relationship, and this is the basis of all human interactions. This irritates Holden and doesn’t want to change with it. He wants to be different and resists against it. He wants to change all the material products of selfishness. He wants to make it change into true human relationships, which are pure and unpolluted.

Alienation and Identity

Entering adult life, the majority of teenage persons face problems fitting into society. They feel alienated, as shown in the case of Holden. They feel estranged because standards and lifestyle in adult life are much different from what they have. They can’t identify themselves with anybody because, at this age, individual and idiosyncratic personalities begin to develop. It is the age when people either become unique or take the color of the society, and this cruciality is discussed in this novel.

Sex and Women

Childhood is an age of naiveté in which people develop certain standards and compare others to these standards. In childhood, Holden has developed an opinion regarding Jane’s chastity, beauty, and many other things. He compares other women to her, and if they are not congruent, he calls them ugly and unintelligent. He wants to know about sex and intimate relationships but doesn’t have the courage to face real-life situations. His expectations make him a failure because people always don’t fulfill the expectations. He is unrealistic regarding relationships with women and thus finds himself alone, despairing that he can’t have a relationship.

Childhood

It is the story of a youth growing up. Through Holden’s story, the author wants to tell the readers that they need to change as they grow. In childhood, there are many concepts that are unrealistic and make us incompatible with real life. We need to change them as we move towards adulthood. People are unable to accept it when they are moving to adulthood, as is shown in the case of Holden, who has an affinity for children. Thus there is an open secret for successful adult life, which is to accept things as they come to life. It can help protect from many miseries.

Coming of Age

Coming-of-age is a painful experience, and it costs in the form of loss of innocence and pains that teenagers have never faced in their life. It results in the form of mental agony, inability to accept things, and problems dealing with daily issues. All this happens with Holden in this novel and is made the focus of the novel to make the young readers understand how to behave in such situations.

Madness, Depression, and Suicide

In teenage life, there is angst, depression, madness, which often leads to suicides. These problems are often due to physical and psychological changes. It is normal and should be taken not as something unusual, as happens in the case of a boy who commits suicide at Pencey. It happens in the case of Holden as well, but he is able to manage it and is able to come out of this age successfully. He doesn’t harm himself as much as the other boy did.

Religion

In this novel, the narrator treats religion in the same way as he does education. It is considered significant in human life because it comes to the rescue of an individual when there is none to support. It teaches how to behave in certain situations. Like education, it is in the hands of those people who forge things for their own purposes. He wants to change this situation and desires that it should be used for the purpose, which is its motive. He wants religion to be taken out of the control of phony people.

Mortality

At teenage, boys are more interested in physical activities than death, but Holden’s case is the opposite. He has seen the death of his beloved brother, then sees the suicide of a young boy at Pencey. And then above all, he has seen carnage during the second world war. All these haunt his mind and nag the question of existence. His mind is in search of answers regarding death, but he tries to escape. Ultimately he comes back to this question and investigates like other human beings who want to know the nature of death.

The Catcher in the Rye Analysis

The Catcher in the Rye is a Bildungsroman. It beautifully describes the coming-of-age of the young protagonist. It is told in the form of a flashback in which the narrator tells of the protagonist’s transition from childhood to adulthood. Bildungsroman is meant for the education of coming-of-age youth to tell them of the moral and spiritual principles and the realities they are to face in their adult age. This novel is a flashback; it employs extended monologue, dialogue, and we can notice minimal external action. 

Adults are shown as the antagonists in Bildungsroman, and the same is the case with this novel. It is a realistic work in which happenings that take place in real life are made the focus of the novel. This novel can also be called a satire on Bildungsromans, which exaggerates the real issues. The plot shows development in a really short time, and its focus shows the mental problems that teens face when they are about to enter their adult life. So it can be named one of the successful coming-of-age novels which charmingly relate the story, not disappointing the reader.

Genre

This novel is a coming-of-age story that relates to the incidents that took place in Holden’s life when he was stepping in adulthood. He is a complicated person and, at a single instant, both hesitates and wants to step into maturity. This creates drama in the novel. He loses his innocence, but it costs him much because of his foolish behavior.

Tone

The tone of the novel is varied as we move from start to end. Holden is the narrator, so as his mood changes, so the change in tone takes place. There are various moods noticed, which are judgmental, humorous, sentimental, cynical, and digressive. He is stuck in a world which he doesn’t understand, and this exposure has left him dumb. He doesn’t want to take advice from those who have been through it, and if anybody gives him advice, he doesn’t consider it. In the end, we see that it becomes compassionate, and it is an indication of the fact that he has accepted the change.

Point of View

Holden is the first-person narrator and the protagonist of the novel. He tells the incidents that took place in his life and his experiences dealing with them. He tells that he can lie to the reader and shouldn’t be believed in every instance. But this doesn’t mean he intentionally lies. It can be the effect of his age.

Significance of the Title

The reader comes to know about the title’s origin when the child outside the church is singing a mysterious song. Holden likes this song very much and sings the lines to his sister, and she corrects him. Before the correction, it is easily understandable that it relates to Holden’s desire to stay stuck to his childhood. These lines are from Robert Burns’ poem, which can be related to the story simply by asking the question that is ‘is casual sex, okay?’

It is an expression of grief over his roommates dating and physical relationships with his ex-neighbor. It is a question about the actions that we accept as adults and practice. It is a moral plea to reconsider things as they are and to change them to better.

Significance of the Ending

There is no ending of the book because the novel ends where it has started. It tells the story and relates the incidents that took place in Holden’s life. The ending of the novel that we see tells us that one should be careful about telling anyone anything. It tells us that life remains the same, but we regret our decisions, and that’s the loss for which there are no reparations. The end also suggests that we shouldn’t change completely with adulthood and need to remain innocent to a certain level. If this innocence is lost, then life can’t be spent with the harsh realities that are unchangeable.

Setting of the Novel

The spatial setting of the novel is New York, where the narrator attends Pencey school, he roams around in different places like Central Park, Museum of Natural History, etc. He changes his location throughout the novel and thinks that by doing so, he can escape the realities.

The temporal setting of the novel is a bit tricky. It can be either 1948 or 1949. We can know it from Allie’s death date, which is 1946, this story tells that is about two years later when he was sixteen. It can be further confirmed by his references to his birthday, and this creates ambiguity, but, surely, either of the two is the temporal setting. But the message which the author wants to give is about the generation that grew during the war and suffered from trauma.

Writing Style

The writing style of the novel is vocal and slangy. It is told like an oral story that the reader listens. It is typical of teenagers who are loud and try to assert themselves. It is like a real teenager, and the reader doesn’t feel that he is reading an adult author.

As teenagers, there is an emphasis on specific words using italics. His use of slangs like ‘phony, corny’ and his swearing reinforce this effect. At the time of publishing this novel, its language was unusual and new. There were questions raised about vulgarity, but many other works followed it, and now it is usual.

Literary Devices in the Novel

Symbolism

Ducks are used as a symbol in this novel. Holden is eager to know what happens to them when winter comes. It is an indication of the fact that he, as a teenager, is eager to know about things that are happening around. The ducks may also represent innocence.

Another symbol that is used is Holden’s hat. It is used to show his feeling of vulnerability because he had bought it the morning when he lost the team’s gear. It is seen at every important turn in this novel and may have been used to show his love for his younger brother and the resultant grief.

‘Museum of Natural History’ is also used as a symbol that signifies the breaking of the trends and traditions and starts life anew. The life the protagonist hates is mechanical as things preserved in the museum. Ossenburger was a wealthy Pencey alumnus, and he gave money to build new buildings. He can be a symbol of those who sell death because his business was bargain funeral parlors.

The Mummies are symbols which represent disappearance or distortion of the face. In the description of mummies, he doesn’t talk about anything but rotting of faces, and this reinforces this argument.

Allusions

There are many literary and historical references in this novel. The most important of all is its title, which is a borrowing from Robert Burns, a famous Scottish poet. Other significant literary references are to Beowulf, The Return of the Native, Romeo, and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, Oliver Twist, etc.

There are references to pop culture, which include Raimu, Vogue, Song of India, etc. There are historical references to Benedict Arnold and Wilhelm Stekel.