Catcher in the Rye: An Overview - Essay Example

Catcher in the Rye: An Overview Catcher in the rye is a story of a sixteen year old boy as he struggled in different aspects of life. He discusses his view and perspective in life, his feelings towards opposite sex, his family, his schoolmates and teachers. He pours his inner thoughts and feelings towards different subjects in his life, his constant loneliness and the phase he is experiencing. One of the things that Holden struggles with, are the phonies of his surroundings. He thinks that Pency Prep is phony including the system and Dr. Thurmer, the man managing it. He thinks his surroundings are phony because they do not show their true colors when dealing with people. They keep themselves hidden in order to attain their wants or in order to be benefitted in every situation. They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time. I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place (Salinger 1). One of the reasons why Holden calls Pency Prep phony is the advertisement in various magazines as stated in the passage above and their steak for dinner every Saturday that when parents come on Sunday they will ask their children what they had for dinner and they would answer steak, when in fact their steak is a hard slab piece of meat that nobody wants to eat (Saliner19). One of Holden’s struggles in life is the death of his younger brother Allie. His brother Allie, who He loved dearly died due to leukemia. Holden described him as the nicest person he knew, who never gets mad regardless of the fact that he had red hair which is known to be related to bad temper. He also described him as the most intelligent in their family, fifty times more intelligent than he was. Holden cannot cope with the lost of his younger brother due to leukemia that is why his life seems like a mess. He had been to four schools before and faces expulsion due to having failing marks in four out of his five subjects without worrying about them. Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules (Salinger5). Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then its a game, all right--Ill admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there arent any hot-shots, then whats a game about it? Nothing. No game (Salinger 5). The above passage expressed by Mr. Spencer to Holden during their talk before Holden left Pency. Life is a game where you have to follow the rules; you have to follow the norms and the laws. In order for you to succeed you have to go mainstream, face the things and problems that life brings you because it will make you a better person in the process. You have to fight your way, exert your best effort and struggle hard to win. If you stop fighting and just stand in one corner, doing nothing, life will eat you and you will end up bitter, an underachiever. Ill be all right. Im just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, dont they? (Salinger 8) This is Holden’s view when he was talking to Mr. Spencer about being kicked-out in Pency. He knows that this phase in his life will pass. He admitted to Mr. Spencer that he is lost. He does not know what to do with his life, He does not know what will be his future and He knows this phase will pass. Another one of Holden’s struggle is the lack of attachment whether to a person, to his schoolmates and to the things he owns. One of my troubles is, I never care too much when I lose something--it used to drive my mother crazy when I was a kid. Some guys spend days looking for something they lost. I never seem to have anything that if I lost it Id care too much (Salinger 48). The above passage showed that Holden’s view when a stranger took his gloves and never seem bothered by it because he does not care about his things. Also, although he got some friends in Pency Prep he never had a true a friend whom he can share his inner views and thoughts all he got are merely acquaintance which he talks with random stuffs and accompanies him in watching movies and eating in restaurants. Sex and girls is one thing he also struggles. He prevents making fantasies in his mind but in reality he did not do anything about having a relationship with the girl he likes. She knocked me out. I mean it. I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. Thats the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if theyre not much to look at, or even if theyre sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can (Salinger 40). Holden pours his thoughts about girls in above passage, Girls amazes him even in small gesture done by girls they knock him off his feet. However, he cannot establish relationship with girls because he never understands them and he does not exert effort in pursuing the girl he likes. Sex is something I really dont understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. (Salinger 34) Holden never understand sex, however, as a teenager with raging hormones, he cannot control his desire towards opposite sex. He sees sex as an expression of love where they share feelings between the two lovers, that’s the reason why he cannot have sex with a prostitute. Being a teenager, Holden have many issues to settle with. He hates the phonies of the people and institution that surrounds him but he lies constantly to random people. He cannot cope with the death of a loved-one and often lacks attachment to people around him that is the reason why He feels constantly alone. He yearns to protect the innocents but at times he is as innocent as the children are and saw the world in different perspective when in fact he should be enjoying life. Work Cited Saliner J.D. “ Catcher of the Rye”. Penguin Books. (2010). Print Read More