Book report for the catcher in the rye - Essay Example

Catcher in the Rye: A Review. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about seventeen year-old Holden Caufield, the narrator, speaking from a mental institution where he is recovering from a nervous breakdown. He narrates the events that led to his condition and hospitalization. The story begins at Pencey prep where Holden has been kicked out for poor achievement. The book highlights several themes which include: delinquency, prostitution, sexual harassment and drunkenness. It is full of negative activities.

It outlines the reasons for Holden’s break down which is mainly due to the negative experiences he encounters. In many ways, the life of the main character, Holden, resembles that of Salinger. For example, just like Holden, Salinger had a difficult school life that was mainly characterized by poor performance. Also, Salinger lived a lonely quite life, which may be considered similar to that of Holden.The book criticizes the 1950’s culture through Holden. It highlights societal attitudes of ignorance to human conditions.

It is the phony nature of Holden’s society that leads him to a nervous breakdown. At the beginning of the novel, Holden describes Pencey as phony. He sees most people surrounding him as phony. On his last evening at Pencey, he picks a fight with his roommate, Stradlater. He is offended by the idea that his roommate gets romantically involved with Jane Gallagher, one of Holden’s ex-girlfriends who he still admires. Holden feels that Stradlater is taking advantage of Jane, and picks a fight.

The fight prompts him to leave Pencey immediately. He sets off by midnight and takes a train to New York City. On arrival, he checks into Edmond Hotel and spends two nights there. While there, he is mostly drunken and lonely. One of his most memorable experiences was with a prostitute whom he paid without getting her services. The prostitute turned out to be unsatisfied and came back for more money. He later meets his Carl Luce, and old acquaintance and Sally Hayes, his on-and-off girlfriend.

Both meetings leave him more lonely. He later sneaks into his parents’ house to visit Phoebe, his kid sister whom he’s more comfortable around. Talking to Phoebe brightens him up and he heads to visit Mr. Antolini, his ex-English teacher. He wakes up to find Mr. Antolini petting his head in a perverted way, which upsets him. His view of his society as phony heightens as he walks around his kid sister’s school and he keeps seeing swear words. He visions himself as the Catcher in the rye – the guardian of children.

However, he gives up this vision almost immediately and decides that children will find their own way in this phony world. PABBIS censorship of this book is justified. The book entails obscene language. It uses considerable profane language. It consists of lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities. It also focuses on drunkenness, prostitution, and delinquency. Doyle (24) lists a number of reasons why the book was banned. These include: excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, and things concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult.

Doyle also notes that it is unacceptable and obscene; and is blasphemous and undermines morality. Also, it depicts premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution and includes statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled. Generally, the book is centered on negative activity.Works Cited.Doyle, Robert P. “Banned and / Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Novels of the 20th Century.” 2010 http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanne.

Retrieved April 17, 2012