J.D. Salinger was born and grew up Manhattan, New York. His dad was a prosperous man who inmported Kosher cheese. In his childhood he was often called Sonny. He was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy (1934-36) for a very short time. Salinger spent five months in Europe in 1937. From 1937 to 1938 he attended Ursinus College and New York University. He fell in love with Oona O'Neill but she ended up marrying some other man.
In 1939, Salinger took a short story writing class at Columbia University. He was drafted during World War II and was involved in the invasion of Normandy. Salinger was considered very brave and a hero. Salinger wrote many stories and met Ernest Hemingway in Paris. He also took place in Hürtgenwald, which was of the bloodiest battles of the war. He witnessed the horrors of war during this battle. After serving in the Army Signal Corps and Counter-Intelligence Corps from 1942 to 1946, he devoted himself to writing. In 1945 Salinger married a French doctor named. They were later divorced and in 1955 Salinger married Claire Douglas, the daughter of the British art critic Robert Langton Douglas. The marriage ended in divorce in 1967. Salinger's early short stories appeared in magazines. His first story was published in 1940. He was published in Saturday Evening Post and Esquire, and then in the New Yorker. The New Yorker published most of his later texts. Salinger had twenty stories published in Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and the New Yorker between 1941. Many of them reflect Salinger's service in the army. Later Salinger embraced the Hindu-Buddhist lifestyle.
Salinger's first novel, The Catcher in the Rye, won huge international praise. It still sell around 250 000 copies annually. Salinger did get involved much in the publicity. He did not want his photograph to be used in connection with the book. He also turned down requests to turn his book into a movie. The first reviews of the work were mixed. Most critics thought it was brilliant. The title of the book comes from a line by Robert Burns. From time to time rumors spread that Salinger will publish another novel, or that he is publishing his work under another name. He avoided publicity and journalists assumed he had something to hide. In 1961, Time Magazine explored his private life. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure," said Salinger in 1974. Salinger continued to write, but didn’t allow anybody to see his work. Since the late 80s, Salinger has been married to Colleen O'Neill. In 2009, Salinger broke his silence through his lawyers, when they unauthorized sequel to the Caulfield's story, entitled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye was released in Britain. Salinger later died at his home on January 27, 2010. (Cited) For more information on the author: Biography 1Biography 2
Plot Synopsis
The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by Holden Caulfield. Holden’s story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at the Pencey prep school. Pencey is Holden’s fourth school; he has already failed out of three others. At Pencey, he has failed four out of five of his classes and is now being expelled. Holden decides that he’s had enough of Pencey and will go home three days early, stay in a hotel, and not tell his parents that he is back.
Maurice, the elevator operator at the hotel Holden is staying at, offers to send a prostitute to Holden’s room for five dollars. Sunny says that she is actually charging ten dollars and Holden refuses. Sunny returns with Maurice, who demands another five dollars from Holden. Maurice punches him in the stomach when he refuses. Sunny takes five dollars from his wallet then Holden goes to bed.
He wakes up the next morning and calls Sally Hayes, a girl he has dated before. They arrange to meet for a showing of a Broadway play. He takes a cab to Central Park to look for his younger sister, Phoebe, but she isn’t there. Then heads to the theater for the play. Holden and Sally go to the play. After, they go to Radio City to ice skate. They both aren’t very good skaters and decide to get a table instead. Holden says something mean to Sally jokingly and she takes it the wrong way. She refuses to listen to his apologies and leaves.
After Holden makes a phone call to Sally again, he goes to the lagoon in Central Park, where he used to watch the ducks as a child. He decides to sneak into his own apartment building and wake his sister, Phoebe. He is forced to admit to Phoebe that he was kicked out of school, which makes her mad at him. When he tries to explain why he hates school, she accuses him of not liking anything. He tells her his fantasy of being “the catcher in the rye,” a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he has misremembered the poem that he took the image from: Robert Burns’s poem says “if a body meet a body, coming through the rye,” not “catch a body.”
The next morning, Holden goes to Phoebe’s school to send her a note saying that he is leaving home for good. He wants her to meet him at lunchtime at the museum. When Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase and she begs Holden to take her with him. When he refuses angrily, she cries and then refuses to speak to him. Knowing she will follow him, he walks to the zoo towards the carousel. He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. As it starts to rain, he is close to tears because he is so happy to watching his sister.
Genre: The genre in The Catcher in the Rye is Bildungsroman which is coming of age. Holden is becoming a young man and trying to figure out his life. The story shows Holden's movement from being "innocent" to having much more knowledge in the world. He is trying not to be a phony which he considers an adult. He thinks his time is running out to just be a kid. Style:Salinger uses very vivid descriptions. The reader doesn’t need to know all about the street names or other various paraphernalia. Salinger gives the extra information anyway. These serve to promote the reality of Holden's thought while showing his attentiveness to detail.
Holden's jargon is consistent and very enlightening. This serves to emphasize how unsure Holden is of what he's saying. Holden also talks in second person often. This common usage throughout the book emphasizes how Holden feels because almost no one sees the world like he does. He constantly has to reassure himself that others would do the same thing. Finally, Holden feels that sometimes that the words he is using are not right. This only adds to the realism of the novel.
Literary Analysis
The number of readers can relate to Holden. There is something about his discontent personality, and his vivid way of expressing it. This makes him powerful to readers who come from backgrounds completely different from his. It is tempting to revel his irritability rather than try to assume what is wrong with him. There are obvious signs that Holden is a troubled and untrustworthy narrator: he fails out of four schools; he has noticeable boredom toward his future; he is hospitalized, and he is not capable of connecting with other people. He has experienced two major traumas in his past that obviously have something to do with his emotional state: the death of his brother Allie and the suicide of one of his schoolmates. But, even with that knowledge, Holden’s peculiarities cannot simply be explained away as symptoms of a readily identifiable disorder.
The most noticeable of Holden’s “oddness” is how extremely judgmental he is of almost everything and everybody. He criticizes people who are boring and insecure, and people who are “phony.” Holden applies the term “phony” not to people who are dishonest but to those who are too predictable or too typical.
A second side of Holden’s personality is his attitude toward sex. Holden is a virgin, but he is very interested in sex. Much of the novel is spent trying to lose his virginity. He believes that sex should happen between people who care deeply about and respect one another. Also, he is troubled by the fact that he is aroused by women that he doesn’t respect or care for, like the blonde tourist he dances with in, or like Sally Hayes.
Criticism
Overall, The Catcher in the Rye was a great book. It was so different than other books that I have read. The plot of the book was so interesting because it gave insight on someone else's experience of their coming of age. It was obvious that the main character, Holden, was having difficulty finding himself. He was quite reluctant to grow up and be an adult. Holden wants to embrace his past. The connection between the reader and the main character is strong. His feelings and thoughts are very strong towards things.
One of the strongest characteristics of the book was Salinger's great description. Salinger is very good at explaining unnecessary items and characters' personalities. A picture of the entire setting and the characters is being painted in the readers' minds by Salinger's text. His best characteristic of writing is all the description he adds and it really makes a difference to the reader. Other books you may enjoy: Nine Stories by: SalingerFranny and Zooey by SalingerRaise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction
J.D. Salinger
Author Biography
J.D. Salinger was born and grew up Manhattan, New York. His dad was a prosperous man who inmported Kosher cheese. In his childhood he was often called Sonny. He was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy (1934-36) for a very short time. Salinger spent five months in Europe in 1937. From 1937 to 1938 he attended Ursinus College and New York University. He fell in love with Oona O'Neill but she ended up marrying some other man.
In 1939, Salinger took a short story writing class at Columbia University. He was drafted during World War II and was involved in the invasion of Normandy. Salinger was considered very brave and a hero. Salinger wrote many stories and met Ernest Hemingway in Paris. He also took place in Hürtgenwald, which was of the bloodiest battles of the war. He witnessed the horrors of war during this battle. After serving in the Army Signal Corps and Counter-Intelligence Corps from 1942 to 1946, he devoted himself to writing. In 1945 Salinger married a French doctor named. They were later divorced and in 1955 Salinger married Claire Douglas, the daughter of the British art critic Robert Langton Douglas. The marriage ended in divorce in 1967. Salinger's early short stories appeared in magazines. His first story was published in 1940. He was published in Saturday Evening Post and Esquire, and then in the New Yorker. The New Yorker published most of his later texts. Salinger had twenty stories published in Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and the New Yorker between 1941. Many of them reflect Salinger's service in the army. Later Salinger embraced the Hindu-Buddhist lifestyle.
Salinger's first novel, The Catcher in the Rye, won huge international praise. It still sell around 250 000 copies annually. Salinger did get involved much in the publicity. He did not want his photograph to be used in connection with the book. He also turned down requests to turn his book into a movie. The first reviews of the work were mixed. Most critics thought it was brilliant. The title of the book comes from a line by Robert Burns. From time to time rumors spread that Salinger will publish another novel, or that he is publishing his work under another name. He avoided publicity and journalists assumed he had something to hide. In 1961, Time Magazine explored his private life. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure," said Salinger in 1974. Salinger continued to write, but didn’t allow anybody to see his work. Since the late 80s, Salinger has been married to Colleen O'Neill. In 2009, Salinger broke his silence through his lawyers, when they unauthorized sequel to the Caulfield's story, entitled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye was released in Britain. Salinger later died at his home on January 27, 2010. (Cited) For more information on the author: Biography 1 Biography 2
Plot Synopsis
The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by Holden Caulfield. Holden’s story begins on the Saturday following the
Maurice, the elevator operator at the hotel Holden is staying at, offers to send a prostitute to Holden’s room for five dollars. Sunny says that she is actually charging ten dollars and Holden refuses. Sunny returns with Maurice, who demands another five dollars from Holden. Maurice punches him in the stomach when he refuses. Sunny takes five dollars from his wallet then Holden goes to bed.
He wakes up the next morning and calls Sally Hayes, a girl he has dated before. They arrange to meet for a showing of a Broadway play. He takes a cab to Central Park to look for his younger sister, Phoebe, but she isn’t there. Then heads to the theater for the play. Holden and Sally go to the play. After, they go to Radio City to ice skate. They both aren’t very good skaters and decide to get a table instead. Holden says something mean to Sally jokingly and she takes it the wrong way. She refuses to listen to his apologies and leaves.
After Holden makes a phone call to Sally again, he goes to the lagoon in Central Park, where he used to watch the ducks as a child. He decides to sneak into his own apartment building and wake his sister, Phoebe. He is forced to admit to Phoebe that he was kicked out of school, which makes her mad at him. When he tries to explain why he hates school, she accuses him of not liking anything. He tells her his fantasy of being “the catcher in the rye,” a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he has misremembered the poem that he took the image from: Robert Burns’s poem says “if a body meet a body, coming through the rye,” not “catch a body.”
The next morning, Holden goes to Phoebe’s school to send her a note saying that he is leaving home for good. He wants her to meet him at lunchtime at the museum. When Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase and she begs Holden to take her with him. When he refuses angrily, she cries and then refuses to speak to him. Knowing she will follow him, he walks to the zoo towards the carousel. He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. As it starts to rain, he is close to tears because he is so happy to watching his sister.
For more information: The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye MMK The Catcher in the Rye-SGB
Literary Information
Genre: The genre in The Catcher in the Rye is Bildungsroman which is coming of age. Holden is becoming a young man and trying to figure out his life. The story shows Holden's movement from being "innocent" to having much more knowledge in the world. He is trying not to be a phony which he considers an adult. He thinks his time is running out to just be a kid.
Style: Salinger uses very vivid descriptions. The reader doesn’t need to know all about the street names or other various paraphernalia. Salinger gives the extra information anyway. These serve to promote the reality of Holden's thought while showing his attentiveness to detail.
Holden's jargon is consistent and very enlightening. This serves to emphasize how unsure Holden is of what he's saying. Holden also talks in second person often. This common usage throughout the book emphasizes how Holden feels because almost no one sees the world like he does. He constantly has to reassure himself that others would do the same thing. Finally, Holden feels that sometimes that the words he is using are not right. This only adds to the realism of the novel.
Literary Analysis
The number of readers can relate to Holden. There is something about his discontent personality, and his vivid way of expressing it. This makes him powerful to readers who come from backgrounds completely different from his. It is tempting to revel his irritability rather than try to assume what is wrong with him. There are obvious signs that Holden is a troubled and untrustworthy narrator: he fails out of four schools; he has noticeable boredom toward his future; he is hospitalized, and he is not capable of connecting with other people. He has experienced two major traumas in his past that obviously have something to do with his emotional state: the death of his brother Allie and the suicide of one of his schoolmates. But, even with that knowledge, Holden’s peculiarities cannot simply be explained away as symptoms of a readily identifiable disorder.
The most noticeable of Holden’s “oddness” is how extremely judgmental he is of almost everything and everybody. He criticizes people who are boring and insecure, and people who are “phony.” Holden applies the term “phony” not to people who are dishonest but to those who are too predictable or too typical.
A second side of Holden’s personality is his attitude toward sex. Holden is a virgin, but he is very interested in sex. Much of the novel is spent trying to lose his virginity. He believes that sex should happen between people who care deeply about and respect one another. Also, he is troubled by the fact that he is aroused by women that he doesn’t respect or care for, like the blonde tourist he dances with in, or like Sally Hayes.
Criticism
Overall, The Catcher in the Rye was a great book. It was so different than other books that I have read. The plot of the book was so interesting because it gave insight on someone else's experience of their coming of age. It was obvious that the main character, Holden, was having difficulty finding himself. He was quite reluctant to grow up and be an adult. Holden wants to embrace his past. The connection between the reader and the main character is strong. His feelings and thoughts are very strong towards things.
One of the strongest characteristics of the book was Salinger's great description. Salinger is very good at explaining unnecessary items and characters' personalities. A picture of the entire setting and the characters is being painted in the readers' minds by Salinger's text. His best characteristic of writing is all the description he adds and it really makes a difference to the reader.
Other books you may enjoy: Nine Stories by: Salinger Franny and Zooey by Salinger Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction