Catcher in the Rye

Imagine your brother or sister, or even close friend being taken away from you at a young age and you having no one else to turn to after that. Well that is how 17 year old Holden Caulfield feels when his younger brother Allie dies from Leukemia at age 10. This leads Holden to live a very sad and lonely life because he felt as if he had no one to be with after Allie’s death. In the story The Cather in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden has a misguided desire to be the Catcher in the Rye because he wants to be able to help people in a way he felt that he wasn't helped in his lifetime but he soon learns that he can't control others lives for them and they have to mess up on their own so they can learn and grow. Holden states “I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”(PAGE NUMBER)This is where the book title comes from, this means that Holden wants to help people from going over the edge or feeling like there is no one there for them because he knows what that feels like and he doesn’t like it. When Allie died he felt as if no one was there and now he deep inside doesn’t want that for anyone else. He doesn’t exactly want to be seen or noticed for this though so that is probably where the “rye” part comes in, probably means that he would be the hidden savior for people. Maybe that was his reason for writing this book, to let people know that they are not alone.

Holden's life after Allie's death was filled with loneliness and sorrow and he doesn't want that for his little sister. Holden often talks about his lack of happiness but there are many moments in the book when he tries to protect his sister from the sadness and sorrow in the world. One of those moments includes when Holden sees the words” F***-You” on the walls of his sister’s school. “Somebody’d written “Fuck You” on the wall. It drove me near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it...