IB English SL I Summer Assignment

The Catcher in the Rye

Jerome David Salinger, Manhattan raised novelist, in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
asserts that the transition from youth to adulthood is complicated. Salinger uses the events that occur over
three days to flashback to Holden Caulfields childhood, detail his frustrations with the world, highlight
his misconceptions and questions about sexuality, and accept the choices that he has made and the life he
will live because of them. His purpose is to help readers understand the questions and decisions involved
in growing up, in order to help them understand the challenges that we all face. He establishes a
friendship with the audience by using a conversational tone, mainly using common vernacular and small
sentences.