Catcher In The Rye
Jerome David Salinger was one of the most important authors in the post-World War II era, as his writings changed the way people perceived the lives of adolescents. Born in New York City, Salinger served the United States in World War II. When he returned from battle, he pursued a career as a writer and eventually published his first and only novel The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. The novel was immediately successful but was somewhat controversial (“Catcher 116”). “It was also the bane of many parents, who objected to the main character’s obscene language, erratic behavior, and antisocial attitudes” (116). Catcher eventually became so successful and popular that by the 1970s, it was taught in almost every high school in America. Despite the
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When Holden was thirteen years old, Allie died from leukemia at the age of ten. Because Holden was so young when Allie died, he is unable to cope with the pain of the loss. As a security from the emotional toll Allie’s death takes on him, Holden completely imagines full conversations with Allie when Holden is in a situation that makes him uncomfortable. According to Clinton Trowbridge, author and professor of English literature and creative writing at Suffolk College, “So terrible is Holden’s depression, so complete his sense of alienation from the world of the living, that in his disturbed imagination only the dead, idealized brother can save him from the nothingness, the hellish state of his own nihilism” (26). Holden views Allie as one of the few good and pure people in the world, so naturally he thinks of Allie whenever he feels scared or alone. When Holden is talking with Phoebe and she accuses him of not liking anything, Holden tells her he likes Allie. Phoebe then yells at Holden that he cannot like Allie because he is dead. “I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can’t I? Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake—especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all,” Holden explains sorrowfully (Salinger 171). Naturally, Allie is one of the few people that Holden sees in a positive
When Holden was thirteen years old, Allie died from leukemia at the age of ten. Because Holden was so young when Allie died, he is unable to cope with the pain of the loss. As a security from the emotional toll Allie’s death takes on him, Holden completely imagines full conversations with Allie when Holden is in a situation that makes him uncomfortable. According to Clinton Trowbridge, author and professor of English literature and creative writing at Suffolk College, “So terrible is Holden’s depression, so complete his sense of alienation from the world of the living, that in his disturbed imagination only the dead, idealized brother can save him from the nothingness, the hellish state of his own nihilism” (26). Holden views Allie as one of the few good and pure people in the world, so naturally he thinks of Allie whenever he feels scared or alone. When Holden is talking with Phoebe and she accuses him of not liking anything, Holden tells her he likes Allie. Phoebe then yells at Holden that he cannot like Allie because he is dead. “I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can’t I? Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake—especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all,” Holden explains sorrowfully (Salinger 171). Naturally, Allie is one of the few people that Holden sees in a positive