Key Facts
full title · The Catcher in the Rye
author · J. D. Salinger
type of work · Novel
genre · Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel)
language · English
time and place written · Late 1940s–early 1950s,
New York
date of first publication · July 1951; parts of the novel
appeared as short stories in Collier's, December 1945,
and in The New Yorker,
December 1946
publisher · Little, Brown and Company
narrator · Holden Caulfield, narrating from a psychiatric facility
a few months after the events of the novel
point of view · Holden Caulfield narrates in the first person, describing
what he himself sees and experiences, providing his own commentary
on the events and people he describes.
tone · Holden's tone varies between disgust, cynicism, bitterness,
and nostalgic longing, all expressed in a colloquial style.
tense · Past
setting (time) · A long weekend in the late 1940s
or early 1950s
setting (place) · Holden begins his story in Pennsylvania, at his former
school, Pencey Prep. He then recounts his adventures in New York
City.
protagonist · Holden Caulfield
major conflict · The major conflict is within Holden's psyche. Part
of him wants to connect with other people on an adult level (and,
more specifically, to have a sexual encounter), while part of him
wants to reject the adult world as “phony,” and to retreat into
his own memories of childhood.
rising action · Holden's many attempts to connect with other people
over the course of the novel bring his conflicting impulses—to interact with
other people as an adult, or to retreat from them as a child—into
direct conflict.
climax · Possible climaxes include Holden's encounter with Sunny,
when it becomes clear that he is unable to handle a sexual encounter; the
end of his date with Sally, when he tries to get her to run away with
him; and his departure from Mr. Antolini's apartment, when he begins
to question his characteristic mode of judging other people.
falling action · Holden's interactions with Phoebe, culminating in his
tears of joy at watching Phoebe on the carousel (at the novel's
end he has retreated into childhood, away from the threats of adult
intimacy and sexuality)
themes · Alienation as a form of self-protection; the painfulness
of growing up; the phoniness of the adult world
motifs · Relationships, intimacy, and sexuality; loneliness;
lying
and deception
symbols · The “catcher in the rye”; Holden's red hunting hat;
the Museum of Natural History; the ducks in the Central Park lagoon
foreshadowing · At the beginning of the novel, Holden hints that he
has been hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, the story of which
is revealed over the course of the novel.
