Catcher In The Rye Themes

Themes  What do you think are the main themes in the novel?  Relationships  Growing up / Innocence and Childhood  The individual versus society  The effect of the environment  Honesty and Integrity  How are these themes are revealed to the reader?

Relationships  Holden as an outsider  Adults and Parents  Pency Prep  Loneliness  Attempting to befriend people he meets

Relationships  Meaningful conversations  Being disappointed by interactions  Frequently misunderstood / fails to make himself understood  Relationships in the past

‘Bildungsroman’  A novel which traditionally explores the transition between adolescence and adulthood  Salinger subverts this by not giving us an affirmation of Holden’s maturity at the end of the novel  At end of novel Holden regains faith in childhood innocence, which implies a kind of salvation

Growing up / Innocence and Childhood  The transition between adolescence and adulthood  Holden sees adult world as superficial  Allie, Phoebe and Jane  Holden’s childlike qualities  Fantasy and Reality

The individual versus society  Pressure to conform  The values of school  New York people  Materialism (obsession with possessions)

The effect of the environment  Holden experiences three different environments throughout the novel:  Pency Prep, New York City and his home.  He tries to escape from each at some point  One of Holden’s paradoxs  He desires to be somewhere, but quickly becomes claustrophobic and has to leave  What does this show us about Holden?  That he cannot escape from himself

The effect of the environment  Pency Prep  New York City  Home

Honesty and Integrity  Holden’s obsession with ‘phonies’  Who does Holden see as a phony?  Just about everyone  Who does Holden see as honest?  Nuns, Phoebe, Jane  Links to theme of innocence / childhood