User:Quiquesaurusrex/Draft of Catcher In The Rye

Plot Summary
The novel takes place in the late 1940s, with the majority of the action occurring in either the main character's private boarding school, or in New York City. The whole story is told in the first-person perspective by Holden Caulfield. His story begins at Pencey Prep, a wealthy preparatory school for young boys that prides itself on "molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men." He has just been expelled for not doing well academically, a reflection of his lack of motivation in life. He briefly visits his favorite teacher at the school, Mr. Spencer, who tries to give him some advice on life, but only succeeds in annoying Holden. Holden then returns to his dorm room, where his slobbish classmate, Robert Ackley, is hanging out. They chat a bit, until Ward Stradlater, his roommate who Ackley despises, walks in. Holden watches as Stradlater prepares for a date with an old friend of his, Jane Gallagher. Holden becomes preoccupied with her, and distractedly tells Stradlater to give her his regards. Stradlater leaves, and Holden settles down to write a composition for him, choosing to write about his dead brother's old baseball mitt, which Allie had written poetry on. Holden drunkenly stumbles out of the bar and proceeds to call Sally, despite the late hour. She gets annoyed and hangs up on him, so he decides to go back to his parents' apartment and sneak in to visit Phoebe. He deceives the new elevator man, getting him to let Holden up to the apartment secretly. Once inside, he finds Phoebe and watches her for a while before waking her up to talk to her. At first, she is extremely happy to see him, but she soon realizes he has been kicked out of school and reprimands him for being there without his parents' knowledge. At first she refuses to listen to him. They talk about their lives and Phoebe asks him what he wants to do with his. He responds with a fantasy to be a "catcher in the rye," or someone who saves children from running off out of a field of rye. He says that he got the idea from a poem, "Coming Through the Rye," but Phoebe points out he has misquoted it.

Needing a place to stay, he calls an old teacher, Mr. Antolini. He leaves his apartment, giving Phoebe his hunting hat before sneaking out again.

Characters
Phoebe Caulfield - Phoebe is Holden's younger sister and one of his only real friends. She is about the only one he can talk to, mostly because she is a good listener and understands him. She represents the symbolic child the "catcher in the rye" saves.

Sally Hayes - an old friend of Holden's that used to be intimate with him. She's relatively attractive, but not very smart, and could be a "royal pain in the ass" to Holden sometimes.

Allie Caulfield - Holden's deceased younger brother. Holden remembers him as a very nice young boy, who never got mad at anyone. He was good at writing poetry, which he did on his baseball mitt. He died of leukemia at a young age.

Mr. Spencer - Holden's old history teacher back at Pencey Prep. Holden liked him, but he thought he could be very "phony" at times.

Themes
To this day, J.D. Salinger is still praised for his accurate portrayal of teenage restlessness and angst in The Catcher in the Rye. His main character, Holden Caulfield, embodies a feeling of loneliness and anxiety commonly felt by teenagers, which makes him an "indispensable hero" to Salinger's teenage audience. Readers could identify with the existential theme of life being "tiny and meaningless and - sad-making."