Catcher In The Rye Essay Example For Students

Catcher In The Rye Essay Although The Catcher in the Rye caused considerable controversy when it was first published in 1951, the bookthe account of three disoriented days in the life of a troubled sixteen-year-old boywas an instant hit. Within two weeks after its release, it was listed number one on The New York Times best-seller list, and it stayed there for thirty weeks. It remained immensely popular for many years, especially among teenagers and young adults, largely because of its fresh, brash style and anti-establishment attitudestypical attributes of many people emerging from the physical and psychological turmoil of adolescence. It also was the bane of many parents, who objected to the main characters obscene language, erratic behavior, and antisocial attitudes. Responding to the irate protests, numerous school and public libraries and bookstores removed the book from their shelves. Holden simply was not a good role model for the youth of the 1950s, in the view of many conservative adults. Holden portrayed others to be inferior to his own kind all throughoutthe book. He made several references as to how people arent as perfect ashe was. The reason he Stradlater fixed himself up to look good wasbecause he was madly in love with himself. (pg. 27) Holden had aninferiority complex. He was afraid of not having any special talents orabilities and used other methods to make him out to be a rough tough boy. Boy, I sat at that goddam bar till around one oclock or so, getting drunkas a bastard. I could hardly see straight. (pg. 150) Holden tried all hecould to fit in. He drank, cursed and criticized life in general to make itseem he was very knowing of these habits. I myself have found me doing thisat times, also. I, at times, feel the need to fit in to a group and dothings similar to what others do in order to gain acceptance by them. Ismoked a cigar once with two friends of mine because they kept going on andon about how great cigars were, but that was only once. Holden and I bothplace people on levels other than our own for amount of knowledge andlikeness to ourselves. Holden used the term phonies to describe more than a few people inthis book. He used the term to be what a person is if they dont actnaturally and follow other peoples manners and grace. Holden didnt likephonies, he thought of them as if they were trying to show off. He didntlike it when they showed off because it seemed so fake and unnatural everytime they would do so. At the end of the first act we went out with allthe other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal thatwas. You never saw so many phonies in all your life,everybody smoking their ears off and talking aboutthe play so that everybody could hear how sharp theywere. (pg. 126)I know many people like this as well. I do not like phonies either. Ihave many friends who talk using full vocabulary just to try to impressyou, and others who make note of everything they see to show you howperceptible they are. People do this when they have a fear of their ownindividuality and feel that they need to ace different to get people tolike them. Holden and I both dislike phonies. We do not like people whotake on roles of others to seem more likeable because they are insecure. Throughout the book Holden displays a lack of motivation for manythings in which he should do. Holden couldnt even call up an oldgirlfriend whom he knew a long time ago. But when I got inside this phone booth, Iwasnt much in the mood any more to give oldJane a buzz. (Pg. 150)Holden also had a problem getting his motivation together in order tocomplete schoolwork and succeed in his prep school. I have similar problemswith my motivation and find at times I must be in the mood to do somethingin order for me to accomplish it. This stems from our experience in thepast being that we can get through life, or the part weve been throughalready, with minimal effort. Holden has had this opportunity to noticethis as his parents have been shuffling him around to different schoolsevery time he flunks. He feels his parents will be there to move himsomewhere else and take care of him every time something goes wrong. Ifound out in eighth grade that the schoolwork I had was far less than theschoolwork I did and I began to slack off, this caused me