Catcher in the rye 4
Catcher in the rye 4One theme developed in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is that bonds to our family is one of the most important factors in life. This is evident throughout the book since Holden spends so much of his time thinking about, and striving to be with his brothers and sister. Each one of Holden’s siblings plays an important role in helping him cope with his life in school and the many questions that he faces in his everyday life. Aswell as give him a positive thought when he was down. Looking at his relationships with Allie, D.B. and Pheobe give you ample proof of this.
Holden’s brother D.B. was very important to Holden throughout the book. D.B. was on Holden’s mind often. One way that he was on Holden’s mind was how much he cared about D.B. and his personality. "He used to be just a regular writer… Now he’s out in Hollywood being a prostitute". Holden often thought that D.B should leave his job in Hollywood writing movies and go back to his old life writing short stories. He should do that so that he could stop trying to please the people and just please himself. Another way that D.B was on Holden’s mind was how Holden thought about the many stories that D.B. would read him at night. When thinking of this it would remind Holden of the good times at home, this was a time when he felt comfortable and was a memory that made him feel good at almost anytime. And finally D.B. affected Holden by remembering there visits to the movies with Pheobe to watch old movies. "But I didn’t enjoy it much. I just don’t see what’s to marvellous about Sir Laurence Olivier, that’s all" (pg 117). They would go to the movie and spend the whole time critiquing it and saying what they would and wouldn’t change. The thoughts and memories of D.B. where very uplifting to Holden, and many times throughout the book Holden would of been lost if he had not had those thoughts to fall back on.
Allie was one of the major factors that greatly affected Holden’s thoughts and actions. Allie, even though dead, was still on Holden’s mind and in a way assisting him in solving some of his largest problems. One way that Allie affected Holden’s thoughts was by how much Holden thought about Allie. "My brother Allie had this left handed fielders mitt. He was left handed. The thing that was descriptive about it though was that he had poems written all over the fingers and pocket" (pg 38). Holden missed Allie a lot and thought about him constantly during the book. Another way that Allie affected Holden was he could affect his actions, even though he was dead. Holden always said that things should be...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.