The Catcher in the Rye麦田里的守望者读后感.docx

The Catcher in the Rye麦田里的守望者读后感The Catcher in the Rye: Live Truly The novel The Catcher in the Rye written by Jerome David Salinger opens with the narrator, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old boy from New York City, telling the story of three days in his life. In this book, Salinger expresses his desire for true love and purity. For the hero, Holden, it is the adult world that has driven him insane. He just cannot relate to anyone except for his kid sister Phoebe. Everything and all other people seem "phony" to him. Holden is unable to accept life. Since Holden is becoming an adult himself, he is unhappy with what he will represent. He flunks out of three boarding schools in a row, the latest of them Pencey Prep. After an unpleasant experience with his history teacher "Old Spencer," his roommate Stradlater and the boy next door, Robert Ackley, Holden decides to leave Pencey four days early for Christmas break. He knows that he cannot return to his parents because they are not aware that he has been expelled again. Holden spends the next three days wandering aimlessly around New York City. In those three short days, he suffers a lot. Finally, he meets his sister, who tells him she wants to run away with him and that she will never go back to school. Holden sees himself in her, finally changes his mind and decides to go back to his parents. Salinger develops his own style of the use of language. The Catcher in the Rye is written in a subjective style from the point of view of its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought processes. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences. Critical reviews agree that the novel accurately reflected the teenage colloquial speech of the time. Words and phrases that frequently appear include "Phony" "That killed me" "Flit" "FlittyWuddya” "Crumby". These are able to increase the vivid language and appealing and can give the readers emotional resonance, rouse readers' desire of exploration and thinking. For example, It was cold as a witchs teat.” such jocular and humorous metaphor is so wonderful that it may come as a bit of a shock. But, it does not make the readers feel sick, instead, it sparks 1 their interest to think about why the author express by this way. Except the flexible application of various spoken languages and slangs, there is another prior factor that it has a very far-reaching significance makes The Catcher in the Rye being recognized more and more. It is a war between phoniness and authenticity. Holden labels almost everyone a “phony,” excepting Phoebe, Allie, and himself. In Holden's eyes, a “phony” is someone who embraces the worlds mundane demands and tries to make something out of nothingthat is, just about everyone who studies in school or who puts on airs in order to do a job or achieve a goal. So, he escapes from the school even the society to find some authentic living, to hold on to someone like Phoebe or Allie who knows nothing of the worlds superficiality and therefore is not tainted by it, but he is afraid to make it too real out of the justified fear of one day losing them forever. What Holden is searching for is what Salinger wants. In the case of J. D Salingers The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger painted the image of Holden Caulfield on the canvas of his own life. J. D. Salingers personal experiences and beliefs are reflected in the settings, the protagonist, and the themes of The Catcher in the Rye. He developed a character, Holden Caulfield, whose attitude and values are comparable to his. He also built the central themes of the novel through the implementations of motifs that illustrate his own beliefs. In conclusion, through the usage of his own experiences, Salinger created one of the greatest portrayals of teenage struggles amidst a confusing and unappealing society. He is keen to seek for true love and purity but simultaneously he fears loosing all that he possesses. All in all, throughout Salinger's creation of Holden, I sense a profound pathos. Without question Salinger makes us deeply sorry for Holden's failures, and as a result we are left with little hope at the end when we learn that Holden does not know whether he is going to succeed at school. But his "little hope" makes us review the novel with an eye toward answering the question of whether the world in which Holden finds himself is really worth succeeding in on its own terms, and encourages us live truly. 2