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Catcher In The Rye Themes

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Catcher In The Rye Themes
J. D. Salinger published Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Later, he wrote several short stories after. The story takes place in New York City in the late 1940s, after WWII. Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye is faced with the problem of growing up in New York. Throughout the book, the theme of growing up is showed. In the story, New York is a society in which there are a lot of phonies. Holden constantly resists the pull of adulthood as it faces him in life. J. D. Salinger develops the theme of growing up through New York and Holden’s resistance to the society.
Throughout the book, the theme of growing up is shown. Holden has observed adults as he goes from school to school. When he was in Elkton High almost everybody was a phony and Holden …show more content…
He has habits to play around when he is bored. He’ll mess around with whoever is near such as his friends. Every once in awhile, he will reminisce about his past like his family. Holden misses his younger brother after he passed away. After Holden is kicked out of Pencey, he doesn’t want to go home early for Christmas break. He most likely didn’t because he didn’t want to get in trouble and have to be disciplined during the break. He acts as if he is a child being afraid before punishment. When he became intoxicated, he acted as if he had been shot in his side (195). He did so while he walked down the street. Another thing was that he is curious about where the ducks go in the wintertime. He doesn’t know so he asks a couple of cab drivers. Overall, he acts childish whenever he can. Salinger made a great effort on making Holden the way he is.
Holden Caulfield is a character that has some resistance in things that are natural and some in society. The theme of the book is about growing up and the observation of it in the surroundings. The society of New York in Catcher in the Rye is full of phonies and other people. Holden constantly resists the unchangeable future of growing up. Salinger developed the society of New York and Holden who realizes the event of growing up and tries his hardest to resist
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