The Happy Catcher Essay, Research Paper

The Happy Catcher

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger. This novel is about a boy, named Holden Caulfield, who goes through a very depressing time. In The Catcher in the Rye, there are significant items of the story such as , Jane, Allie s baseball mitt, the carousel, and the title of the novel.

Jane Gallagher was significant in the story because she obviously meant a whole lot to Holden. No matter how depressed Holden was feeling, he would always feel better whenever he thought of Jane. He was also very protective over her; so protective in fact that he was willing to fight his roommate, Stradlater, over her. Jane meant so much to Holden that Holden might have been in love with her, but as much as she meant to him, he never did try to call her.

Allie was Holden s brother who died of Leukemia. Holden often talked about how Allie had a left-handed baseball mitt that had poems written all over it. Holden would always feel better whenever he thought about it, because it made him think about his brother, Allie.

Another time in the story that made Holden feel better was when he sat back and watched his little sister, Phoebe, ride the carousel. Phoebe always made Holden happy because she was so pretty and intelligent, but that day Phoebe as mad at Holden. It was until Phoebe started riding the carousel that she forgave him.

One last thing that made Holden feel better is found in the title of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Whenever Phoebe Asked Holden what he would like to do as a profession, he answered with the crazy hypothetical situation of being the catcher in the rye. The catcher in the rye is the only big kid on a cliff with a bunch of little kids who are playing games in a field of rye. The Catcher would have to come out of somewhere and catch the kids before they fell off of the cliff. This is another thing that made him happy.

All of these items seemed to have made Holden feel better through his times of depression, but they also seem to symbolize his biggest weakness. Maybe Holden imagined himself to be the catcher in the rye. Maybe he thought that it was his fault that Allie died, because Holden was not there to catch him whenever he fell off of the cliff. That is why he never wanted to call up Jane, because he was afraid that if he became involved with her, that he might not be able to catch her whenever she fell. It was until he watched Phoebe on the carousel trying to grab the golden rings the he realized that he just has to let people make their own mistakes. That is what made him happy, and want to return home.