The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a novel about a boy named Holden Caulfield who does not want to grow up and does everything he can to try and stop it from happening. Everyone in life has to grow up at some point and this book is the story of how Holden tries to find his way through that difficult time in is life. Through Holden's thoughts and ideas we can start to see the values and attitudes that J.D. Salinger had when writing this book. I believe that Salinger is trying to say that he understands teenagers and the fact that they want to be a kid forever. I think about this all of the time and it almost tortures me. Salinger is trying to make sure that the reader knows we do not have to attack this beast we call 'growing up' all on our own. We have adults in our lives that are there to push us along the way. Even though we do not always remember, our elders went through the same struggle as a teenager. Two of Holden's teachers in the novel are there for Holden and try to push him but he does not always see it that way. To have people like that in your life is very valuable. Holden will eventually come to see how important those teachers actually were in his development from a teenager into an adult.
This novel was written in first person to express the direct thoughts of the main character, Holden. The reader receives a better insight to what he is thinking at all times by using this form of narration. With a different type of narrator I think that the reader would become bored and the story would not be as appealing as it is in the style which it has been written in.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.
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