The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger--

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger, a man who served in WWII and died in 2010 at age 91. This novel was Salinger’s most well known, written originally for adults, although in today’s age, many young people have taken an interest in the novel because of its themes of isolation and of protecting the innocent. The Catcher in the Rye is centered around a teenage boy, age 16, named Holden Caulfield. Holden was kicked out of a school called Pencey Prep for flunking all of his classes. He leaves the school a few days early and decides not to go straight home, instead stopping by different places and meeting former teachers, his younger sister, and many more. The events in the novel take place over a two-day period in Holden’s life during which he searches for truth and criticizes adult phoniness. Although it is hard to tell from the story, it is said that Holden spent some time in a psychiatric hospital.