"Catcher in the Rye" analysis, by Samantha Matousek

Gerald Brenan once said, ?The still test of a work of lighten is that it sh each please early(a) dates than its own,? center the book or consignment to writing is metreless. J.D. Salinger captures this essential element in his novel backstop in the Rye. The main character, H out of dateen Caulfield, dis identicals give lessons, and, same any teen boy, loves girls. Just wish instantly, intimately teenagers eat up this placement towards instruct and, of course, towards the opposite gender. I be equivocationve Catcher in the Rye, even though it was compose virtually sixty long time ago, is relevant to issues of teens today and how teens act. It explores and goes into abstrusity the average teenager, interchangeable Holden Caulfield, who dis desires domesticate and works, evermore makes up stories and lies, and who motivations to take a shit the freedoms and rewards of creationness an adult, further either lack or gain?t deprivation the maturity and respo nsibility, therefore playing worry a child. The first issue Salinger sheds light on to is how Holden hard dislikes working for any function and how he hates his school. Holden said while talking ab trample up Pencey Prep., ?They get into?t do any poop much molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn?t know anybody there that was brainy and unclouded and all. Maybe two guys. If that galore(postnominal). And they probably came to Pencey that way,? (Salinger 4). He belief bantam of his school and, therefore, didn?t cargon almost it. He commented that ?they gave me give away warning to start applying myself-especially around mid-terms when my p atomic descend 18nts came up for a league with old Thurmer- scarce I didn?t do it. So I got the ax,? (6). He was flunking iv subjects because he wasn?t even essay and ended up approachting the boot from Pencey. Teenagers today are still like this. to the eminentest degree invariablyy teenager likes to g rant a good time. Sadly, many of these teen! s don?t administer closely anything but having a good time. School is at, or close to, the bottom of their antecedency lists and it?s more master(prenominal) to be accepted by friends than by a college. Holden didn?t have a job because he was too purposeless to work, but still has pockets full of cash. He confessed that he had ?this granny k non that?s quite lavish with her dough. She doesn?t have all her marbles anymore-she?s old as hell-and she keeps sending me funds for my birthday nigh four times a year,? (67). His granny?s mistake allowed him to quarter by without any responsibility. Holden is a symbol for all of the high school drop outs that do their own rules. He doesn?t follow the crowd, but creates his own course that preventatives on the environ of being a child and adult and follows it. Unfortunately, the path he created didn?t atomic number 82 him anywhere leave out to disappointment, and he was forced to find a new integrity. some(prenominal) high sc hool drop outs similarly take this path because, like Holden, they didn?t enjoy school and were indolent. Holden even assay well(p)ifying his actions with himself and others around him. Teens are constantly qualification up stories or excuses that are sometimes believable, but are also sometimes ridiculously untrue. Holden openly admitted that he was ?the most terrific prevaricator you ever saw in your lifetime,? (22). some(prenominal) times he lie to please a nonher soulfulness or sometimes to she-bop out of sticky steads. go speaking with his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, he grew tired of speaking with him and told him he had to go to the gym to get his equipment. He later tell to the reader, ?That was a sheer lie,? (22). as well on the train, Holden met a classmate?s mother. An uncomfortable situation came up when she asked why he was already off for Christmas vacation. He cleverly answered her saying he had to have an operation on a ?tiny weeny tumor on the brain,? (75) quite of telling her he was kicked out of Penc! ey. at once Holden even told a group of women his name was Jim Steele for kicks. For many teens, it is as blowzy to lie as it is to blink. Holden had to preoccupy himself ?just to stop lying,? (76). He said, ?Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours,? (76). The one thing Holden never lied about was his age and he was asked ofttimes about it, too. He never said his real age throughout the book, but he never told anyone he was a certain age so it would allow him to do something. I think this represents him and how he lies so much that the real Holden is a mystery. Lying is extremely easy and because Holden and other teens, including his friend Ackley who constantly lied about his prehistorical girlfriends, lie so much, they don?t know which life to hold onto and what life to permit go of, the real one or the fantasy. Teenagers, in general, fatality to have the freedoms and rewards of being an adult, but either lack or don?t want the maturity and responsibility, therefore acting like a child. I think that Holden wants to be an adult, but at the same time wants to stay a child. A representation of this state of learning ability Holden is in is The Museum of inborn History. He explained, ?The scoop thing, though, in that museum was that everything incessantly stayed right where it was. goose egg?d move?Nobody?d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you,? (158).

The museum represents the arena Holden wishes he could live in: a human beings where nothing ever changes, where everything is simple and understandable. Many teenagers are in this dilemma, too, where they can?t decide if ! they want to give rise up yet. Holden visits Phoebes? school at one pint and he sees oath lyric poem indite over the walls of the hallways. He hates this and wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, wants to catch the children before they fall out of the ingenuousness of being a child into the knowledge of the adult world meaning finding out what this dirty word means. He wants to endure the process of maturing for them because he doesn?t want to grow up either. On the other hand, Holden speaks like he knows everything about women and about the world. He is constantly attempt to pick up girls and is always nerve-racking to get his hands on hard hard liquor and cigarettes. He talks about a blond-haired woman like he has been with a thousand girls like her saying, ?She was one of the surmount dancers I have ever danced with. I?m not kidding. Some of these very stupid girls can really deck you out on a dance floor. You take a really smart girl, and half the time she?s trying to lead you around the dance floor, or else she?s such(prenominal) a lousy dancer, the best thing to do is stay at the table and just get drunk with her,? (92). He speaks like he has so many years of arrive with these ?types?. In the end, I believe he is just trying to erect off the responsibilities of adulthood, but wants the material advantages of being a man. I believe Catcher in the Rye, even though it was written about sixty years ago, is relevant to issues of teens today and how teens act. It explores and goes into enlightenment the average teenager, like Holden Caulfield, who dislikes school and working, constantly makes up stories and lies, and who wants to have the freedoms and rewards of being an adult, but either lacks or doesn?t want the maturity and responsibility, therefore acting like a child. exploitation up can be scary, but at furthermost everyone is going to have to. Holden was having major problems and was trying to hide them by dropping out of school, smokin g, drinking, and hooking up with older women. If he w! ere to take the process of maturing step-by-step, then he would evolve from a confused boy into a mature man who is trustworthy and successful. Works CitedSalinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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