"The Cather in the Rye" Question 5

The setting of the story is first in Pencey Prep School in Pennsylvania and then New York City in either 1948 or 1949. So World War II has just occurred and America is slowly getting back into the swing of things. This is also around the time America became it's materialistic-self that we know today. This is reflected in all the materialistic people that come and go in Holden's life through the story. Holden is very opposed to the consumptive ways of the people surrounding him. I'm sure Holden's depressed state also mirrors a lot of the people recovering from the war. Many of the returning soldiers and the Japanese returning from concentration camps probably weren't quite good as new yet. I'm sure Holden wasn't alone in feeling sad and lonely through out the book. This books symbolic significance is that of friendship and acceptance. In the novel, Holden is constantly grasping for someone to just listen and to hear him. He wants someone to understand him. Don't we all, though? Imagine if that one person in your life who you can tell everything to and know that they'll be there for you no matter what was just gone. *poof* Donskis. That's not really a desirable feeling, is it? I don't think so either. "The Cather in the Rye", I think, is a good symbol of just straight up human nature. We get confused. A lot. We have a tendency to expect people to just come to us and know when we need them. We can be really very ignorant and naive when we are hurting. "The Cather in the Rye" is an excellent representation of this. The entire novel Holden is sad and misunderstood and no one wants to just talk with him and try to understand. That's at least how he sees it. Humans have a tendency to be very blind and not see that we are really the only obstacle in our way of forging relationships. Holden is exactly that, his own obstacle.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.