"The Catcher in the Rye"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, in J.D. Salinger's classic novel, "The Catcher in the Rye", the narrator is a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield, who comes from a rich family and moves from one boarding school to another as he is either expelled for failing classes or gets tired of the school. It looks at how, at first glance, it seems as though Holden is a normal teenage boy. However, as the reader gets deeper into the story, he displays certain self-destructive and pathological qualities that separate him from the norm. It presents a critical essay of the novel, while attempting to determine what separates Holden from the typical teenager.

From the Paper:

"During Holden's trip, he comes across many people of many ages, but his skepticism about the sincerity of people and his fear of phonies makes it hard for him to establish genuine contacts with anyone. According to miller (1965, p. 9): "The journey becomes a combination of nightmare and burlesque where horror and comedy mix in inexplicable fashion." Salinger uses a mixture of Holden's cynicism and the use of features typical of teenage vernacular spoken in New York in the 1950s, and strong personal idiosyncrasies (Costello 1990, p. 45) to make the reader question whether there is something wrong with Holden or if he is just behaving like a normal teen."

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