Catcher in the Rye Essay

604 Words3 Pages
Jack Schwartz Are you a rebel? Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye (written by J.D. Salinger) is a rebel. To be honest with you, Holden is almost the anti-teenager. He does the opposite of what everyone else would do in any situation. For example, he hires a prostitute, and instead of having sex, he talks to her. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger portrays Holden as a rebel by having him do the opposite and go against the norm of a teenager in his society. One reason Holden is a rebel is because he does not go to the football game against Saxon Hall when the whole school annually goes to the game. Here is some evidence to prove it “The game against Saxon Hall was supposed to be a very big deal around Pencey … you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win … I was standing way the hell up on Tomsen hill … practically the whole school except me was there” (Salinger, pg 2) Everybody from Pencey was at the game and cared about winning or losing against Saxon hall. Holden on the other hand is rebelling by not going to the game. Holden is also rebelling by going against the norm of teens in his society by not obsessing over school sports like normal teens. Another reason Holden is a rebel is because he drops out of Pencey because he’s flunking four subjects and won’t put any effort in to turning his grades around at all. Here is a quote to back this assertion up. “I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all” (Salinger, pg 4) Holden is going against the norm of a teenager in his society by getting kicked out of Pencey and not even caring if he got kicked out. Holden is also rebelling by flunking the four subjects and not applying himself like a normal kid would.

More about Catcher in the Rye Essay

Open Document