J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" was published in 1951, 16th of July; many of the parts were already published as several short stories. It is one of the most appre
ciated American classics taught in the school curriculum. It faced some objections for its content in the past.
The novel is about 17-year-old Holden Caufield's perception of the world. He studies in a boarding school, Pancey Prep, in Pennsylvania. He has been expelled from his school for getting flunked in four subjects out of five. He is only interested in English and seems to be a well-read person.
There are many allusions to Literary texts like David Copperfield, The return of the native, Hemingway, Burns, etc.
Robert Burns poem supplies the title of the novel, The catcher in the Rye; Holden wants to be a catcher in the field of Rye where little children play and are not aware of the dangers of the cliff from where they can fall. Hence, he wants to stand at the end of the cliff and catch the children and save them from falling.
Holden dislikes the present world, the people are fake, phony and the innocent children, when they graduate from being a teenager to adulthood, are betrayed so much.
The novel is compared to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Fin, but that was a 19th-century novel, and this one is a 20th-century novel, after the second world war. It has the echoes of this world war.
There are many quick-witted and canny dialogues from Holden, which keeps the interest of the reader.
The novel does not have any plot but thoughts of the present with some flashes from the past. It is a narration of almost two to three days when Holden is expelled, and he has nowhere to go; the Christmas break has 2-3 days, and his parents are not aware of his expulsion. So he spent his time here and there before reaching home officially. He boards a train to New York, meets a mother of his classmate, whom he fools a lot, then checks in a cheap hotel, visits a bar, flirts with three females there, and then sneaks into his own house to meet his younger sister when the parents are away late at night.
This novel is a story of a present-day's restless youth who finds this world alienated and rebels instead of sinking in it.
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