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kritter's The Catcher in the Rye website
Hi! I'm kritter. This is a web page I built for my 6th period, Pre-College English class. It is about the book The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J. D. Salinger. This book is told by Holden Caulfield, a disturbed teenager who is also the main character. He tells this story from the setting of a "rest home" (asylum). This book covers a span of four days in Holden's life. In these four days, Holden gets kicked out of his school and stays in New York City for a couple of days before he goes home. While Holden is in New York, he looks around at his surroudings. He discribes all of all of his surroundings as "crummy" or "phony". By the end of the book, Holden goes insane.
THE MEANING OF THE TITLE
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In the book, Holden describes his perfect occupation. He says that he would like to watch kids playing in a field of rye next to a cliff. He says that when the kids would come near the edge, he would catch them. He would be a "Catcher in the Rye." He does many things in the book signifigant with this occupation. For example, when he is at his little sisters school, he rubs off a "f**k you" sign on the wall so all the kids wouldn't have to see it. He wants to be a shield for the innocent.
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SIGNIFIGANT CHARACHTERS
1. Allie - Holden's dead younger brother, 2 years younger
2. D. B. - Holden's older brother, writer in Hollywood
3. Holden - main charachter
4. Holdens parents
5. Phoebe - Holden's 10 year old sister
6. Mr. Antolini - English teacher at Elkton hills
7. Mr. Spencer - History teacher at Pency
8. Robert Ackley, Ely, Ward Stradlater, and Mal Brossard - students at Pency
9. Jane Gallagher - Holden's old girlfriend
10. Sally Hayes - girl who Holden has a date with
11. James Castle - student at Elkton Hills who commited suicide
HOLDEN GOING CRAZY
At the begining of the book, Holden seems to be a pretty normal guy. When he goes to New York, he thinks that everyone is a "phony" posing to be something they really aren't.
Holden describes a time when he stayed at one of his ex-teacher's, Mr. Antolini's, house. He falls asleep on his couch and wakes up to see Mr. Antolini patting him on the head. Holden takes this as some kind of "flitty pass" and leaves as quickly as possible. Later, Holden realizes that he has no more judgement capabilities.
After leaving, he decides to go to sleep at Grand Central Station. When he wakes up, he reads a magazine and convinces himself that he has cancer and is going to die soon.
Later, walking down the street, Holden has the feeling that when he crosses the street, he is dissapearing. He then starts to tell Allie, his dead brother to bring him back.
All of these are signs of schizophrenia. Holden is definately crazy by the end of the novel.