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Catcher in the Rye

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Catcher in the Rye
.Jean Dee Nell
In his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a troubled and confused sixteen year old boy. During his three day journey through New York City, Holden attempts to put events from his past aside so that he can try and live a normal life by trying to be an adult. Holden wants to live on his own like an adult. He wants to be independent and support himself. In telling this story, Salinger wants us to understand that it is important to be the person you are and not try to be something you are not.
When Holden plays the role of an adult, rather than lives the life of a sixteen year old, things go wrong. One example of this in the story is when Holden arranges to get a prostitute from Maurice the elevator man at the hotel. This is out of character for Holden, who is normally a shy person and one who normally treats women respectfully. Sixteen year old teenagers do not normally hire prostitutes. Things go wrong for Holden when Maurice and Sunny claim Holden owed them five dollars more. When Holden refused to pay, Maurice punched Holden in the stomach and took the money. This shows a good example of how things go wrong if Holden tries to act someone he is not.

Holden drinks even though only adults are allowed to drink. Holden explains that due to his height and his gray hair, he is often able to order alcohol. This is another example of how Holden tries to act like an adult but in this case things went wrong ones again, and he got stuck with the check, here is the story of how Holden got stuck with the big fat check. Holden makes it down to the Lavender Room, He tries to order a cocktail and once again gets the old "What are you, twelve?" So he ends up with a coke. Holden flirts and dance with the three blonds that are from Seattle, but Holden thinks two of the three blonds are unattractive. The three blonds seem amused but they aren’t interested in Holden because they can see he is still a young man who tries

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