The author of the novel “Catcher in the Rye” J.D. Slinger is dead at the age of 91. He was leading a quite and solitary life in Cornish. Slinger started the novel in 1940 it was published in 1951. Some chapters of the novel had been published in “The New Yorker” and “Collier” in the form of short stories before its publication.
The Catcher in the Rye was meant for adults but it has gained popularity with the teens “adolescents”. More than 60 million copies of the novel have been sold with an average sale of around 2 millions per year. It has been translated for the foreign reader into many languages.
The main theme of the novel is the agony of youth while entering the adult age and unwillingness to depart from childhood. The novel is narrated by the main character Holden Caulfield who is admitted in a hospital for the treatment of mental distress. He relates his experiences of the many skirmishes with fellow students at school that eventually lead to his expulsion from school.
Instead of returning home he stays in a hotel where he danced with some girls and comes across a prostitute. He pays her the agreed money but is unable to do anything. She beats him after demanding more money. He enters his home and tells his sister about his plan of becoming a Catcher in the Rye. In his fantasy world he wants to catch the children and prevent them from falling off the cliff of “childhood” in to the unknown ditch of adulthood.
In the middle of night Holden visits his teacher Antolini who tries to console him and offers him to sleep at his home. Holden leaves his home as he thinks Antolini was going to exploit him sexually.
Holden’s adventure ends up in a hospital where he decides to rejoin a school after treatment.
Catcher in the Rye
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