Blog 41

Holden has a various tone throught the whole book. It caries from disgust, cynicism, bietter and being nostalgic. They are all a pretty annoying tone because the whole time he can not just be happy. It does just get old. The book takes place in a long weekend in either the late ninteen fourties or early nineteen fifties(Sallinger 51). It is hard to tell, but it takes place at first in Pennsylvania at his former school named Pencey Prep. After being expelled from this, which was his fourth school, the main character, Holden, is then in all kinds of adventures in New York City. The protagonist and antagonist of the story is actually the same person because Holden is in a battle against his own self. The major conflict is within Holden's own mind. Part of him wants and needs to grow up and connect with people on a much more mature and adult level, actually more specifically there is a sexual encounter. A sexual encounter is way to mature for the rest of Holden's life. However, the other part of Holden wants to just shut out anything serious or mature. He wants to just reject the whole entire adult world because they are all "phony". He just wants to live in his own childhood memories forever. As the story progresses Holden actually starts to attempt to connect with other people and act as an adult, but he still has the impulse to go back to acting as a child and not growing up.
Holden struggles against himself throughout the whole book with just growing up. He just does not want to grow up, despite what all the adults and other people have said. However, he does demonstrate some frustration with not growing up himself. This internal conflict is the basis of the whole entire story as Holden makes himself the savior, aka the catcher of all the children in his attempt to do something productive and avoid growing up by saving the children and becoming the Catcher in the Rye. He gains knowledge and a new perspective on life while maybe losing some respect from people. All because he just does not want to grow up.

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