Laura Williams

 Jerome David Salinger was born in 1919 and was raised in New York  The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951  Struggled with the popular success and unwanted attention  Became reclusive and published less frequently, rarely leaving his home and almost never doing interviews  Tended to focus on young people and was known for his energetic and “realistically sparse” dialogue  Died January 7 th 2010 at 91 years old

 Told first person from the view of the main character, Holden Caulfield  Often addresses the reader directly  “If you want to know” or “I wish you could see”  Holden speaks informally and colloquially as a teen in the 1950’s would talk to a friend  “What really knocks me out…”  Holden speaks sincerely to the reader and honestly shares his emotions and thoughts about the world around him

 The novel consists of short scenes in a variety of locations and with a variety of characters  Takes place in 1950’s New York

 16 year old junior recently kicked out of his fourth boarding school  Holden is our cynical narrator that tells about his emotions and feelings toward the world around him  As he leaves the innocence of his youth he is forced to face the adult world which he finds ugly, hypocritical and most of all “phony”

 Where do the ducks go in the Winter?  “If a body catch a body coming through the rye”  The Museum of Natural History  Holden’s red hunting hat

 Fear of change  Holden is afraid of growing up and wants everything to stay the same like in a museum  Pain of growing up  Example of bildungsroman- a novel dealing with one person's formative years  Isolation and loneliness  Holden alienates himself from those around him as a form of self protection. He uses his “cynical sense of superiority” to drive people away and to justify the resulting loneliness

 Parents are not really present in the book or in his life  His brother, D.B., has moved to Hollywood and started writing “phony” movies  His brother, Allie, died of leukemia three years earlier. He is still tormented by his death  His ten year old sister, Phoebe, is one of Holden’s only sources of happiness throughout the novel. She represents the childish innocence he has lost.

 Sally Hayes  Attractive, young but Holden believes she is “stupid”  Stadlater  Attractive, strong and neat, but only so others would think what a neat guy he is, a “secret slob”  Asked how you were but never really cared to know the answer  Ackley  Tall, pimply, didn’t brush his teeth enough  “always picked up your personal stuff and looked at it”

 Most of the characters are present to bring out characteristics in Holden rather than form their own subplots  Holden tends to notice the worst in others  His own cynicism tends to cloud his descriptions and attitude toward others

 “I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I feel like it.”  “I think one of these days” he said “you’re going to have to find out where you want to go and then you’ve got to start going there”  “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do you start missing everybody.”

 After John Lennon’s murderer was caught, a copy of The Catcher in the Rye was found on him in which he had written “This is my statement” signed Holden Caulfield  After the police caught the man that attempted to assassinate Ronald Regan, they found a copy in his room  Rebecca Schaeffer was killed by a stalker who was carrying the book when he visited her apartment in Hollywood and murdered her  Why?

 I really liked the book. The descriptions of the characters made them seem very real and their personalities were developed even in just a few sentences.  It is a great book to read in high school. Holden’s character at times can be very relatable and his struggle to navigate between youth and adulthood is a familiar one.