1. Literary Elements and Summer Reading
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger

2. Originally published in July 1951, The Catcher in the Rye was a book-of-the-month club selection and an immediate bestseller.

3. Where and when does the story take place?
Setting
Where and when does the story take place?

4. Characters Protagonist
the leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text
In TCITR?
Antagonist
a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary
In TCITR?

5. competitive or opposing action: antagonistic state
Conflict
competitive or opposing action: antagonistic state
Person vs.
Person
Himself/Herself
Society
Nature
God/supernatural/fate
technology/machine

6. What is the conflict in The Catcher in the Rye?
Person vs. society
Person vs. himself
Salinger used Valley Forge Military Academy as the model for Pencey Prep. Salinger
himself was a WWII veteran who took part in D-Day. An alum, evidence suggests he
actually enjoyed his time at Valley Forge and was a big fan of the military – until his
service in WWII.

7. Who tells the story and how do they tell it?
Narrative Voice
Who tells the story and how do they tell it?
Jerome David Salinger, b. New York City,
Jan. 1, January 27, 2010

8. 1st Person
“I” singular or “we” plural - from narrator’s point of view – biased/subjective
2nd Person
“you” singular and plural - presentational/accusatory
3rd Person
“he” “she” “it” singular or “they” plural – omniscient, all knowing, objective

9. Sep. 15, 1961

10. Stuff to pay attention to in all the literature we read this year…
Themes
Large issues that are central to the novel and/or play (example from TCITR?)
Motifs
reoccurring symbols or images that mean something deeper (example from TCITR?)

11. Plot Structure (5 elements of a story)
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution

12. Irony (3 kinds) Situational irony
a discrepancy between an expected result and the actual result(s)
Verbal irony
when an author says one thing but means or implies another

13. Dramatic irony
when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature is not aware of
Irony in TCITR?

14. Characters Caulfield Family Holden Caulfield Mr. & Mrs. Caulfield
Allie Caulfield
D.B. Caulfield
Phoebe Caulfield
Pencey
Mr. Spencer
Ward Stradlater
Robert Ackley
Jane Gallagher
(Step-dad Cadahy)

15. Sunny
Maurice
Two nuns
NYC
Faith Cavendish
Sally Hayes
Marty, Laverne, and Bernice Krebs
Lillian Simmons

16. Boy walking in street
Girl in Central Park
Mr. & Mrs. Antolini

17. Themes Alienation as Self-Protection Painfulness of Growing Up
Phoniness of Adult World

18. Holden’s red hunting hat
Motifs/Symbols
Holden’s red hunting hat

19. The Museum of Natural History

20. Ducks in Central Park Lagoon

21. The Catcher in the Rye

22. Censorship
It seems that the mere effort of trying to censor something compels others to actively seek it out.
Catcher is undoubtedly one of the most controversial literary works of all time. The American Library Association (ALA) reports that the novel holds the #10 spot as one of "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of ”

23. According to the ALA and the University of Pennsylvania, these works have either been banned or have sparked some kind of continuing controversy in the United States.
Rudolfo Anaya: Bless Me, Ultima
George Eliot: Silas Marner
William Golding: Lord of the Flies
Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
Martin Hanford: Where's Waldo?
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
James Joyce: Ulysses
Madeline L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time
D.H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterly's Lover
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird
William Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice
Shel Silverstein: Where the Sidewalk Ends
John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
Alice Walker: The Color Purple