Independent Reading Project: The Catcher In The Rye

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Recommended: Essay on the theme of the catcher in the rye

Aidan Kelly-Miller
Hour 5 Literary Studies
February 28, 2014

The Catcher in the Rye
The book I chose for my Independent Reading Project is, “The Catcher in the Rye”, by J.D. Salinger, Little Brown and Company, 1951. “The Catcher in the Rye” is a coming-of-age-story. It describes the transitions that sixteen year old Holden Caulfield is going through, as he tries to make sense of growing-up. The book takes place in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. The main character, Holden Caulfield is telling his own story. At the beginning of the book, we learn that Holden is telling his story while he is a patient at a psychiatric hospital in California. Holden is telling us about the things that happened to him a few months earlier. Salinger does not tell us anything about why Holden is in the psychiatric hospital, he just jumps right into Holden’s narration.
The themes of “The Catcher in the Rye” are isolation, avoidance, and the fear of growing-up. The plot revolves around Holden and the people he interacts with. Holden is a mess. He is like a lot of kids who find out that growing up can be scary. I think that Holden wanted to be like Peter Pan and never grow up. The plot shows that the way Holden handles his fear leads to many stressful and disappointing situations and relationships.
The four main characters I am going to describe are: Holden Caulfield, Phoebe Caulfield, Mr. Antolini and Ackley.
Holden Caulfield is the main character and narrator of the novel. Holden is a sixteen-year-old, high-school junior, who has just flunked out of another prep school. Holden is intelligent and sensitive, but his thoughts and feelings are full of cynicism and negativity. He sounds bored and tired with almost everybody and everything. Ho...

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... the studio lot and you could see where the movies are made! You could meet some people I know and we could even go to the ocean and swim. HEY! I just had a great idea, maybe you could stay out in California for awhile instead of going back to New York. You could live with me! How does that sound?”
H - “Yeahhhhh, well mom said she might be able to sign me up for school in fall, so I would only end up missing one year. But I would really like to see you D.B., can you come next weekend for sure?”
D.B. - “I will be there, count on it Holden. I gotta go right now though, they are calling me into a meeting with the producer and director and you can’t say “no” to those guys. Holden, if things get really bad, call me, night or day - got that?”
H - Sure, D.B. I am doing o.k., just don’t forget that you said I could drive the jag. Bye
D - Bye and I won’t forget……

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