"The Catcher in the Rye"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses J. D. Salinger's timeless novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." The paper focuses on the book's main character, the earnest and economically privileged, yet disaffected prep school student Holden Caulfield. It analyzes Caulfield as a character troublingly faced with a dilemma of remaining true to himself or 'selling out' to a "phony" society.

From the Paper:

"But Holden now accepts, if still reluctantly, the realities of a world where phonies enormously outnumber non-phonies, there are only really ever fleeting essences of real purity: unspoiled white snow; the Museum of Natural History; Phoebie in her blue coat riding around and around on the Central Park carousel. Everything else is less pure, and therefore points toward adulthood, responsibility, phoniness, death" (Pinsker 3). Holden still longs, even now, for the much less cynical in which children still live, but to which he himself knows now that he can neither live nor ever truly return. A Life's unstoppable current has carried him out among the very adult phonies he most abhors. And a refusal or failure on Holden's part to now at least float in these uncomfortable waters could be, even worse than just swimming along. The current carries everyone toward adulthood, wanted or not. One must sell out, or at least appear to have done so, lest on risk being eaten by the sharks."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alsen, Eberhard. A Reader Guide to J.D. Salinger. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.
• Kallen, Stuart A., Understanding The Catcher in the Rye. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001.
• Bloom, Harold. "J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye." Bloom's Notes. Broomall: Chelsea House, 1996.
• ---. Bloom's Guides: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Comprehensive Research and Study Guides. New York: Chelsea House, 2007
• ---. Ed. Modern Critical Views J.D. Salinger. New York: Chelsea House, 1987,

More papers on "The Catcher in the Rye":

• Book Review # 146780 : "The Catcher in the Rye " - A Relevant Novel"
• Analytical Essay # 52097 : "J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"
• Book Review # 2915 : "J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"
• Analytical Essay # 35247 : "The Catcher in the Rye"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: