The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger that is a 21st-century literary classic but is incredibly overrated. It is one of those books almost every high schooler must-read during English class, and most wonder why the book is so popular in the first place. The story itself is not bad, and its multiple symbols and themes that are closely analyzed are probably reasons why this book is forced-fed to teenagers. However, it seems like the true reason this book is such a classic is that it is seen as raw. When relating this book with the context of its publishing date, it was the 1950s. Novels were not like Salinger's, with its mass amount of profanity and Holden Caulfield being prejudice towards everyone around him. The main problem with this novel is its main character, Holden Caulfield.
Holden Caulfield is the phoniest character in the entire book, but he is too busy calling everyone else around him one to ever notice. He calls everyone as a phony as a defense mechanism, since he struggles to connect with anyone. When someone rejects him, then he can easily get over it since to him they are all just phonies anyways. This is one of the biggest problems with this character’s personality. He judges his friends and even strangers very harshly but desperately wants to connect with them. However, he can never …show more content…
He physically fights his roommate Stradlater as a way to protect his old childhood friend, Jane, from dating him even though what she does is not any of his business. Holden also yells at his date Sally and calls her a pain when he asks her to run away with him and she rejects. There are multiple other examples. It is actually sad reading about Holden’s life since he does often get rejected and it clearly hurts him, but with the way he acts, it is clear why nobody wishes to stick with
Holden Caulfield is the phoniest character in the entire book, but he is too busy calling everyone else around him one to ever notice. He calls everyone as a phony as a defense mechanism, since he struggles to connect with anyone. When someone rejects him, then he can easily get over it since to him they are all just phonies anyways. This is one of the biggest problems with this character’s personality. He judges his friends and even strangers very harshly but desperately wants to connect with them. However, he can never …show more content…
He physically fights his roommate Stradlater as a way to protect his old childhood friend, Jane, from dating him even though what she does is not any of his business. Holden also yells at his date Sally and calls her a pain when he asks her to run away with him and she rejects. There are multiple other examples. It is actually sad reading about Holden’s life since he does often get rejected and it clearly hurts him, but with the way he acts, it is clear why nobody wishes to stick with