The Catcher in the Rye

During this past week or two I’ve been reading The Catcher in The Rye, which is a book based around the main character named Holden Caulfield.

This book starts off with Caulfield standing on a hill watching his schools football game. Being that this was his fourth school he has attended, this was due to him failing out of his first three schools he had attended. Caulfield is now about to be expelled from his current school, Pencey High.  After failing four out of the five classes at his current school its now the second time. I went into the book with an open mind and had a different appeal on things.  Holden was seen as an agitated young man who took the frustrations he had for himself out on those who surrounded him. The frustrations towards people were seen, as Holden would speak of his hatred of phonies and his agitation towards his roommates in Pencey High. I found the author to be successful in portraying how Holden felt in situations throughout the book by making the main character tell the story. He spoke as if he were writing his emotions in a journal, presenting each idea with details.

Something that I have found of Salinger’s writing was that Holden was extremely observant. An event in the book a part in the story that made my thoughts kind of true was when he compared the behaviors of his two roommates Stradlater and Ackley. Holden judged everyone he saw and that’s not a way someone should live through life, it makes your confidence go up sure but it still isn’t right.