Jerome Salinger was born into a Jewish family. His father, a successful sausage merchant, having given him an excellent education, expected his son to continue the family business. But his real passion was literature. What characterized the writer’s creative style? Probably a keen eye, the ability to see blatant injustice behind the official seeming decency. Consider how the circumstances arise under which a young man in a civilized country becomes unhappy. Salinger's fame was quick and dizzying: at the age of thirty-two he became famous throughout the country by writing the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.”
His spiritual world was strange. To him, who was acutely aware of the acute lack of spirituality in society, it seemed artificial and far-fetched.
Through the mouth of his character, the author says that he would rather choose a horse than a car, because at least it’s possible to talk to it. The book “The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel-concern, a novel-problem. Salinger tells readers in it that while adults are “playing around”, endlessly rebuilding their far-fetched and therefore imperfect world, children are perplexed when they see it as it is given: with the bright sun and green grass, a river, friends in the yard . But gradually their clear and pure gaze fades as they plunge into the desert of life. They will abandon their childhood dreams and impulses. They will, of course, grow up.
The book is a story of no longer a child, but not yet an adult - seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is completing a course of treatment for tuberculosis in a sanatorium. The young man talks about the events of last year. After a conflict and fight with classmate Stradler, walking with a girl he liked, he leaves the boarding school in Agerstown in the same way as the previous one. The real reason is academic failure: Holden was not graded in half of his course subjects. The young man believes that everything around him is unreal, feigned, “a fake.” This is the hero of the book “The Catcher in the Rye”. The content of the novel further follows the adventures of a runaway schoolboy. He leaves for his native New York, but is afraid to return home because of his parents' reaction to him dropping out of school. He is staying at a hotel.
Of course, he considers himself an adult. Therefore, he decides to “have fun” first in a hotel night club, which does not work out, then by going to his older brother D.B.’s favorite night bar. On the way, he asks the taxi drivers the same question, completely stupid, the answer to which does not interest him. The young man, on the one hand, is drawn to people, he wants to be in contact with them, but on the other hand, he pushes away from them, seeing falsehood in their words and deeds. This is the main psychological problem of the main character of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. Reviews from American literary confirm this. At the hotel, a young man is tempted by the elevator operator's offer to buy a prostitute for a while. But when she arrived, she changed her mind. The girl and the elevator operator demand and take back double the agreed upon amount. He then leaves the hotel and leads the life of a tramp. He invites Sally Hayes to the theater, then goes with her to the skating rink. The girl does not share Holden Caulfield’s irritation with others and does not support his idea of leaving home for a couple of weeks to go for a drive with him. In response, the young man insults her, and they part. Holden is tormented by contradictions: after getting drunk, he tries to apologize to Sally over the phone. Then he decides to see his sister Fabi, buys her a record, but accidentally breaks it. The illogical, impulsive actions of the main character determine the content of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.” Reviews from literary critics are therefore diametrically opposed: from admiration to rejection. Arriving home in the absence of his parents, he feels complete understanding on the part of his sister; she lends him her saved money. It is at this moment, at the first meeting with Fabi, Holden Coldfield tells her who he wants to become in this world - a catcher of defenseless and naive children wandering blindly in the rye and risking accidentally falling into the abyss.
He decides to live with his former teacher, Mr. Antolini, but his suspicion and impulsiveness again play a cruel joke on him. The question arises: who, strictly speaking, is the main character? Or do hypothetical children find themselves in a dangerous situation, i.e. “the catcher in the rye”? Reviews from the Americans themselves are unanimous - the main character of the novel is in trouble. A purely American template is triggered in his mind - “go to the West and start there with a clean slate.” Holden informs his sister about this plan. She appears with a suitcase and declares that she will go with her brother. Now it's Caulfield's turn to hold her back. In the scene of Fabia spinning on the carousel in the rain and admiring this spectacle of her brother, the plot of the novel ends. This was enough to buy real estate and settle in provincial Corniche (New Hampshire). Here the writer lived as a recluse for the next sixty years of his life allotted to him by God after writing “The Catcher in the Rye.” Literary critics' reviews of subsequent works are becoming more and more restrained. Why did this happen? Perhaps he became withdrawn because he initially expected a different reaction to the novel, a more practical one. After all, he revealed the real ulcers of the education and upbringing system, why, having recognized the novel, did society not turn its face to eliminating them? Unfortunately, his works written later could not achieve the success destined for The Catcher in the Rye (the American title of the novel). Perhaps his triumph overtook him because in the novel he wrote about his youth, weaving in the emotions, memories, and impressions he experienced.
Seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is in a sanatorium, remembers “that crazy thing that happened last Christmas,” after which he “almost died,” was sick for a long time, and is now undergoing treatment and hopes to return home soon.
His memories begin from the day he left Pencey, a private high school in Egerstown, Pennsylvania. Actually, he did not leave of his own free will - he was expelled for academic failure - out of nine subjects in that quarter, he failed five. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pansy is not the first school that the young hero leaves. Before this, he had already abandoned Elkton Hill, because, in his opinion, “there was one big linden tree there.” However, the feeling that there is a “phony” around him - falseness, pretense and window dressing - does not let Caulfield go away throughout the entire novel. Both the adults and peers he meets irritate him, but he can’t bear to be alone.
The last day of school is rife with conflict. He returns to Pencey from New York, where he went as captain of the fencing team to a match that did not take place due to his fault - he forgot his sports equipment in the subway car. Roommate Stradlater asks him to write an essay for him - describing a house or room, but Caulfield, who likes to do things his own way, tells the story of his late brother Allie's baseball glove, who wrote poetry on it and read it during matches. Stradlater, having read the text, is offended by the author who deviated from the topic, declaring that he put a pig on him, but Caulfield, upset that Stradlater went on a date with a girl whom he himself liked, does not remain in debt. The matter ends with a brawl and Caulfield's broken nose.
Once in New York, he realizes that he cannot come home and tell his parents that he was expelled. He gets into a taxi and goes to the hotel. On the way, he asks his favorite question, which haunts him: “Where do the ducks go in Central Park when the pond freezes over?” The taxi driver, of course, is surprised by the question and wonders if the passenger is laughing at him. But he doesn’t even think of making fun of him; however, the question about ducks is more likely a manifestation of Holden Caulfield’s confusion in front of the complexity of the world around him, rather than an interest in zoology.
This world both oppresses him and attracts him. It’s hard for him with people, but unbearable without them. He tries to have fun at the hotel nightclub, but nothing good comes of it, and the waiter refuses to serve him alcohol as he is underage. He goes to a night bar in Greenwich Village, where his older brother D.B., a talented writer who was lured by big screenwriter fees in Hollywood, liked to hang out. On the way, he asks another taxi driver a question about ducks, again without receiving an intelligible answer. At the bar he meets an acquaintance of D.B. with some sailor. This girl arouses such hostility in him that he quickly leaves the bar and goes on foot to the hotel.
The hotel elevator operator asks if he wants a girl - five dollars for the time, fifteen for the night. Holden agrees “for a while,” but when the girl appears in his room, he does not find the strength to part with his innocence. He wants to chat with her, but she came to work, and since the client is not ready to comply, she demands ten dollars from him. He reminds us that the agreement was about the five. She leaves and soon returns with the elevator operator. The next skirmish ends with another defeat of the hero.
The next morning, he makes an appointment with Sally Hayes, leaves the inhospitable hotel, checks in his luggage and begins the life of a homeless person. Wearing a backwards red hunting cap, bought in New York on that fateful day when he left his fencing equipment on the subway, Holden Caulfield wanders the cold streets of the big city. Going to the theater with Sally does not bring him joy. The play seems stupid, the audience, admiring the famous actors Lunt, is nightmarish. His companion also annoys him more and more.
Soon, as one might expect, a quarrel ensues. After the performance, Holden and Sally go ice skating, and then, in a bar, the hero gives vent to the feelings that overwhelmed his tormented soul. Explaining his dislike for everything that surrounds him: “I hate... Lord, how much I hate all this! And not only school, I hate everything. I hate taxis, buses where the conductor yells at you to get out through the back platform, I hate getting to know the scrap guys who call Lantov “angels,” I hate riding in elevators when I just want to go outside, I hate trying on suits at Brooks... »
He is quite annoyed that Sally does not share his negative attitude towards what he dislikes so much, and most importantly, towards school. When he invites her to take a car and leave for two weeks to drive around new places, and she refuses, judiciously reminding her that “we are, in essence, still children,” the irreparable happens: Holden utters insulting words, and Sally leaves in tears.
New meeting - new disappointments. Carl Lewis, a student from Princeton, is too focused on himself to show sympathy for Holden, and he, left alone, gets drunk, calls Sally, asks for her forgiveness, and then wanders through cold New York and into Central Park, near the duck pond itself, drops the record he bought as a gift for his little sister Phoebe.
Returning home - and to his relief, finding that his parents had gone to visit - he hands Phoebe only the fragments. But she's not angry. In general, despite her young years, she perfectly understands her brother’s condition and guesses why he returned home ahead of schedule. It is in a conversation with Phoebe that Holden expresses his dream: “I imagine little children playing in the evening in a huge field in the rye. Thousands of kids, and not a soul around, not a single adult except me... And my job is to catch the kids so that they don’t fall into the abyss.”
However, Holden is not ready to meet his parents, and, having borrowed money from his sister that she had put aside for Christmas gifts, he goes to his former teacher, Mr. Antolini. Despite the late hour, he accepts him and settles him in for the night. Like a true mentor, he tries to give him a number of useful tips on how to build relationships with the outside world, but Holden is too tired to perceive reasonable sayings. Then suddenly he wakes up in the middle of the night to find his teacher at his bedside, stroking his forehead. Suspecting Mr. Antolini of bad intentions, Holden leaves his house and spends the night at Grand Central Station.
However, he soon realizes that he misinterpreted the teacher’s behavior and played the fool, and this further intensifies his melancholy.
Thinking about how to live next, Holden decides to go somewhere to the West and there, in accordance with the long-standing American tradition, try to start all over again. He sends Phoebe a note stating his intention to leave and asks her to come to the appointed place, as he wants to return the money he borrowed from her. But the little sister appears with a suitcase and declares that she is going to the West with her brother. Willingly or unwittingly, little Phoebe plays a prank on Holden himself - she declares that she will not go to school anymore, and in general she is tired of this life. Holden, on the contrary, has to involuntarily take the point of view of common sense, forgetting for a while about his denial of everything. He shows prudence and responsibility and convinces his little sister to abandon his intention, assuring her that he himself will not go anywhere. He takes Phoebe to the zoo, where she rides on a carousel while he admires her.
Seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is in a sanatorium, remembers “that crazy thing that happened last Christmas,” after which he “almost died,” was sick for a long time, and is now undergoing treatment and hopes to return home soon.
His memories begin from the day he left Pencey, a private high school in Egerstown, Pennsylvania. Actually, he did not leave of his own free will - he was expelled for academic failure - out of nine subjects in that quarter, he failed five. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pansy is not the first school that the young hero leaves. Before this, he had already abandoned Elkton Hill, because, in his opinion, “there was one big linden tree there.” However, the feeling that there is a “phony” around him - falseness, pretense and window dressing - does not let Caulfield go away throughout the entire novel. Both the adults and peers he meets irritate him, but he can’t bear to be alone.
The last day of school is rife with conflict. He returns to Pencey from New York, where he went as captain of the fencing team to a match that did not take place due to his fault - he forgot his sports equipment in the subway car. Roommate Stradlater asks him to write an essay for him - describing a house or room, but Caulfield, who likes to do things his own way, tells the story of his late brother Allie's baseball glove, who wrote poetry on it and read it during matches. Stradlater, having read the text, is offended by the author who deviated from the topic, declaring that he put a pig on him, but Caulfield, upset that Stradlater went on a date with a girl whom he himself liked, does not remain in debt. The matter ends with a brawl and Caulfield's broken nose.
Once in New York, he realizes that he cannot come home and tell his parents that he was expelled. He gets into a taxi and goes to the hotel. On the way, he asks his favorite question, which haunts him: “Where do the ducks go in Central Park when the pond freezes over?” The taxi driver, of course, is surprised by the question and wonders if the passenger is laughing at him. But he doesn’t even think of making fun of him; however, the question about ducks is more likely a manifestation of Holden Caulfield’s confusion in front of the complexity of the world around him, rather than an interest in zoology.
This world both oppresses him and attracts him. It’s hard for him with people, but unbearable without them. He tries to have fun at the hotel nightclub, but nothing good comes of it, and the waiter refuses to serve him alcohol as he is underage. He goes to a night bar in Greenwich Village, where his older brother D.B., a talented writer who was lured by big screenwriter fees in Hollywood, liked to hang out. On the way, he asks another taxi driver a question about ducks, again without receiving an intelligible answer. At the bar he meets an acquaintance of D.B. with some sailor. This girl arouses such hostility in him that he quickly leaves the bar and goes on foot to the hotel.
The hotel elevator operator asks if he wants a girl - five dollars for the time, fifteen for the night. Holden agrees “for a while,” but when the girl appears in his room, he does not find the strength to part with his innocence. He wants to chat with her, but she came to work, and since the client is not ready to comply, she demands ten dollars from him. He reminds us that the agreement was about the five. She leaves and soon returns with the elevator operator. The next skirmish ends with another defeat of the hero.
The next morning, he makes an appointment with Sally Hayes, leaves the inhospitable hotel, checks in his luggage and begins the life of a homeless person. Wearing a backwards red hunting cap, bought in New York on that fateful day when he left his fencing equipment on the subway, Holden Caulfield wanders the cold streets of the big city. Going to the theater with Sally does not bring him joy. The play seems stupid, the audience, admiring the famous actors Lunt, is nightmarish. His companion also annoys him more and more.
Soon, as one might expect, a quarrel ensues. After the performance, Holden and Sally go ice skating, and then, in a bar, the hero gives vent to the feelings that overwhelmed his tormented soul. Explaining his dislike for everything that surrounds him: “I hate... Lord, how much I hate all this! And not only school, I hate everything. I hate taxis, buses where the conductor yells at you to get out through the back platform, I hate getting to know the scrap guys who call Lantov “angels,” I hate riding in elevators when I just want to go outside, I hate trying on suits at Brooks... »
He is quite annoyed that Sally does not share his negative attitude towards what he dislikes so much, and most importantly, towards school. When he invites her to take a car and leave for two weeks to drive around new places, and she refuses, judiciously reminding her that “we are, in essence, still children,” the irreparable happens: Holden utters insulting words, and Sally leaves in tears.
New meeting - new disappointments. Carl Lewis, a student from Princeton, is too focused on himself to show sympathy for Holden, and he, left alone, gets drunk, calls Sally, asks for her forgiveness, and then wanders through cold New York and into Central Park, near the duck pond itself, drops the record he bought as a gift for his little sister Phoebe.
Returning home - and to his relief, finding that his parents had gone to visit - he hands Phoebe only the fragments. But she's not angry. In general, despite her young years, she perfectly understands her brother’s condition and guesses why he returned home ahead of schedule. It is in a conversation with Phoebe that Holden expresses his dream: “I imagine little children playing in the evening in a huge field in the rye. Thousands of kids, and not a soul around, not a single adult except me... And my job is to catch the kids so that they don’t fall into the abyss.”
However, Holden is not ready to meet his parents, and, having borrowed money from his sister that she had put aside for Christmas gifts, he goes to his former teacher, Mr. Antolini. Despite the late hour, he accepts him and settles him in for the night. Like a true mentor, he tries to give him a number of useful tips on how to build relationships with the outside world, but Holden is too tired to perceive reasonable sayings. Then suddenly he wakes up in the middle of the night to find his teacher at his bedside, stroking his forehead. Suspecting Mr. Antolini of bad intentions, Holden leaves his house and spends the night at Grand Central Station.
However, he soon realizes that he misinterpreted the teacher’s behavior and played the fool, and this further intensifies his melancholy.
Thinking about how to live next, Holden decides to go somewhere to the West and there, in accordance with the long-standing American tradition, try to start all over again. He sends Phoebe a note stating his intention to leave and asks her to come to the appointed place, as he wants to return the money he borrowed from her. But the little sister appears with a suitcase and declares that she is going to the West with her brother. Willingly or unwittingly, little Phoebe plays a prank on Holden himself - she declares that she will not go to school anymore, and in general she is tired of this life. Holden, on the contrary, has to involuntarily take the point of view of common sense, forgetting for a while about his denial of everything. He shows prudence and responsibility and convinces his little sister to abandon his intention, assuring her that he himself will not go anywhere. He takes Phoebe to the zoo, where she rides on a carousel while he admires her.
Seventeen-year-old teenager Holden Caulfield promises to tell the reader a crazy story that happened to him last Christmas. He does not intend to reveal his biography in detail and especially talk about his parents who do not like to air their “dirty laundry” in public. Holden's brother is D.B. lives in Hollywood, next to the sanatorium where the character is currently staying.
Holden Caulfield attended Pencey, a boarding school in Egerstown, Pennsylvania. He was the captain of the fencing team, but after failing four subjects he was expelled from the school. Before leaving, Holden watches the football match, says goodbye to the school and the history teacher, old man Spencer.
A teacher suffering from the flu asks the hero about his expulsion from school and scolds him for not thinking about life. Holden doesn't like old Spencer. He almost regrets that he came to say goodbye to him. Holden remembers leaving Elkton Hill School because it was all about show.
From Spencer, Holden goes to the dorm, where he sits down to read the book “In the Wilds of Africa.” High school student Robert Ackley comes into his room. He is nasty, both in character and in appearance (he has rotten teeth and pimples all over his face). Ackley interferes with Holden's reading and asks him for scissors to cut his nails. The main character tells Robert that he hates his roommate Stradlater because the latter asked him to brush his teeth at least occasionally.
Stradlater's arrival forces Ackley to leave. Holden follows his neighbor into the bathroom, watches him shave, and chats with him. Stradlater asks the hero to write an English essay for him. He can't do this himself because he's going on a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden begins to worry: a couple of years ago, this girl was his housemate and best friend.
After lunch, Holden goes to Egerstown with his friends and Ackley. In the evening, the hero sits down to write, but instead of a picturesque description of the room, he writes about the baseball mitt of his younger brother Allie, who died of leukemia.
Stradlater returns from a date. Holden tries to find out how it went. He's angry at his roommate for squeezing Jane in the car. Guys fight in the bathroom. Stradlater breaks Holden's nose. Blood covers the face and pajamas of the main character.
Holden goes to Ackley's room. He lies down on the next bed and can't stop thinking about how Stradlater got mixed up with Jane. These thoughts make Holden feel uneasy, and he decides to leave for New York. On the train, the mother of Ernest Morrow, one of the nastiest guys studying at Pencey, sits next to him. Holden lies to her all the way about how humble and kind her son is.
In New York, the hero stays at the Egmont Hotel. He thinks for a long time about who to call and finally dials the number of Fay Cavendish, a friend of a distant acquaintance. He asks the girl to have a cocktail with him, but she refuses, citing the night and fatigue. Holden remembers his younger sister, ten-year-old smart Phoebe, and wants to call her, but is afraid that one of his parents will answer the phone.
Holden goes down to the Lilac Room of the hotel. The waiter refuses to serve him a whiskey and soda because he is underage. The hero invites a pretty blonde, late thirties, named Bernice to a dance. She's from Seattle, she can't hold a conversation at all, but she dances divinely. Her two ugly friends - Marty and Laverne - are her match, only they dance worse. All the girls, as one, are obsessed with Hollywood actors and are just waiting for their appearance in the “Lilac Hall”. After the restaurant closes, the girls leave. Holden sits in the hall and remembers how he and Jane played checkers, how he kissed her face when she cried, how they held hands at the movies and how the girl lovingly stroked his head.
Holden goes to the night pub of Ernie, a black man who plays the piano masterfully. On the way, he asks taxi driver Horwitz what happens to the Central Park ducks in winter, when the lake they swim on freezes over. The taxi driver is terribly nervous, but maintains a conversation that gradually turns to fish.
At Ernie's, Holden meets his brother's ex-girlfriend D.B. – Lillian Simmons with a naval officer. He does not want to spend the evening with them and leaves the tavern. Holden walks through the streets of New York and reflects on the fact that he is a coward.
At the hotel, the elevator operator offers Holden a girl for the night, and he surprisingly agrees. While waiting for a prostitute, a young man becomes nervous. He is a virgin and does not know how to behave properly with a woman. The girl Sunny who came to the room was very young. Holden tries to talk to her, refuses sex and pays the five dollars the elevator operator said.
At dawn, an elevator operator comes to the room with a prostitute. They demand five more dollars from Holden. The guy is not going to give them away. Sunny takes the money from his wallet while the elevator operator holds Holden. A young man insults the elevator operator. The latter hits him hard in the stomach.
At ten in the morning, Holden wakes up and calls his girlfriend Sally Hayes. He arranges to go to the theater with her, then checks out of the hotel and goes to Grand Central Station. Holden has breakfast next to two nuns, to whom he donates ten dollars to charity.
After breakfast, Holden calls Jane, but does not find her at home. Then he goes to the park, where he thinks to meet Phoebe. Holden's younger sister is not among the girls skating. To pass the time before the performance, the hero goes to the Ethnographic Museum, but at the very entrance he decides to return.
At the Baltimore Hotel, Holden waits for Sally, watching the numerous girls waiting for their dates. In a taxi, young people kiss and confess their love to each other.
Holden gets bored at the play. After the first act, he and Sally go smoking. The girl introduces Holden to George, an aristocratic dude. She chats with him during intermissions. After the performance, Sally suggests that Holden go ice skating at Radio City. In a cafe, the hero tells the girl that he hates everything around him and offers to run away. Sally is against it. The young people argue, and Holden invites the girl to roll in all four directions.
In the afternoon, Holden goes to the cinema to see a film about an English duke who lost his memory and fell in love with a simple girl. He then meets in the Wicker Bar of the luxurious Hundreds Hotel with Carl Lewis, his former high school tutor at Hutton School. An old acquaintance, who has always been good at sex, lives with a thirty-year-old Chinese sculptor. He drinks a couple of martinis with Holden and leaves. The hero drinks alone in a bar until one in the morning. He wants to call Jane, but instead dials Sally's number and promises to come to her on Christmas Eve to remove the tree.
While walking through Central Park, Holden breaks the record he bought as a gift for Phoebe and decides to go home to talk to his little sister secretly from his parents. He finds Phoebe sleeping in D.B.'s older brother's office, reads her notebooks, then wakes the girl up. Waking up, little sister tells Holden about the school play in which she will play for Christmas, about the film she watched with her friend and her mother. Suddenly Phoebe realizes that her brother has been kicked out of school again. Holden tells her how nasty it was at Pencey. Phoebe accuses him of not liking any school or anything at all. Holden remembers James Castle, the boy who died confronting six scumbags. He liked him!
Holden calls his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini. He dances with Phoebe to music on the radio and leaves when his parents return.
In a luxury apartment on Sutton Place, Holden tells Mr. Antolini about why he failed his oral test. The teacher does not know what to advise Holden, but believes that he is rapidly rushing towards a terrible abyss. At night, the hero wakes up from Mr. Antolini stroking his head. Not wanting to stay in the “psycho’s” apartment, Holden leaves. He sleeps at Central Station, and in the morning he begins to feel remorse: it seems to him that Mr. Antolini stroked his head “just like that.”
In the morning, Holden walks along Fifth Avenue. New York is getting ready for Christmas. Suddenly the hero becomes ill. Sitting on a bench, he decides to leave for the West. Phoebe wants to run away with him. Holden promises to stay home. He and Phoebe go to the zoo. A girl rides on a carousel. Holden gets wet in the rain, falls ill and ends up in a sanatorium.
He has not the slightest respect for the rich, the powerful, the famous, for all the cool players in the cruel game that they call life and which, as it seems to them, they play according to all the rules. Thirteen-year-old Holden among them is a clear “bastard.” Involuntarily or by calling, Mazil, who is fed up with everything, and the whole game seems “totally phony.” The cry of the protagonist’s soul cannot leave anyone indifferent, and his sarcasm, like a sharp sting, does not spare anyone or anything. After all, even an adult sometimes so wants to be away from unnecessary stupid conversations, to pretend to be a deaf-mute unfortunate fool, and let everyone “leave him alone.” This novel is about this, full of sadness, anxiety and tenderness. A book of great courage, great love. Translation from English by T. Wright-Kovaleva.
Description added by user:
Marina Sergeeva
"The Catcher in the Rye" - plot
The novel is written from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is being treated in a clinic (due to tuberculosis): he tells about the story that happened to him last winter and preceded his illness. The events it narrates unfold in the pre-Christmas days of December 1949. The young man's memories begin from the day he left the Pencey closed school, from where he was expelled for poor academic performance.
In the morning, Holden contacts his girlfriend Sally Hayes and invites her to the theater, to a play with Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. After that, he leaves the hotel, checks his luggage into the storage room and goes to have breakfast. In a restaurant, he meets two nuns, one of whom is a literature teacher, and discusses with them the books he has read, in particular, Romeo and Juliet. After breakfast, he goes to the music store, hoping to buy a record for his younger sister with a song he liked called “Little Shirley Beans,” and on the way he hears a little boy singing: “If you caught someone in the rye in the evening ... “The boy’s song lifts his mood a little, he thinks about calling Jane Gallagher, about whom he keeps the warmest and most reverent memories, but puts this idea off for later. The performance he goes to with Sally, however, disappoints him; he notes the acting skills of the Lants, but believes that they are playing for show, and besides, he is annoyed by the “foppish” audience. Following the performance, he goes with Sally to the skating rink, and after that he “breaks through”: he impulsively confesses to Sally his disgust for school and everything that surrounds him. He ends up insulting Sally, who leaves in tears, despite his belated attempts to apologize. After this, Holden tries to call Jane, but no one answers the phone, and he has nothing better to do and goes to the cinema, although the film turns out, in his opinion, to be very fake. Towards evening, he meets his acquaintance Carl Lewis, an arrogant student who considers Holden too childish and, in response to his outpourings, advises him only to make an appointment with a psychoanalyst. Holden is left alone, gets drunk and heads to Central Park to check what really happens to the ducks in winter, but on the way he breaks the record he bought for his sister. In the end, he still decides to go home. By a happy coincidence, there is no one at home except my sister herself, Phoebe; she, however, soon realizes that her older brother was expelled from school, and is very upset about this. Holden shares with her his dream, inspired by a song he overheard before the performance (Phoebe notices that it is a distorted poem by Robert Burns):
You see, I imagined how little children played in the evening in a huge field, in the rye. Thousands of kids, and around - not a soul, not a single adult except me. And I’m standing on the very edge of the cliff, over the abyss, you know? And my job is to catch the kids so they don’t fall into the abyss. You see, they are playing and don’t see where they are running, and then I run up and catch them so that they don’t fall off. That's all my work. Guard the guys over the abyss in the rye. I know this is nonsense, but this is the only thing I really want. I'm probably a fool.
Here the parents return home; Holden hides and, after waiting for the right moment, leaves the apartment, as he is not ready to meet them. He goes to spend the night with his literature teacher, Mr. Antolini, who lives with his wife “in a very luxurious apartment in Sutton Place.” Mr. Antolini warmly greets the young man and discusses his problems with him, although he is too tired to ponder the teacher’s advice. At night, Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini stroking his head and, frightened - he decides that the teacher is trying to “stick to” him - he hurriedly packs his things. He comes up with the idea of going to the West and pretending to be deaf and dumb. He writes a note to his sister asking her to meet him before he leaves so that he can give her the money he borrowed from her. Phoebe, however, having learned about her brother’s plans, demands to take her with him; he stubbornly disagrees, but in the end, seeing how upset the girl is, he decides to abandon his idea. To finally reconcile with his little sister, he takes her to the Central Park Zoo. Brother and sister discover that, despite the season, there is a carousel in the park; Seeing that the girl clearly wants to ride, Holden persuades her to sit on the carousel, although she considers herself too big for this and is a little shy. The novel ends with a description of a carousel spinning under a sudden downpour: Holden admires his little sister and finally feels happy. In a short epilogue, Holden sums up the whole story and briefly describes the events that followed it.
Story
The first predecessors of The Catcher in the Rye were Salinger's early stories, many of which outlined themes that the writer later raised in the novel. While studying at Columbia University, he wrote the story “Young Guys,” one of the heroines of which was described by researchers as “a barely outlined prototype of Sally Hayes.” In November 1941, a short story entitled "A Minor Riot on Madison Avenue" was written, which later became the seventeenth chapter of the novel: it describes Holden's fight with Sally after the skating rink and his meeting with Carl Lewis. A Little Riot on Madison Avenue was Salinger's first work to feature a character named Holden Caulfield. Another story, entitled "I'm Crazy," contains sketches of two episodes from The Catcher in the Rye (Holden's farewell to his history teacher and his conversation with the mother of one of his classmates on the way from school to New York); its main character is also named Holden Caulfield. In the story "The Day Before Goodbye" (1944), the main character John Gladwaller is visited by his friend, Vincent Caulfield, who talks about his younger brother Holden, "who was kicked out of school a hundred times." From the story it follows that Holden served in the army and went missing when he was not even 20 years old. In 1949, The New Yorker accepted for publication a ninety-page manuscript authored by Salinger, whose main character was again Holden Caulfield, but the writer himself later withdrew the text. The final version of the novel was published by Little, Brown and Company in 1951.
Reviews
Reviews of the book “The Catcher in the Rye”
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Yulia Olegina
Not completely...
May all admirers of this incomparably great book forgive me, but I did not find in it what I was looking for. The fact is that I myself am now at an age that is not far from Holden. And what? Are his problems close to me? No, I didn't have this problem. Are there really teenagers now who sit all night in night bars, thinking about who and when to go to bed with or how much they can call a “girl for the night” for? Maybe it's too bold a statement, but that's not what they're thinking about at that age. They think about more serious things: about first love, about family, about career. I don’t know, of course, the way of life of Americans, but for myself and for Russian teenagers I will say: “The book is not about us!” The book is worth reading as an explanation of the psychology and actions of children or to compare nations. No more. Once again I apologize for my such disapproving judgments. Perhaps I didn't understand something...
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6 / 7
Vera Happy
Jump in place
Catching children over the abyss, abandoning the rotten parental value system, looking for new meaning, building something great and eternal - yes, Salinger writes about this beautifully. But how can I react to these lofty speeches, knowing that the author himself did not become the main character, but hid his head in the sand, closing himself off from the outside world in the bedroom? Like Bradbury's great-grandmother, Salinger lay down and died very young. And it doesn’t matter that his coma lasted for sixty years - for the children who play in the rye, Salinger simply died. Instead of organizing the beatniks, he allowed them to form a herd, find paths to drugs and sex, and jump into a coma after their idol. The cruelty of this book is obvious to me, because it is about the hopeless reality that prevails around. Yes, the world is wretched, gray and unpleasant, but this became even more noticeable after the flash of this book illuminated the world, but went out, not allowing us to properly see our surroundings in order to find a way out of the dead end, turn around and wander through the rye. field in the opposite direction.
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0 / 0
Future sailors
People are always ruining everything for you
A touching story about the conflicting feelings of the main character, the incomparable Holden Caulfield. A hymn to teenage rebellion. A guy so kind and so confused, looking for his path and his place in the world, a bit of a misanthrope, invariably evokes sympathy. To be honest, I prefer Michael Dylan Raskin's "Little Bastard of New York" because... I read this book first, but “The Abyss...” is undoubtedly also in the TOP 10 of my favorite books. This is the same universe of desperate outsiders and rejection of the world. Romance, dreams, dreams and immersion in your inner world - sometimes it is difficult to break with childhood and past ideals and enter into the struggle for survival in the cruel world of adults, realizing that everything that was taught good must be forgotten and other feelings must be cultivated - cynicism and rigidity, build up teeth and claws. But people like Holden will forever remain irreconcilable fighters for their inner freedom, even if this struggle is obviously doomed to defeat.
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1 / 0
Daria
I only managed to read the book the second time. More than a year ago I started reading, but then I didn’t like the language in which the book was written, it was kind of harsh and rude. Then I didn’t understand at all why my friends praised this book so much. So I abandoned it, but for some reason this book haunted me, and I decided to read it anyway.
And you know, I even regretted that I had not read it earlier. Nothing really happens in the book, but it’s still interesting to read. It doesn’t matter how old you are, everyone has moments like this when you just want to escape from reality, hide somewhere far away and wait out the storm. Which is exactly what Holden does. He runs, each time to a new place, but each time it turns out to be the same as the previous one: deceitful, dirty and simply hateful for the main character. The whole book was read with this hatred from the beginning to the very end. Holden hates absolutely everything and himself too. He tries to find at least someone who could understand him, but people are either too busy with themselves or just look at him like he's crazy. It's terribly hard to look for those who need you, who you can catch in the rye, and who can catch you.
Ideas about escapes and all sorts of ridiculous plans for the future are, in my opinion, utter nonsense that can only occur to a teenager, but we are all in this: in delusional plans, with a lot of ambitions, in a constant search for ourselves and those who share your views. It is very important to find what you really like and devote your life to it.
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1 / 0
Zaira Teunova
I guess I read too many positive reviews about this novel before I picked it up, and therefore expected a real revelation, which I personally did not see. But I still liked the book: it was very easy to read and quite interesting.
The main character in the novel is Holden Caulfield, a young man of 16 years old, who was expelled from another school. He cannot find a place for himself in the world around him, cannot accept it as he is, when all the norms of behavior raise a storm within him, and in every gesture, in every word he feels false, “linden.” Such a keen perception of reality prevents him from becoming part of society. And he seeks, as best he can, his own path in life, not wanting to submit to the principles.
Probably, Holden most of all wanted to be understood. Therefore, the book will be very useful for modern “Holdens” - high school students who, like our rebel, are at a crossroads and do not know which path to take.
Overall: I'm glad I read this book. But it's a shame that this didn't happen earlier(
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