Andrew Wallace
Smith 2nd period
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye
Little, Brown And Company, 1979
Heart
Teenage Fiction
277 pg.

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a relatively old novel that takes place in the 1950’s. It is narrated by a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield, who is portrayed as a troubling adolescent living in New York. Unlike most novels in which the story’s timeline takes years to unfold, this narrative’s events all happen within one weekend. Salinger’s writing displays a smooth transition from thoughts actions, which hides the difficulty of this piece. Furthermore, he captures the essence of teen spirit back when New York City was notorious for its night life. His symbolic use of motifs and themes creates a story that requires much thought in order to explore its depth.
Holden's story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at the Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. This is his fourth school; he failed out of his previous three. Due to his poor academic performance at Pencey, he has received a notice that he is being expelled, but he doesn’t wait to be kicked out. Instead of going back to school, he decides to take a train to Manhattan and stay in a hotel for the weekend before going to his parent’s house. As he gets in a cab on the way to his hotel, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go when the lagoon freezes, but his question annoys the driver. Once in Manhattan, Holden attempts to explore his sexual life as he tries to mature into an adult by visiting many different women, all who reject him. Throughout the novel, Holden has flashbacks of his old girlfriend Jane Gallagher, one who he truly claimed to "love." Every time he thinks about her he becomes depressed, mainly because she is now dating his old roommate back at Pencey. One day he decides to sneak into his old apartment building where his sister Phoebe lives. Again, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go in the winter, and this cabbie is even more irritable than the first one. Once he tells his sister that he flunked out of school, she gets upset with him and claims she never wants to see him again. Quite drunk, Holden heads back to his hotel in shame. Then he goes to the lagoon in Central Park, where he used to watch the ducks as a child. It takes him a long time to find it, and by the time he does, he is freezing cold. Holden’s life eventually takes a turning point when he and his sister finally get together, and he takes her to a carousel in Central Park. It starts to rain heavily, but Holden is so happy watching his sister ride the carousel that he is close to tears.
I thought this book was very symbolic, and although the plot may seem degrading, it is one of the best books I have ever read. As the novel progresses, we begin to perceive that Holden's alienation is his way of protecting himself. He uses his isolation as proof that he is better than everyone else and therefore above interacting with them. He desperately needs human contact and love, but his protective wall of bitterness prevents him from looking for such interaction. Overall, Holden’s alienation is his source of his strength and the source of his problems. For example, his loneliness propels him into one of his dates with Sally Hayes, but his need for isolation causes him to insult her and drive her away. Holden's curiosity about where the ducks go during the winter reveals a genuine, more youthful side to his character. Throughout the story he acts like a grumpy old man, but his search for the ducks displays his curiosity and youthfulness. Holden is also terrified of disappearance, partly due to his brother’s death. The ducks vanish every winter, but they return every spring, thus symbolizing change that isn't permanent, but cyclical. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to read between the lines, and wanting to discover hidden messages within its pages.