1. A novel of a teenage boy dealing with issues of identity, belonging, alienation, and rebellion. Catcher in the Rye By J.D. Salinger

2. Meet the Author: J.D. Salinger Born in New York City - on January 1, 1919, J. D. Salinger is famous primarily for two things: his novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and his reclusive life. Salinger has never penned another published novel. Search for Identity - Since his parents were of different religious backgrounds, one Christian and the other Jewish, theistic belief was never really emphasized. He has been at various times a Zen Buddhist, a Christian Scientist, and a Scientologist. One sibling - a sister named Doris, six years older. Flunked out of school - At thirteen, he was enrolled in the McBurney School, but within a year flunked out and was sent to the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, where he became interested in writing.

3. Character List Holden Caulfield - The protagonist and narrator of the novel. A sixteen-year-old junior who has just been expelled for academic failure from a school called Pencey Prep. Ackley - Holden’s next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Stradlater - Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Phoebe Caulfield - Holden’s ten-year-old sister. Allie Caulfield - Holden’s younger brother. Allie dies of leukemia three years before the start of the novel.

4. Characters continued… D. B. Caulfield -Holden’s older brother who wrote a volume of short stories that Holden admires. Jane Gallagher - A girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer, when their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine Sally Hayes - A very attractive girl whom Holden has known and dated for a long time. Mr. Spencer - Holden’s history teacher at Pencey Prep, who unsuccessfully tries to shake Holden out of his academic apathy

5. Characters continued… Carl Luce - A student at Columbia who was Holden’s student advisor at the Whooton School. Luce is three years older than Holden. Mr. Antolini - Holden’s former English teacher at the Elkton Hills School. Mr. Antolini now teaches at New York University. Maurice - The elevator operator at the Edmont Hotel, who procures a prostitute for Holden. Sunny - The prostitute whom Holden hires through Maurice.

6. Catcher Vocab Write the following vocab definitions. Try to use them all in one sentence! ostracize (p. 3) – excluded; avoided talking to qualm (p. 14) – uneasiness (worry); misgivings (doubt about the future. exhibitionist (p. 29) – a show-off; someone who seeks attention. pacifist (p. 46) – someone who is opposed to war/violence modest (p. 57) – having a humble opinion of yourself.

7. Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye was one of the most banned books and paradoxically one of the most taught books of the twentieth century. Catcher is a semiautobiographical account of its teenage protagonist, Holden Caulfield. The novel’s first-person narration gave voice to a generation of frustrated young men who longed to escape the strictures of “proper” society. The novel is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium. The events he narrates take place in the few days between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is sixteen years old.