Literature Analysis

1.      The plot of “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger is of Holden Caulfield telling his story that took place between the end of the fall semester and Christmas. It starts off with Holden being in the Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. This is his fourth school that he has had to transfer to for failing. Holden gets into a fight with his roommate Stradlater, over a girl that he likes. After their fight Holden decides to leave Pency and return to Manhattan. Holden takes a cab and checks himself into the Edmont Hotel. In his hotel room he calls someone who he thought used to be a stripper, hoping to get some. However he is denied. He then proceeds to go into the Lavender Room, where he meets 3 women in their thirties. He dances with one of them and starts to like her; however the 3 women leave him. Holden eventually ends up going back to his hotel room. While taking the elevator to his room he meets Maurice, who offers him a prostitute. Holden accepts, and when “Sunny” shows up he has second thoughts and decides to not do what he was planning on doing. He pays “Sunny” so she will leave, and goes to bed. The next day he calls Sally Hayes, a girl he dated in the past. They arrange to meet up, and when they do they go to a Broadway play. Afterwards they go ice skating, and after both being horrible at that they get a table. Holden tries to talk her into running away with him but she says no. Sally leaves and Holden calls Carl Luce, his former student advisor. They meet for a few drinks, but Holden eventually ticks Carl off, who leaves. Holden who is drunk now, sneaks into his apartment building to wake his sister, Phoebe, up. He tells her everything, which makes her mad at him. Holden leaves and calls his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini; he meets at his house, where he spends the night. The next morning he leaves and goes to Phoebe’s school with a note saying he is leaving. Phoebe wants him to take her, and they go to the zoo.

2.      A theme of the book could be isolation. Holden constantly gets annoyed with himself or others and can never seem to get close to anyone. He always distances himself.

3.      The author’s tone is sarcastic. Holden constantly makes sarcastic comments about people or towards them. Almost every chance he can make a sarcastic statement, he does.

4.      Five literary elements that helped me understand the story were symbolism, imagery, irony, tone and theme. The tone helped set the mood of the entire book, being sarcastic and arrogant.