Where is holden caulfield telling the story from

Antolini asks Holden about his expulsion and tries to counsel him about his future. Antolini puts him to bed on the couch. Holden awakens to find Mr.

Antolini stroking his forehead. Thinking that Mr. Antolini is making a homosexual overture, Holden hastily excuses himself and leaves, sleeping for a few hours on a bench at Grand Central Station.

When Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase full of clothes, and she asks Holden to take her with him. He refuses angrily, and she cries and then refuses to speak to him. Knowing she will follow him, he walks to the zoo, and then takes her across the park to a carousel.

He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. It starts to rain heavily, but Holden is so happy watching his sister ride the carousel that he is close to tears. Ace your assignments with our guide to The Catcher in the Rye! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Antolini Mr. Spencer Stradlater Carl Luce. What is a catcher in the rye and why does Holden want to be one? Does Mr. Antolini really make a pass at Holden?

Why does Holden run away from Pencey? Spencer, his history instructor. At the end of the chapter, Holden arrives at Mr. Spencer's house and is let in by his teacher's wife. In one of the best-known openings in American fiction, Salinger sets the tone for Holden's personality and narrative style.

The first paragraph of the novel is often compared to the opening lines of Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn From the beginning, we, the readers, realize that Holden is not a traditional narrator. He eschews details about his birth, his parents, and "all that David Copperfield kind of crap" referring to Charles Dickens' novel by the same name.

Holden speaks in the vernacular of a teenager of his day the late s. The literary point of view is first-person singular, unique to Holden but easily accessible to the rebels, romantics, innocents, and dreamers of any generation.

After stating that he will just tell us about the "madman stuff" that happened the previous December, Holden typically digresses to describe his brother, D.

The theme of Holden's favorite D. The setting for the early chapters in the flashback is Pencey Prep, a "terrible" school whose atmosphere seems as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill. Holden has no love for prep schools. Salinger imagined as Holden Caulfield. It is the author imagined as J. To rewrite the story of Holden Caulfield you have to become a melancholy genius, too. You have to be your own sorrow king. She read it sometime before , when she spent part of a summer in New York City as a twenty-year-old intern at Mademoiselle.

She got Elizabeth Bowen instead. But Plath was not merely borrowing. She must have felt that an aspiring magazine writer in New York City in , when Salinger was in his prime, would naturally see life in a Salingeresque way.

Holden despite the confusion of the Harcourt Brace executive is not crazy; he tells his story from a sanatorium where he has gone because of a fear that he has t. The brutality of the world makes him sick. It makes Esther insane. They are sensibility manuals; they show what sort of unhappiness is in style this decade.

The narrators have a mordant contempt for everyone and everything, including themselves. The books are funny, but they are about loss and frustration and defeat. And each one seemed to hit a generational nerve, as though no one had ever told that story, or sounded those notes, before. What makes their melancholy so irresistible? We think of nostalgia as an emotion that grows with age, but, like most emotions, it is keenest when we are young. Is there any nostalgia more powerful than the feelings of a third grader revisiting his or her kindergarten classroom?

What they secretly want is what Holden wants: they want the world to be like the Museum of Natural History, with everything frozen exactly the way it was the first day they encountered it. You go to a dance where a new pop song is playing, and for the rest of your life hearing that song triggers the same emotion. You want to hear it again and again. You have become addicted. Youth culture acquires its poignancy through time, and so thoroughly that you can barely see what it is in itself.

Maybe, in fact, the nostalgia of youth culture is completely spurious. May 26, J. Sometimes truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's also more interesting and better plotted.

Salinger helped to pioneer a genre where fiction was deliberately less remarkable than reality. His protagonist says little, does little, and thinks little, and yet Salinger doesn't string Holden up as a satire of deluded self-obsessives, he is rather the epic archetype of the boring, yet self-important depressive. I've taken the subway and had prolonged conversations on the street with prostitutes n Sometimes truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's also more interesting and better plotted.

I've taken the subway and had prolonged conversations on the street with prostitutes not concerning business matters , and I can attest that Salinger's depiction is often accurate to what it feels like to go through an average, unremarkable day. However, reading about an average day is no more interesting than living one. Beyond that, Salinger doesn't have the imagination to paint people as strangely as they really are.

Chekhov's 'normal' little people seem more real and alive than Salinger's because Chekhov injects a little oddness, a little madness into each one. Real people are almost never quite as boring as modernist depictions, because everyone has at least some ability to surprise you. Salinger's world is desaturated. Emotions and moments seep into one another, indistinct as the memories of a drunken party. Little importance is granted to events or thoughts, but simply pass by, each duly tallied by an author in the role of court reporter.

What is interesting about this book is not that it is realistically bland, but that it is artificially bland. Yet, as ridiculous a concept as that is, it still takes itself entirely in earnest, never acknowledging the humor of its own blase hyperbole.

This allows the book to draw legions of fans from all of the ridiculously dull people who take themselves as seriously as Holden takes himself. They read it not as a parody of bland egotism but a celebration, poised to inspire all the bland egotists who have resulted from the New Egalitarianism in Art, Poetry, Music, and Academia.

Those same folks who treat rationality and intellectual fervor like a fashion to be followed, imagining that the only thing required to be brilliant is to mimic the appearance and mannerisms of the brilliant; as if black berets were the cause of poetic inspiration and not merely a symptom.

One benefit of this is that one can generally sniff out pompous faux intellectuals by the sign that they hold up Holden as a sort of messianic figure. Anyone who marks out Holden as a role-model is either a deluded teen with an inflated sense of entitlement, or is trying to relive the days when they were.

But what is more interesting is that those who idolize Holden tend to be those who most misunderstand him. Upon close inspection, he's not depressive , not consumed with ennui or an existential crisis, he's actually suffering from 'Shell Shock'--now known as 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'.

The way he thinks about his brother's and classmate's deaths--going over the details again and again in his mind, but with no emotional connection--it's not symptomatic of depression, but of psychological trauma.

He is stuck in a cycle, unable to process events, going over them again and again, but never able to return to normalcy. It takes a certain kind of self-centered prick to look at someone's inability to cope with the reality of death and think "Hey, that's just like my mild depression over how my parents won't buy me a newer ipod!

As recently as The Road we have American authors comparing a difficult father-son relationship to the pain and turmoil of an African civil war survivor--and winning awards for displaying their insensitive arrogance. Perhaps it's time we woke up and realized that the well-fed despondence of the white man should not be equated with a lifetime of death, starvation, war, and traumas both physical and emotional.

And as for Salinger--a real sufferer of Post-Traumatic Stress who was one of the first soldiers to see a concentration camp, who described how you can never forget the smell of burning flesh--I can only imagine how he felt when people read his story of a man, crippled by the thought of death, and thought to themselves "Yes, that's just what it's like to be a trustafarian with uncool parents".

No wonder he became a recluse and stopped publishing. View all 65 comments. The Catcher in the Rye, J. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. A classic novel originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.

The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, and connection. The b The Catcher in the Rye, J. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices -- but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. View all 15 comments. Aug 16, Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing Shelves: novels , fiction , classics , 20th-century , united-states , books.

Holden Caulfield, a teenager from New York City, is living in an unspecified institution in southern California near Hollywood in Story of Holden Caulfield with his idiosyncrasies, penetrating insight, confusion, sensitivity and negativism. View all 19 comments. Oct 01, Roohdaar rated it did not like it Shelves: bad-writing , hate , half-wit-characters. Well, this was a pain to get through. First of all, this is a shitty way to start a novel no matter how you want to introduce your main character.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

That is easily one of the saddest, most p Well, this was a pain to get through. That is easily one of the saddest, most pathetic introductions to a book. As I started this book, I wondered This is what the rest of the book looked like: "He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair. I'll tell you what kind of red hair he had. Also, Holden thinks everyone besides him is a phony and a moron.

And he makes it very clear because he mentions it, like, every two pages. I read some of the comments regarding how I didn't understand this book because I didn't relate to it.

That may be true. Very, very true. Regardless, I still think to this day that this book is a drag and has an unlikable main character and a dry, boring writing style. Perhaps I will read it again when I am older and maybe I'll enjoy it. View all 59 comments. May 08, Big Red rated it it was amazing. It was his first novel. It became very popular among young adolescents yet not so popular with older generations.

I personally thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book. I felt very close to Holden Caulfield, the main character in the story, as I read it.

Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy from New York, was quite unlike kids his age. He had no interest in being popular or social. From the very beginning he lets us into J. From the very beginning he lets us into part of his personal life. His parents are very touchy and his mother is especially protective. He tends to lean away from the fake in the world and is a teller of what is real.

Holden is not a fan of the movies at all. He saw his brother, D. One specific time in Chapter 8 he is talking to a cab driver who is acting like a real fool. Terrific personality. Like Holden, Salinger was known for his reclusive nature. Uninterested with the fakeness of the world, Holden keeps his distance from phony people. Salinger said his mother was over protective.

He often talks about her with very high regards. Holden is not a character who tried to sugarcoat the way he sees the fakeness around him. I think that is another one of the reasons I like his character so much. For example, he is quite upset with the fact that his brother D.

Holden even says that his brother is his favorite author. Salinger himself is a man who wrote for his own pleasure and likeness. Though he found her extremely irritating he thought she was very attractive as well. Despite Holden being a sixteen year old teenage boy he acts much older than his age.

One time in the story he has the chance to be with a prostitute but instead of acting like a pig, he starts to feel sorry for her and instead tried to have a conversation with her. He even offers to pay her for good conversation instead of for sex.

But the reason I find his character mature and intellectual is for other reasons. Holden does not hold money or material things to be really important. He is more excited to hang out with his kid sister than he is any other time in the entire book. He is content with something that would probably be boring to other guys his age. Like many teenagers, Holden is often depressed. The way he deals with it most times actually breaks my heart in a way.

He likes to talk to his deceased kid brother, Allie. He will take a real event that he can remember where he was talking with him and pretend he is talking to him again. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. He is not a jock. He is not a math whiz or a science whiz. He is not really interested in sports. He is on his own a lot and loves it at first, but happiness and love are meant to be shared with others. It has a much less meaning when by itself and he realizes it by the end of the novel.

He is growing intellectually little by little throughout the whole book. He realizes what really makes him happy. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone who would like to read a story that could possibly change the way they view the world. I have honestly laughed outloud to myself as I read this story.

Yes, there is talk about drinking, sex, and lots of cussing, but if you are going to avoid reading this story because of that then your missing out on a beautiful masterpiece.

View all 20 comments. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye is a story by J. Salinger, first published in serial form in and as a novel in Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leave Book from Books - The Catcher in the Rye, J. View all 3 comments. Sep 27, Paul Bryant rated it did not like it Shelves: novels. A spell in the army would do that young man a power of good! Or maybe a couple of bags of heroin.

Anything to stop that whining voice View all 70 comments. Nov 17, Henry Avila rated it really liked it. Holden Caulfield is a mixed- up cynical teenager, getting kicked out of another prestigious school, Pencey Prep, in Pennsylvania, the irony is that this obviously intelligent, privileged, 16 year- old, is somehow flunking out, why? He doesn't care about anything, especially education, bored and feeling neglected by his wealthy, New York City family. At least Caulfield passed English class, he's always reading, his big problem, he's so unmotivated, nothing seems important to this kid set in Holden Caulfield is a mixed- up cynical teenager, getting kicked out of another prestigious school, Pencey Prep, in Pennsylvania, the irony is that this obviously intelligent, privileged, 16 year- old, is somehow flunking out, why?

At least Caulfield passed English class, he's always reading, his big problem, he's so unmotivated, nothing seems important to this kid set in Holden has no real friends in school, or liking anyone there, and the sentiment is very mutual, everything is "phony", his favorite word, which he speaks and thinks constantly. When Holden's younger brother Allie, died three years ago, it marked him forever, afterwards, the boy was changed and stops believing.

Getting into a fight with a much stronger opponent, his roommate Stradlater, and losing naturally no surprise to Holden, punishment he craved just before sneaking out of Pencey, an institution he hates, with a fervent passion. Taking the train to New York City, his hometown, but Holden doesn't go back to his uncaring family, his father, a well- to- do lawyer, too busy for Holden, nervous mother, she wants quiet, please, older brother D.

Checking into the Edmont Hotel in the "Big Apple", a rather shabby, rundown place, I wouldn't recommend staying there and then the elevator operator the sleazy Maurice , gets him a prostitute, Sunny, she's Holden's age and he kind of feels sorry for her. Gives the lady of the night, five dollars just for talking, sends her away, good deeds are always rewarded, Maurice, comes back with Sunny for more money, a dispute arises, but they leave with an extra five, and a sock in the stomach of the poorer, but wiser Holden.

Chain smoking with gusto and delight, drinking in bars, dives like a man, where people aren't too concerned about a customers age just the color of his dough, going to a Broadway play with a very accommodating girlfriend, attending the loathsome movies and seeing all those phonies, the actors, fighting with unsmiling cab drivers , the kid is having a good time, living like a grown-up, as long as the cash lasts.

But what will he do, runaway or go back and face the music The bible for disgruntled teenagers, and a must read for every new generation View all 37 comments. Jul 19, Dan rated it did not like it Shelves: literary-fiction.

Reading this book was one of the biggest wastes of my time in the past twenty years. Holden Caulfield's problem is that he is the biggest phony he knows. Count the number of times he lies or behaves like someone he's not and then try to convince me otherwise. This is not a book about teenage alienation. It's about a smart-ass who can't deal with who he really is and spends almost pages ranting about it - most likely to a doctor in a psych ward.

View all 35 comments. Jun 19, Melanie rated it really liked it Shelves: classics. As a child, we are protected from life. As you enter adulthood you could start to see things and people as phony or fake. Maybe not people, As a child, we are protected from life. Maybe not people, but certain tasks or events certainly are.

There is a conflict, simply of time and energy. We desire the intentional and struggle towards spirituality; all while trying to earn a paycheck, wash our dishes, and sleep each night.

It kind of reminds me of what I picture an AA meeting to look like. I think, rarely could someone find a place where people are more vulnerable, open, and honest with each other. Even if they win over addiction… how could life ever feel as full after that brief moment shared with others who completely understand? At the same time, the point of those meetings is to help people live- not just free from drugs, but maybe free to live in the mundane? Free to enjoy the dance of life, the needs of the soul balanced with the chores too.

Catcher in the rye touches on some of these questions. Holden struggles with growing up. He sees everything as meaningless and adults as predictable and fake. I think he is mourning the loss of his innocence… maybe not just right from wrong, but the loss of dreams growing up seems to require. Holden, while at the museum that is exactly the same as it was when he was a kid says he likes it, because each time you visit "the only thing that would be different would be you…" and goes on to say "certain things they should stay the way they are.

You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. When I was a kid, I used to smell my dad's coffee- that strong sugary-sweet smell of roasted beans.

You wait for your chance to be let in on this excellent secret. Thinking it is just the caffeine that is preventing your parents from giving you a taste. Finally, they do and then all your dreams of that sweet flavor come crashing down! It's wrecked! Coffee isn't at all what you thought it was! That is, until the day you give it another chance, you start to be able to smell and taste the different tones coffee has. You can appreciate it for its varied, and almost living flavors. You see… Coffee isn't bad- it just wasn't what you always thought.

The key is in finding the hidden flavors and getting over the fact that it will never taste as sweet as it smells. I think Holden struggled with the initial shock, that although life is more bitter than it "smells", or than you think it will be, there are the hidden joys and sweet flavors that make it almost better!

Holden experiences the extremes of entering into adulthood and relates it in a way everyone, maybe especially, teenagers can understand.

He is a flawed character who is desperate and depressed. As the reader, you can see why he feels the way he does, as he explains it so well you almost feel it with him.

However, you can also see the flaws in his thinking. The author doesn't romanticize Holden's life, you don't read it thinking he has some special key to life that we all need. You simply feel his struggle to fit in and hope eventually he can learn to play the game and see the beauty that is there, hidden a little. View all 13 comments. Holden Caulfield is a character many, many people hate. And trust me, I get it. He's a posturing hypocrite. He's a dick. I wanted to hit him in the face for at least a hundred pages.

We know this.