The Catcher in the Rye chapter 13-26

In the last half of “The Catcher In The Rye”, the mood becomes desolate and lonely. In the beginning of the book, Holden is portraying a teenage boy who is mad at life and complains about everyone around him. As the story goes on, Holden’s character does not develop or change, but is revealed to have more compassion and good intentions. In the last chapters, Holden is revealed to be very lonely and misunderstood because he has trouble conforming to society. On page 187, one of Holden's respected teachers, Mr. Antolini, tells him, “This fall I think you’re riding for, it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind...The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.” Mr. Antolini is telling Holden that he’s going to have some sort of breakdown because he’s lost hope in finding what he’s looking for in society, which is genuine people.

Throughout the novel, Holden is constantly searching for someone to talk to and spend time with, but he always ends up alone. This led me to believe Holden doesn’t have someone to confide in and talk to about his thoughts and emotions he keeps inside. Mr. Antolini is the first person I saw Holden talk about his personal life and problems with. Holden tells Mr. Antolini, “But you’re wrong about the hating business...I don’t hate too many guys...I hated them once in a while-I admit it-but it doesn’t last too long , is what I mean. After a while, if I didn’t see them, if they didn’t come in the room, or if I didn’t see them in the dining room for a couple of meals, I sort of missed them. I mean I sort of missed them.” In the previous statement, Holden reveals that his attitude towards people doesn’t actually reflect on how he feels about them. He admits to hating people and he does seem to hate easily, but misses them later on. This is because Holden easily forgives and forgets, but because he is so lonely that he can appreciate his time with those people.

One of the biggest events in the novel is when Holden tells his little sister, Phoebe, that he wants to be the “the catcher in the rye”. Holden imagined this scene where there are children playing in a field of rye on a cliff. Holden envisions himself standing near the edge and catching the children that come too close to falling off. This scene that Holden creates in his head is a metaphoric representation of childhood and adulthood. When Holden says he wants to be “the catcher in the rye”, he really means that he wants to protect all those children in their innocent and playful world from falling into the real world that would corrupt their innocent minds with wars, sex, phonies, and general life problems.

Overall, I did not necessarily enjoy this novel, but do not regret reading it. I have more of an appreciation towards the author and the message he was trying to portray in this novel. Although I did not like this book I can definitely see why schools make people read it and the importance of that. In conclusion, Catcher in the Rye wasn’t a very pleasant read, but one that holds a real and relatable story that I would recommend for all young adults to read.

Picture Source: http://www.prooffreader.com/2013/09/word-cloud-catcher-in-rye_9.html