CATCHER IN THE RYE BOOK REVIEW | JANUARY 2017

Catcher in the Rye

At the start of this novel, it definitely can take you a while to figure out the plot; as the main protagonist is portrayed a everyday teenage boy. But as the novel unravels there are layers of Holden Caulfield, that readers, especially teenage readers can emphasise with. 

The Catcher in the Rye is set in the late 40's/early 50's and was written by J.D.Salinger. Holden Caulfield is from New York, at the start of the novel it is made clear that he is in school at Pencey Preparatory Academy, in Pennsylvania. Layers of his persona and views of the world, start to become clear the the novel, the sense of not belonging in a world that expects you to do the social 'norm' of going to college, get a good job, get married and have children. Salinger creates Holden as a character to bring out teenage worries and fears that connect with teenagers, even in this generation. He has been expelled from Pencey, for not participating to subjects, and compliance of the education system. Throughout the novel, there's a theme that Holden doesn't know who he is, he's trying to please everyone around him, but he's failing; from his teacher, Mr Spencer, to his roommates. He's angry at the world around him, for everyone being so materialistic and transparent, where he seems the odd one out, from the world around him. 
Salinger also seems to symbolise Holden as an act of deviance to the social norms, for example he drinks underage. He also makes sure that he stands out as different, he wants to be different from the others, to stop the alienation of the civilised world to influence him to doing otherwise, as Holden wears his hunting hat. 
However, Holden is represented as a very lonely character, which is an addition to the fact that using his different, unique ways of behaving, he feels he is superior to others, so they can't interact with him, because they're below his level. A symbolic juxtaposition throughout this novel, is that he can't stand being by himself, but then he chooses to be by himself, and pushes people away from, when they show any signs of affection or interest in him. 
In the novel, Salinger represents the vital worries of teenage life, and mental illness, that may be ahead of its time, showing signs of this within adolescents, when it is just becoming prominent within society recently. This connects a lot of adolescents and how they feel about the world, and their situation, and as a perfect bildungsroman to social problems that may affect young peoples life, and view of the world around them. As this novel can come across as very controversial, especially since it was published in the early 50's, they hardly saw or heard of worries for the adolescent, and how loneliness and depression can happen within a child's mind and body, as well as full grown human. 
The colloquial language that Salinger uses in the novel, represents the age of the main character, Holden Caulfield, and the innocence of youth, but also his vivid view of how the world works, and his anxiety for becoming an adult, and that is why he gets expelled from school, after school. Salinger includes some interesting themes of death, of his brother Ally, and his vital relationship with his sister, Phoebe, that keeps the narrative that more intriguing as the older brother and sister roles are reversed, and Phoebe starts to acts like the more sensible and older one. 
This novel represents the teenage angst of getting older, figuring your life out, and the pressure from society, that is apparent in Holden through his depression and alienation of the world, and social norms that he's pressured to comply to.