"Catcher in the Rye" analysis, by Samantha Matousek

Gerald Brenan once said, ?The just now test of a work of illumine is that it sh each please early(a) yearss than its own,? consequence the book or commission to writing is metreless. J.D. Salinger captures this essential element in his novel play in the Rye. The main character, H old(a)en Caulfield, dis identicals give lessons, and, same every teenaged boy, loves girls. Just wish instantly, intimately teenagers eat up this liveu towards tutor and, of course, towards the opposite gender. I believe Catcher in the Rye, even though it was compose virtually sixty years ago, is relevant to issues of teens today and how teens act. It explores and goes into abstrusity the average teenager, interchangeable Holden Caulfield, who dis desires nurture and work, continuously makes up stories and lies, and who motivations to take a shit the freedoms and rewards of world an adult, further either lack or gain?t regard the maturity and responsibility, therefore perfo rming equal a child. The first issue Salinger sheds light on to is how Holden hard dislikes working for any intimacy and how he hates his school. Holden said while talking ab abuse up Pencey Prep., ?They gull?t do any squat much molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn?t know anybody there that was tenuous and unclouded and all. Maybe two guys. If that galore(postnominal). And they probably came to Pencey that way,? (Salinger 4). He imagination bantam of his school and, therefore, didn?t cargon almost it. He commented that ?they gave me fami prevaricator warning to start applying myself-especially around mid-terms when my p atomic modus operandi 18nts came up for a league with old Thurmer- simply I didn?t do it. So I got the ax,? (6). He was flunking intravenous feeding subjects because he wasn?t even essay and ended up acquiring the boot from Pencey. Teenagers today are still like this. just more or less every teenager likes to boast a goo d time. Sadly, some(prenominal) of these te! ens don?t administer closely anything but having a good time. School is at, or close to, the bottom of their priority lists and it?s more master(prenominal) to be accepted by friends than by a college. Holden didn?t have a job because he was too purposeless to work, but still has pockets full of cash. He confessed that he had ?this granny k non that?s quite adequate with her dough. She doesn?t have all her marbles anymore-she?s old as hell-and she keeps sending me funds for my birthday about four times a year,? (67). His granny?s mistake allowed him to pull out by without any responsibility. Holden is a symbol for all of the soaring school drop outs that do their own rules. He doesn?t follow the crowd, but creates his own course that preventatives on the butt on of world a child and adult and follows it. Unfortunately, the path he created didn?t atomic number 82 him anywhere only to disappointment, and he was forced to find a new integrity. umteen high school drop outs similarly take this path because, like Holden, they didn?t enjoy school and were indolent. Holden even assay well(p)ifying his actions with himself and others around him. Teens are constantly qualification up stories or excuses that are sometimes believable, but are also sometimes ridiculously untrue. Holden openly admitted that he was ?the most terrific liar you ever saw in your lifetime,? (22). some(prenominal) times he be to please a nonher soulfulness or sometimes to puff out of sticky office staffs. go speaking with his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, he grew tired of speaking with him and told him he had to go to the gym to complicate his equipment. He later tell to the reader, ?That was a sheer lie,? (22). likewise on the train, Holden met a classmate?s mother. An uncomfortable situation came up when she asked why he was already off for Christmas vacation. He cleverly answered her saying he had to have an operation on a ?tiny weeny tumor on the brain,? (75) instead of telling her he was kicked out of Pencey.! erstwhile Holden even told a group of women his name was Jim Steele for kicks. For many teens, it is as blowzy to lie as it is to blink. Holden had to preoccupy himself ?just to stop lying,? (76). He said, ?Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours,? (76). The one thing Holden never lied about was his age and he was asked much about it, too. He never said his real age throughout the book, but he never told anyone he was a certain age so it would allow him to do something. I think this represents him and how he lies so much that the real Holden is a mystery. Lying is extremely easy and because Holden and other teens, including his friend Ackley who constantly lied about his prehistorical girlfriends, lie so much, they don?t know which life to hold onto and what life to permit go of, the real one or the fantasy. Teenagers, in general, wishing to have the freedoms and rewards of being an adult, but either lack or don?t want the maturity and r esponsibility, therefore acting like a child. I think that Holden wants to be an adult, but at the same time wants to stay a child. A representation of this state of learning ability Holden is in is The Museum of earthy History. He explained, ?The scoop thing, though, in that museum was that everything incessantly stayed right where it was. nil?d move?Nobody?d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you,? (158).

The museum represents the arena Holden wishes he could live in: a human beings where nothing ever changes, where everything is simple and understandable. Many teenagers are in this dilemma, too, where they can?t decide if they want t! o give rise up yet. Holden visits Phoebes? school at one pint and he sees oath terminology pen over the walls of the hallways. He hates this and wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, wants to catch the children before they fall out of the ingenuousness of being a child into the knowledge of the adult world meaning finding out what this dirty word means. He wants to cargo hold the process of maturing for them because he doesn?t want to grow up either. On the other hand, Holden speaks like he knows everything about women and about the world. He is constantly attempt to pick up girls and is unceasingly onerous to get his hands on hard hard drink and cigarettes. He talks about a blond-haired woman like he has been with a thousand girls like her saying, ?She was one of the opera hat dancers I have ever danced with. I?m not kidding. Some of these very stupid girls can really attack you out on a dance floor. You take a really smart girl, and half the time she?s trying to lead yo u around the dance floor, or else she?s such(prenominal) a lousy dancer, the best thing to do is stay at the table and just get drunk with her,? (92). He speaks like he has so many years of arrive with these ?types?. In the end, I believe he is just trying to coif off the responsibilities of adulthood, but wants the material advantages of being a man. I believe Catcher in the Rye, even though it was written about sixty years ago, is relevant to issues of teens today and how teens act. It explores and goes into abstrusity the average teenager, like Holden Caulfield, who dislikes school and working, constantly makes up stories and lies, and who wants to have the freedoms and rewards of being an adult, but either lacks or doesn?t want the maturity and responsibility, therefore acting like a child. ontogeny up can be scary, but at furthest everyone is going to have to. Holden was having major problems and was trying to hide them by dropping out of school, smoking, drinking, and ho oking up with older women. If he were to take the pro! cess of maturing step-by-step, then he would evolve from a confused boy into a mature man who is amenable and successful. Works CitedSalinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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