Essay On The Catcher In The Rye

J.D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is written with the intention to display to it’s audience a typical teenage character facing the common fears and anxieties associated with transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
The intended audience of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is definitely teenagers as the novel deals with teenage perspectives on issues such as relationships, sexuality, rebellion, education and changing emotions. All of these issues that are presented through the central character Holden Caufield, a cynical and ‘self isolating’ 17-year-old, are highly applicable to the lives of teenagers in not only the early 1950’s but also of today.
The Catcher in the Rye explores how discovery can lead to changing values, stimulate new ideas and allow to speculate about the future through Holden’s self
Holden's dismissal of religion tradition is displayed in chapter 3, when Ossenburger addresses the Pencey Prep during mass. Holden says, "Then he started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down his knees and pray to God.", later in response to his speech Holden remarks, "That killed me" and called him "a big phony bastard". Holden's religious ignorance is further established when he asks his room mate what the routine was on joining a monastery, and adding "Do you have to be a catholic and all?" Holden's contradictory nature, or his lack of understanding, is shown in chapter 14, where he says, "In the first place I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for the other stuff in the bible." This quote represents teenager’s naive rejection of society and its values at the time of