Catcher In The Rye Themes

Theme is the subject, or topic, of a piece of writing, consisting of the main idea of the story. Authors will usually make the theme of text clear and consistent throughout the story. In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, there are a couple of different themes throughout the book. The two main themes in this novel are the feeling of exclusion and dealing with the reality of having to grow up, both in relation to depression. The feeling of exclusion is that Holden is feeling like an outcast in the society around him. Holden doesn't feel like he belongs and therefore he subconsciously tries distancing himself from everyone and the things around him. This is shown when people have come into his room at the beginning of the boom and he goes out of his way to subtly let them know he wants them to leave. The second theme is Holden having to deal with the reality of having to grow up, and he doesn't want to. He thinks that the …show more content…
This is likely the cause of his emotional distress and his further emotional detachment from people. Along with that, Holden not wanting to grow up is shown very clearly throughout the story. It is presented with him constantly finding comfort in the innocence of his childhood and the complete lack of knowledge/understanding when it comes to adult things.
The reasons that the author (J. D. Salinger) most likely decided to write this novel are to show what it is like to be depressed in a more natural way. His reasons for choosing these specific themes are probably to show the two main things that young people suffering through depression experience. It is likely that these people feel alienated when it comes to society and the people around them. This is something that Salinger wanted to portray when writing his novel, so people could understand more clearly what depressed people are going