Summary
Set in the 1950's, the novel "The Catcher In The Rye", revolves around 16 year old Holden Caulfield, who is about to be kicked out of yet another boarding school. The story is being narrated by Holden from a mental hospital in California. Holden struggles with depression and must deal with the struggles of society. On a Saturday night, after a fight with his room mate, Holden takes off and heads out to New York. He stays at a hotel and soon realizes that the night is still young, so he goes out for a couple drinks. The next couple of days Holden goes out to night clubs and on a date. At one point after a long night he ends up with a prostitute, no older than he is, in his room. Holden once again faces his depression and instead of having sex with the prostitute, Sunny, he talks with her. The next day is his date with Sally, where Holden asks her to run away with him. Facing depression and isolation at being rejected and only knowing "phonies", Holden gets drunk then finally goes home to see his sister, Phoebe. Holden leaves soon after because his parents come home,but he sees her the next day. The siblings go to the zoo, though Phoebe is mad at Holden, for multiple things. Phoebe forgives him eventually and she goes on the carousel . This is when Holden tells us that we shouldn't tell other people our stories because then we wil miss them.
Author
Camie lives in Bay Area, CA and is 15 years old. The blog is a project for her AS English class.
I think Holden just wants a person he could talk too.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. Holden wrote the story to tell people his story. The last piece of advice he mentions is to, "Never tell anybody anything. If you do you start missing everybody."(Salinger, 214).
DeleteI think that Holden isn't totally sure of who he is. He seems to be on the border of a child and an adult. The duck question that always comes up is his "inner child" and the drinking and smoking are his "inner adult". I think that's also one of the things that make him go crazy because he is so confused with who he is, what he wants to be on top of the fact that he is trying to "save" other children from going off the imaginary cliff that is growing up too fast.
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