By, Zach Hodgin THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

Jerome David Salinger was born on New Years Day in New York City in Born to a Jewish father, Sol, and Catholic mother Marie Marie changed her name to Miriam to pass as Jewish His family called him Sonny Salinger attended a private school. McBurney School. Managed the fencing team, appeared in plays, and wrote for the school newspaper. Had trouble fitting in Started attending New York University but dropped out Sol, sent him to Austria to learn the family trade Left Austria a month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 J. D. SALINGER

Started attending Ursinus College in Pennsylvania but dropped out. Columbia Univeristy Started dating socialite Oona ONeill but left him for Charlie Chalpin. Drafted in the US Army and served from 1942 to Fought in Combat on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge Entered Dachau labor camp Hospitalized for combat stress reaction "You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live. Started writing The Catcher in the Rye after meeting with Ernest Hemingway. J. D. SALINGER

Published in Was a huge success Secluded himself in Cornish, New Hampshire There are about five more of his works that are said to be published in the next few years J. D. SALINGER

Setting - Late forties or early fifties. Beginning at Holden Caulfields private school in Pennsylvania and recounting memories from his time in New York Point of View – First Person FOUNDATION

Holden Caulfield – protagonist, narrator, 16, junior in high school. No commitment, socially awkward teenager, rebellious. Phoebe Caulfield – Holdens sister, clever, sensitive, the only person that seems to love Holden and accepts him. MAIN CHARACTERS

Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield – lawyer and a homemaker, well-to-do, superficial. Mr. Caulfield was Catholic. Theyre grand people and phony Allie – Holdens younger brother, died of leukemia D.B. – Holdens older brother, genius writer, moved to Hollywood to write scripts phony Jane Gallagher – cares about her. Holdens childhood friend Sally Hayes – occasional girlfriend, Holden wants to move out west with her. phony Stradlater – Holdens dorm roomate and Pencey Prep, athletic, popular, prideful. Get into a fistfight phony SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Carl Luce – old friend of Holdens. Holden admires him Sunny – prostitute that Holden pays for Maurice – elevator operator, Sunnys clientele agent Ackley – stays in the room next to Holden at Pencey Preparatory. Occasional best friend. Describes him as a terrific bore and says he has bad hygiene and is rude. SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Holden gets kicked out of Pencey Prep for failing all of his classes. Stradlater gets back from a date with Jane Gallagher and Holden thinks they had sex. Stradlater and Holden get into a fist fight after Holden repeatedly calls him a moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron Holden leaves Pencey for Christmas break and will not return Leaves for New York to stay with D.B. At the hotel he meets some women at a bar but they arent interested. Maurice talks him into hiring a prostitute SYNOPSIS

Holden anxiously waits for the girl Sunny is very young and Holden wants to talk. After Sunny gets upset, Holden pays her to leave Sunny returns with Maurice and he punches him in the stomach and steal his money The next morning, Holden calls his girlfriend Sally Hayes to go see a movie After the movie they go ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza Holden vents about his hatred of the city and asks Sally if she wants to move out west with him and get married. Sally declines and Holden calls her a royal pain in the ass leaving her to cry. SYNOPSIS

Holden visits a bar where he is a repeating customer. He knows some people in the bar including Carl Luce who Holden admires. Holden becomes belligerently drunk and makes a phone call to Sally After gaining soberness, Holden visits his sister Phoebe at his families apartment. His parents are at a party in Connecticut When he gets up to the apartment, he wakes Phoebe and they talk. Holden describes to her that he imagines himself running in a rye field catching children from falling off a cliff. Holdens parents return home so he leaves to stay with an old teacher of his. SYNOPSIS

Mr. Anolini cares about Holden, giving him advice. The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. After falling asleep, Holden is wakened by Mr. Anolini petting him on the head. Feeling violated, Holden leaves and spends the night on a bench in Grand Central Station. The next day, Holden decides to move out west to become a deaf- mute and marry a deaf-mute woman and live in a log cabin. Holden tells Phoebe his idea and she wants to go with him but he declines and she becomes upset To cheer her up he takes her to the zoo She rides a carousel and seeing how much fun she has, he becomes happy for the first time. He decides not to leave SYNOPSIS

The story ends at the zoo The reader is told that Holden has been retelling this story from a sanatorium and is going through psychotherapy. He regrets telling this story to the reader as he now misses all of the people he came across including Ackley, Stradlater, and Maurice. Dont ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. SYNOPSIS

And Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going I have to come out of somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats the only thing Id really like to be. What really knocks me out is a book that, when youre all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesnt happen much, though. "Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will. He probably was scared hed fractured my skull or something when I hit the floor. Its too bad I didnt. QUOTES

Alienation as a form of rebellion and self-protection against society The cross between childhood and maturity Superficiality Lying, deception Sexuality, intimacy THEMES AND MOTIFS

The image of the rye field – Holden wants to protect children playing in a rye field from falling off. Holden wants to protect the innocence of children from the corruption of the adult world. Red hunting hat – Holdens unique style. He never wears it around people he knows. Symbolizes his introverted personality but need for companionship. SYMBOLS

Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States Several shootings have been associated with the novel Mark David Chapman identified with Holden On the night of Lennons shooting, Chapman was found with a copy of the book in which he had written "This is my statement, Holden Caulfield. After Ronald Reagens assasination attempt police found a copy of the book on John Hinkley Jr.s nightstand. CONTROVERSY

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