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The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger

linschro, March 28, 2007

The book, the Catcher in the Rye, is a must read. For those you who don't know, this book is about a sixteen-year-old boy who just got expelled from school for having bad grades. The boy, Holden Caulfield, narrates the story over a couple of days. Throughout the book he uses snappy language and phrases that have caused the book to be on banned book lists. This book gives a view point from a teenager’s perspective. Holden Caulfield’s perspective is not only painful, but it is also satisfying. As he is on his own for the couple of days, the reader experiences, the pain, he conveys in the book. Yet he keeps the pain to himself and makes it clear that he doesn’t want other people to know the pain he is experiencing. When he has a moment of happiness, he likes to share that emotion and the reader also can feel his joy. He captures the anticipation of growing into adulthood. As he leaves his Pennsylvania prep school and explores the world of New York City he encounters the phoniness of the adult world. When he explores New York City, it really connects the reader to a stage in their life where they had to adjust to reality pretty quickly. One thing about this book, it really connects the reader to Holden Caulfield and puts the reader in Holden’s shoes.
The Catcher in the Rye, is quite compelling. When someone reads this book, it’s usually a love/hate relationship. You either love it or hate it. This book does a good job by keeping Holden’s innocence at a reach, but expands his character by having him deal with adult experiences. When reading the book Holden reads a Robert Burns poem that explains the books title. It says, “If a body meet a body, comin’ through the rye,” but he replaces the word meet with catch and the point in the book when this happens explains a lot about him. Since I love this book I think the effectiveness of this book hits home because about the time I read it was when I was graduating from high school and was stepping out into the real world and what Holden went through, I felt similar. He goes through life taking one day at a time and has a roll with the punches attitude. I think by his attitude throughout the book has affected me in ways I never thought would. In the beginning of college I thought studying was the only thing important, but after reading this book it has changed my perspective on life. You should roll with the punches and take one day at a time because life is too short to dwell on things that have no barring on the next day. I think high school students could benefit from this book and even college students. Just give the book a chance and you will be surprised.

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