Book Review of The Catcher in the Rye

I read a book written by J.D. Salinger, an American writer, which is titled “The Catcher in the
Rye”, which was published in 1951 as a fictional novel. This is a very intimate novel of a short
journey narrated in the point of view of the main protagonist named Holden Caulfield. This is a
very introspective and insightful story despite the simplicity of the plot and the setting as a story
is mostly narrowed and focused on his travels from Pennsylvania to New York City. He roams at
New York because of his mental and emotional exhaustion. This journey acts as his temporary
solace after being kicked out of Pencey Prep School, which is a school from Pennsylvania.
Holden’s travel was very symbolic because he immersed himself in a world where the most
uncomfortable and confused with, the world of adults. Holden finds a way to divert himself from
the problems that he left behind in Pennsylvania as he travels to various places and meet
different people in New York. In Holden’s short trip, he was able to divulge and reveal his
hardships as well as intimate details about his personality. He belies that it is almost
unattainable to be able to function well in the system that the society is thriving on. Holden
Caulfield believes that our society is run by the satisfaction of expectations. He remains trapped
in his make-believe world of youth which causes his lack of understanding towards life and the
concept of change

The novel was a written masterpiece, because of the first-person point of view. The soliloquy of
the main character was able to express the defiance and delinquency of the character through
his improper, slangy, obscure way of communicating his words to other people but still makes
sense because of his meaningful and significant insights towards society. Salinger was able to
utilize this kind of perspective because it gives more genuineness to the story as Holden can
incorporate his journeys in his own way and language. Also, I find it ironic to use the first-person
narrative for such an objective character which is Holden, as his objectivity is reflected in his
insights and his beliefs. Holden’s never-ending and reoccurring thoughts is perfectly presented
by how the author portrayed his impressions, and how it was presented to the readers. The first-
person narrative is a very crucial element in this book because it is what provides substance to
this story. Like Quentin Tarantino’s stories, this story is a proof that how a story is told can be
more important than the story plot itself. However, we may not notice how there are many
multiple narrators in this story, the first is the author, Salinger, who is expressing his opinions
from a certain vantage point. The 2nd and 3rd is Holden but from 2 different chronological
timelines. The 17-year-old Holden is more doing a remembrance of his journeys while the 16-
year-old Holden is the one who very vocal with his opinions. The seamlessness of this book
made this kind of narration work as it relates the perspective of the author to the character. The
writing style of the story is called stream of consciousness which means that the writing is
directly based on the character’s thought process which is shown in either a monologue or
through conversations with external elements such as other people. Despite the confusing
chronological order of the writing, the events are reliant on how the main character thinks. Even
if Holden’s jumps from one timeline to another, the reader will be able to follow. This is what
made the writing effective as it focuses and gives emphasis only on one character which is
Holden. Even though a lot of stories used stream of consciousness as their writing style, such
as Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald, what makes The Catcher in the Rye unique is self-
conflict of the main character. Holden's wandering young mind and how we can put ourselves
into this perspective is what makes the Catcher in the Rye outstanding. It makes the book
remarkable because of how the style of the novel is dependent and the same to the personality
and behavior of the protagonist. Holden Caulfield is the image and symbol of delinquency back
in the days. Holden rejects the adult’s expectations and conceptions, which was shown in the
way he acts. Caulfield also swears and uses words of profanity, as seen in this line “It’s full of
Phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a
goddamn Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the
football team loses and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody
sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques”. The way Holden talks are distinctive and
colloquial. This line was a pretty strong and full of profanity which expresses and exposes who
Holden is and how what his perspective is about things.

. As we are still approaching adulthood, Holden’s character is still relatable even in the smallest
ways. There is always an aspect of rebelliousness as a teenager which, helps them develop a
sense of independence and empowerment. Holden’s acts show the significance and relevance
of this book up to this generation because these behaviors and attitude highlights rebelliousness
and delinquency that is still a prevalent part of the teenage and adolescents culture as of today.
This creates intimacy between the story and the readers especially when you’re still an
adolescent or a teenager because of how the narrator was able to express the characteristics
and personality of the main protagonist in everyday and simple events, in this case, it was seen
in Holden’s gestures and reactions This helps in understanding the story with more depth.
Reading this book helps you distinguish how the culture of teenagers back in the 1950’s evolved
into the teenage culture as of today which is an interesting and eye-opening realization. This
story is ironic in a sense that the author is trying to warn us, teenagers or adolescents, to avoid
following the path of Holden, the main character. Salinger’s depiction of the main character,
Holden, shows emphasis to the consequences and significances of delinquency. Just like when
Holden talked about the boys in Pencey, his former school where he was kicked out, Holden’s
view gives us a glimpse of his moral immaturity because of his overly-exaggerated perceptions
about the cruel and insensitive disregard of mature people to the youth, in which they regard
them as “phonies”. Phony is a word that he termed for people who aren’t 100% real or genuine
to him or people that he simply doesn’t like, these people are the charismatic, wealthy, friendly,
and superficial people according to Holden. Despite Holden’s outlook on life and other people,
his overbearing feelings of dislike and hate have a meaningful reason. Holden has been
enduring an emotional baggage due to the death of his younger brother Allie. This has been the
reason for Holden’s downfall according to Holden’s teacher, Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini tries to
convince Holden to ignore the society for him to lavishly enjoy life. He said that “the mark of an
immature man is he wants to die nobly for a cause, and whereas the mark of a mature man is
he wants to live humbly for one”, which is a very influential quote from the story itself.

Depression is also the main conflict in this story and is the unsung element of this story. The
reason behind his depression is his wrong outlook and approach towards life specifically
change, as mentioned by Mr. Antolini that this will be his downfall. The accumulation of
problems in Holden’s life plus his beliefs caused him to be alienated and isolate from the
society. This detachment caused him to be depressed. Holden is scared of developing social
connections because of his fear of getting abandoned and ignored. The second reason of why
he went to depression is explained with his obsession with youth. The reason behind this is
because of his brother’s death. He wants to live in the past and refuses to move on from the
tragedy that happened back then. As Holden rejects the concept of moving forward, he is held
back and trapped in his fantasy world. Later in the story, Holden will doubt himself about his
values, belief and misguided approach towards life. This also adds up to another reason why he
got depressed.

The Catcher in the Rye teaches us to be skeptic, as it teaches the readers not to just
accept the common attitudes, values, beliefs set by the society or any other cohort but to rather
question and doubt them first before taking them in. We can read in the story of how Holden
retreats into his own world in the ninth chapter of the book which explains Holden’s alienation
from the society because of its taboos, standards, and norms. For me, it tells us that in a society
that lacks purpose, hypocritical and biased, it is our duty to be able to point them out and to
deviate against them for our society to progress and to improve.
The roles of every character in the story enhance Holden’s characterization even more. The
antagonists in the story which are Dr. Thurmer, George of Andover, Lillian Simmons and
everyone in the story that he meets are phonies for him. We can say that most of the world and
the people that he meets Is like a self-made antagonistic force because of his judgment and
cynicism. These two are Holden’s flaws, a self-conflict that isolates and alienates him from
everyone he meets that is against his beliefs. We can say that a personality of the protagonist is
the antagonist which I find ironic and comical. In addition to that, another character that helps
enhance and emphasize Holden’s role in the story is her sister Phoebe Caulfield. Phoebe was
Holden’s mentor and guide, even if she was younger than his brother, she was able to help
Holden in small little ways. Lastly, one of the notable characters too in this story is Jane
Gallagher which was never seen to have a direct role in the story. However, we can see the
other side of Holden, and how she’s truly in love with her. How he describes Jane and their
relationship completes the personality of Holden because we were able to see the other side of
the coin.

The symbolism in the story also adds depth and sense to the story. Symbolism makes us
understand even more who Holden Caulfield is because his interpretations reflect his thoughts
and feelings. The first symbolism that most of us don’t recognize in the story is the title of the
novel itself. The title comes from a poem by Robert Burns called Coming through the Rye.
Because of his obsession with youth, he wants to preserve the innocence of childhood. The
main point of the story is explained in a scene where Holden says that he wants to be a catcher
in the rye. He visualizes a cliff of rye field, where kids are playing which symbolizes youth.
Holden wants to catch every child that is going to fall off the cliff. The interpretation of what lies
down the cliff is the whole concept of growing up and change, it is adulthood. Another important
symbolism in the story is the red hunting hat in which Holden removes and wears at contrasting
times and place. When I first read the Catcher in the Rye, I didn’t give so much attention to this
element of the story, but after reading it again I’ve noticed something peculiar about this hat. I’ve
noticed that Holden wears the hat when he is put in certain important situations in the story such
as when he was writing about Allie when he was staring at himself in the mirror. I think that he
wears the red hunting hat when he feels isolated from the world. He never had the confidence to
wear the hat in public because of the embarrassment. This symbolism then again helps us
understand who Holden is. Despite admitting that the hat looks silly on him, he still personally
likes it. The hat is a symbol of individuality and uniqueness in the story. It is also a sign of
confidence and self-esteem because it gives him security and comfort with himself. This can be
seen in this quote “I was sort of crying. I don't know why. I put my red hunting hat on and turned
the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice”.
Another great symbolism in this story is Holden’s outlook towards life and death. Holden uses
metaphors and personifications such as when asks about where the ducks go when it’s winter
and his peculiar fascination towards mummies. When Holden looks for the ducks, his mind
begins to remember Allie’s death and he starts worrying about his own death. Because of
Holden’s experiences towards death, he became curious and interested in the concept of it.
Therefore, he believes that when its winter and when the ducks disappear, they die. On the
other hand, the reason why Holden is fascinated with mummies is that mummies don’t
disappear even when they are already dead. This adds as an explanation of how Holden loves
childhood, youth and innocence.

I would be able to compare this book to other work of literature. There are Shakespearean
references in this book that are apparent. I’ll mention the story of Romeo and Juliet, like the
main protagonist here in the story, they defy the norms and standards set by the society.
Romeo and Juliet did it for romantic love while Holden did it for his love of Children. Both stories
also show that their defiance leads to a conflict, Romeo and Juliet dies, in contrast to that
Holden suffers from depression. Hamlet also shows a little bit of Holden, as both face moral
dilemmas and show peculiar behavior. Another reference that is like the Catcher in the Rye is
Mark Twain’s, Huckleberry Finn. Huck, is like a runaway with a purpose, that purpose is to see
and be aware of the cruelty and trickeries of the society to exploit other human beings. Huck
and Holden both breaks conventionalities of society which can be seen in their language, and
more complicated principles of morality such respect, innocence, etc.

In my own opinion, the book is exceptionally outstanding because of the simplicity of the plot
and narrowness of the setting. Despite its simple elements, it became an enormous success
because of how every element of the story blends fittingly. For me, the most important aspect of
this story is its writing style. The writing style and how it mixes with other literary contrivances is
what makes this book set apart from every other book. The Catcher in the Rye is not only iconic
but also useful even in today’s setting. A lot of lessons and concepts of our society can be
learned from this story. I agree with the main points of the author and his views on adolescents
and delinquency, the author was able to connect with his reader by making us look through his
looking glass and that is by reading this book. Salinger was able to make me realize the
importance of change in our society and gave me a brief outlook on how we should face it. The
catcher in the rye exposes the other side of society. The language is young and relatable for me
as I am still in my teenage years, which makes it easier to understand even indirect contexts.
The book makes you teach us to look beyond the superficialities of our society and even our
lives because these aspects of our life blind us and disable us to see what is truly important and
profound in this world.