The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a story by J. D. Salinger, partially published in serial form
in 1945–1946 and as a novel in 1951. It was originally intended for adults but is
often read by adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique
on superficiality in society. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major
languages.[6] Around one million copies are sold each year, with total sales of
more than 65 million books. The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become
an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel also deals with complex issues of
innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, and sex.

The novel was included on Time Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 best English-
language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its
readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In
2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

What Does the Title Mean?

Nothing in The Catcher in the Rye signals Holden’s misinterpretation of the
meaning of childhood and adulthood more precisely than the title itself. As he
roams around New York City, Holden compares what he perceives as the
uncorrupted innocence of children to the hypocrisy of maturity. He considers
almost every adult he meets to be a phony, and repeatedly states his fear of
turning into a phony himself. Conversely, children represent purity to him, and his
desire to return to the innocent state of his own childhood. The book’s title stems
from a scene in Chapter 16 when Holden observes a young boy who, ignored by
his parents, walks in the street while singing “If a body catch a body coming
through the rye.” Holden interprets this scene as a perfect expression of the
innocence of youth. The fact that the boy walks in the street rather than on the
sidewalk indicates that, for now at least, he exists in a world that is parallel to yet
separate from that of his parents. Watching the boy gives Holden a reprieve from
the phoniness of the adult world.

The line about a catcher in the rye is taken from a Robert Burns poem, “Comin’
Thro the Rye,” which Holden envisions as a literal rye field on the edge of a cliff.
When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to be when he grows up, he answers
“the catcher in the rye” – a person he imagines as responsible for “catching”
children in the field before they “start to go over the cliff.” The field of Holden’s
fantasy is free of adult ideas and artificiality. The field is reminiscent of Peter Pan’s
Neverland or the Garden of Eden, both of which are realms that protect innocence
from the corrupting influence of experience. By contrast, the fall from the cliff
represents the “fall” into adulthood—that is, into lust, greed, ambition, and
“phoniness.” The language here echoes the Biblical fall of Adam and Eve, who
were exiled from the garden after their awakening to sin and the shame of sexuality
—a shame that Holden also feels.

Holden’s fantasy of becoming the “catcher in the rye” and protecting innocent
children from their fall from grace is based on a crucial misunderstanding, just as
he misunderstands what it means to be a child and an adult. As Phoebe informs
him, the poem actually asks “if a body meet a body coming through the rye.” In
other words, there is no catcher in the rye. What’s more, “meet” refers to a casual
sexual encounter. The next line asks, ‘Gin a body kiss a body – Need a body cry.’
The poem as a whole poses the question of whether two people (“bodies”) should
have sex in secret without making a romantic commitment to each other – the
same question that Holden asks of Carl Luce. The lyric that sparks Holden’s
fantasy turns out to mean just the opposite of his interpretation. An important
implication of Phoebe’s correction is that, in direct contrast to Holden’s fantasy,
there may not be any place of true innocence. Indeed, innocence may simply be a
figment of his imagination.

Just as Holden’s misreading of the Burns poem creates a false separation of

innocence and experience, so does his problematic tendency to idealize youth in
others. In fact, the actual young characters in the novel are neither innocent nor
pure. Allie died at age eleven, so will always remain a child in Holden’s memory.
Yet, the fact that Allie died from cancer means he was forced to confront his own
mortality at a very young age. Phoebe has a scrape on her arm from where a
classmate pushed her down the stairs after she poured ink on his jacket – an
indication of the cruelty of children. Similarly, Holden’s family’s maid is deaf in one
ear from a childhood injury inflicted by her brother. Holden willfully blinds himself to
the reality that childhood is rarely entirely idyllic. However, despite his stated
contempt for adults, he tries to pass as older than he is on several occasions, and
spends his time in New York pursuing adult activities like going to bars, the theater,
taking taxis, and hiring a prostitute. As with his misinterpretation of the Burns
poem, Holden confuses the external trappings of adulthood with internal indications
of maturity such as empathy, conscience, and morality.
 Plot
The novel details two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has
been expelled from prep school. Confused and disillusioned, Holden searches for
truth and rails against the “phoniness” of the adult world. He ends up exhausted
and emotionally unstable. The events are related after the fact.

From what is implied to be a sanatorium, Holden, the narrator and protagonist, tells
the story of his adventures before the previous Christmas. The story begins with
Holden at Pencey Prep School on his way to the house of his history teacher,
Spencer, so that he can say goodbye. He reveals to the reader that he has been
expelled for failing most of his classes. After he visits Spencer, he encounters his
roommate, Ward Stradlater, who asks Holden to write an essay for English class
for him while he goes on a date with a longtime friend of Holden’s. Having agreed,
Holden writes about the baseball glove of his younger brother, Allie, who died of
leukemia. When Stradlater returns, he tells Holden that the essay isn’t good, and
Holden gets angry when Stradlater refuses to say whether he had sex with his
date. This causes Holden to storm out and leave Pencey for New York City a few
days earlier than planned for Christmas break. Once he arrives in New York, he
cannot go home, as his parents do not yet know that he has been expelled.
Instead, he rents a room at the Edmont Hotel, where he witnesses some sexually
charged scenes through the windows of other rooms. His loneliness then causes
him to seek out human interaction, which he does at the Lavender Room, the
hotel’s nightclub. After interacting with some women there, he goes to another
nightclub, only to leave after seeing his elder brother’s ex-girlfriend. When he gets
back to the hotel, he orders a prostitute to his room, only to talk to her. This
situation ends in him being punched in the stomach.

The next morning, Holden calls Sally Hayes, an ex-girlfriend of his. They spend the
day together until Holden makes a rude remark and she leaves crying. Holden then
meets up with a former schoolmate, Carl Luce, at a bar, but Luce leaves early
because he becomes annoyed by Holden’s immature comments. Holden stays
behind and gets drunk by himself. After he leaves, he wanders in Central Park until
the cold drives him to his family’s apartment. He sneaks in, still not prepared to
face his parents, and finds his 10-year-old sister, Phoebe. She is upset when she
hears that Holden has failed out and accuses him of not liking anything. It is at this
time that Holden describes to his sister his fantasy of being “the catcher in the rye,”
which was inspired by a song he heard a little boy singing: “If a body catch a body
comin’ through the rye.” Phoebe tells him that the words are “If a body meet a body
coming through the rye,” from a poem by Robert Burns. (Burns’s poem, “Comin
thro’ the Rye,” exists in several versions, but most render the lines as “Gin a body
meet a body / Comin thro’ the rye.”) Soon they hear their parents come home after
a night out, and Holden sneaks away. He calls his former English teacher, Mr.
Antolini, who tells Holden he can come stay at his apartment. Holden falls asleep
on Antolini’s couch and awakes to Antolini stroking his forehead, which Holden
interprets as a sexual advance. He immediately excuses himself and heads to
Grand Central Station, where he spends the rest of the night. When he awakes, he
goes to Phoebe’s school and leaves a note telling her that he plans to run away
and asking her to meet him at a museum during lunch. She arrives with a packed
bag and insists on going with him. He tells her no and instead takes her to the zoo,
where he watches her ride the carousel in the pouring rain. This is where the
flashback ends. The novel closes with Holden explaining that he has fallen “sick”
but is expected to go to a new school in the fall.

Plot Analysis
The Catcher in the Rye is the story of Holden attempting to connect with other
people and failing to do so, which causes him to dread maturity and cling to his
idealized view of childhood. Most of the book recounts Holden’s quest for
connection, following him through dozens of encounters large and small, with cab
drivers, nuns, tourists, pimps, former classmates, and many others. Because he
has little sense of his effect on others and refuses to conform to societal norms, he
fails in every attempt, and adopts a self-protective veneer of disgust with the world.
He is quick to dismiss both individuals and the adult world in general as “phony.”
But his encounters with others don’t generally fall apart because he rejects or
pushes away the other person. Instead, they fall apart because he behaves
immaturely, indulging in outlandish or obnoxious behavior or making inappropriate
choices, until other people become bemused or angry with him. Ultimately, his
refusal to grow up and enter the adult world is doomed to failure, which results in
his complete breakdown.

The novel is told through the framing device of Holden’s convalescence in what
seems to be either a sanatorium or mental hospital, which creates suspense as to
how he wound up there. After a brief present-tense introduction, he switches to
past-tense flashback, beginning with his final days at Pencey Prep. The incident
that incites the major events of the novel occurs when Stradlater goes out with
Jane Gallagher and refuses to say whether he had sex with her. The idea that
Stradlater and Jane might have had sex is more than Holden can take. He has felt
affection for Jane for a long time, so Stradlater’s date with her sparks envy. Holden
also feels upset that his predatory roommate may have corrupted an important part
of his past. Holden believes he “knows” both Jane and Stadlater extremely well,
and the idea that Jane, who he sees as a paragon of virtue, might be attracted to
Stradlater, who Holden sees as essentially corrupt, challenges his concept of the
two characters. It suggests that he doesn’t know anyone as well as he thinks, and
his attempts at connection will inevitably fail. Unable to do anything about the
situation, Holden decides to leave the school that night and take the train to New
York City.

Most of the episodes that take place after Holden departs from Pencey, and up
until he visits his sister, Phoebe, at home, involve Holden attempting either to make
sexual connections with others or to find someone to explain sex to him. Holden
believes sex should be an act of intimacy, and he is ashamed of his own ability to
be sexually attracted to women he doesn’t feel a true connection with. Yet he
propositions nearly every woman he encounters, most of whom are much older
than he is. He invites his classmate’s mother to get a drink, calls a woman he
believe is a stripper, dances with older female tourists staying at his hotel, arranges
to have a prostitute sent to his room, and tries to convince a coatcheck clerk to go
out with him. Holden’s quest for sexual knowledge culminates in his drink with Carl
Luce, who Holden thinks can illuminate the relation between the physical and
spiritual aspects of sexuality. However, Carl is presented as possibly confused
about his own sexuality, undermining his authority on heterosexual relationships.
He becomes uncomfortable when Holden asks him about the role of intimacy in
sex, suggesting Holden is not as alone in his confusion as he believes.

The climax of the story comes when Holden visits Phoebe, who becomes angry
that Holden has been expelled from another school and confronts him about why
he doesn’t like anything. Holden says he likes his brother, Allie, but Phoebe points
out that Allie is dead. Holden recalls a harrowing episode from an earlier prep
school where a boy named James Castle, who was being bullied, leapt out of a
window to his death. Holden identifies with James Castle, who had borrowed
Holden’s turtleneck and was wearing it when he died. This climax doesn’t
represent a turning point for Holden but rather illuminates for the reader just how
deep Holden’s need is to protect the “castle” of his own childhood from the
depredations of the adult world. He explains to Phoebe his fantasy of being “the
catcher in the rye,” a figure who catches children who are about to plunge off an
imaginary cliff to their deaths—or to adulthood. Phoebe corrects his
misunderstanding of the words of the poem, calling his entire belief system into
question and implying Holden is wrong about both childhood and adulthood.

The falling action of the story depicts Holden continuing his attempt to delay
adulthood until he can’t run any further. He goes to see Mr. Antolini, an adult who
showed bravery and compassion after James Castle’s death. Mr. Antolini
describes the misanthropic and maladjusted future Holden seems to be headed
toward, furthering the impression that Holden is now in a limbo between his
unrealistically idealized childhood and the unpleasant reality of adulthood.
Incapable of accepting physical affection and terrified of the possibility that Mr.
Antolini may be homosexual and a pedophile, Holden flees. He decides to run
away from his life and his family for good, but his plan collapses when Phoebe
insists on coming with him. At the end of his story, Holden calmly watches Phoebe
riding a carousel, secure for the moment in her childhood innocence and not
menaced by adulthood or the future. The novel ends in the present tense, with
Holden offering the hope that his experience was actually transformational and he
may apply himself at his next school. However, his voice is so similar to the rest of
the novel, we may question whether he has actually matured and gained insight
into himself and others.
 Character Analysis
 Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield is 17 when he recounts the events of a few "madmen" days but
was 16 when they happened. He is a thoughtful, sensitive teen from a well-off
family. Holden is drawn to narrative and uses stories, true and false, to make
sense of his life. Holden has flunked out of several schools because he refuses to
study what doesn't interest him or to participate in the "phony" world of adult work
and play. By turns insightful beyond his years and childish in his confusion, Holden
is a relatable but unreliable narrator. Readers grasp that emotional traumas have
hurt Holden deeply; many sympathize with, identify with, and are frustrated by this
discontented and judgmental narrator as he describes the world he perceives.

 Phoebe Caulfield
Phoebe is Holden's adored 10-year-old sister. Holden speaks often of Phoebe's
quirky, creative traits. She doesn't like her middle name, so she keeps making up
new ones. She writes diaries, dances seriously, and embodies the joy of childhood
as Holden imagines it. He calls her "old Phoebe" and says that her endearing ways
"kill" him, and she is the only person he trusts. Yet Phoebe, despite being younger
than Holden, is less naive about childhood than he is. She rejects his discontent
and forces him to confront his traumas rather than flee them.

 Allie Caulfield
Allie was Holden's younger brother. When Holden was 13, Allie died of leukemia.
Allie's red hair may be one reason Holden likes the red hunting hat. Remembering
Allie's intelligence and sweetness comforts Holden, despite his unhealed grief.
Holden's memories of Allie become a lifeline when he is exhausted, ill, and
terrified.

 D.B. Caulfield
D.B. is Holden's older brother, a writer who served in the army during World War II
and who now writes screenplays in Hollywood. Because movies strike Holden as
"phony," he considers his brother a sellout who trades his talent for cash. Readers
don't get to know D.B. well, but Holden does briefly describe the trauma D.B.
suffered during the war.
  Mr. Antolini
Mr. Antolini is Holden's former English teacher and perhaps the only adult whom
Holden perceives as not "phony." He accepts Holden rather than judges him for his
failures. Mr. Antolini doesn't order Holden to obediently do his homework. Instead,
he explains how education, and especially reading, can help him grow into
meaningful adulthood.

 Sally Hayes
Sally is a conventional teenager adept at playing the roles that help teens find their
place in the adult world. She and Holden have dated in the past, but Holden sees
her, through his veil of bitter discontent, as "quite the little phony."

 Stradlater
Stradlater, Holden's roommate at Pencey, is the most influential of Holden's peers.
Good-looking and confident, Stradlater is successfully moving into the adult world.
He acts as a foil for the younger Holden, who distrusts his roommate's adoption of
adult behaviors. Yet Holden wants the older teen's approval.

Figure 1 Character Map

 Context
Jerome David Salinger was born in New York City in 1919. The son of a wealthy
cheese importer, Salinger grew up in a fashionable neighborhood in Manhattan
and spent his youth being shuttled between various prep schools before his
parents finally settled on the Valley Forge Military Academy in 1934. He graduated
from Valley Forge in 1936 and attended a number of colleges, including Columbia
University, but did not graduate from any of them. While at Columbia, Salinger took
a creative writing class in which he excelled, cementing the interest in writing that
he had maintained since his teenage years. Salinger had his first short story
published in 1940; he continued to write as he joined the army and fought in
Europe during World War II. Upon his return to the United States and civilian life in
1946, Salinger wrote more stories, publishing them in many respected magazines.
In 1951, Salinger published his only full-length novel, The Catcher in the Rye,
which propelled him onto the national stage.

Many events from Salinger’s early life appear in The Catcher in the Rye. For
instance, Holden Caulfield moves from prep school to prep school, is threatened
with military school, and knows an older Columbia student. In the novel, such
autobiographical details are transplanted into a post–World War II setting. The
Catcher in the Rye was published at a time when the burgeoning American
industrial economy made the nation prosperous and entrenched social rules
served as a code of conformity for the younger generation. Because Salinger used
slang and profanity in his text and because he discussed adolescent sexuality in a
complex and open way, many readers were offended, and The Catcher in the Rye
provoked great controversy upon its release. Some critics argued that the book
was not serious literature, citing its casual and informal tone as evidence. The book
was—and continues to be—banned in some communities, and it consequently has
been thrown into the center of debates about First Amendment rights, censorship,
and obscenity in literature.

Though controversial, the novel appealed to a great number of people. It was a

hugely popular bestseller and general critical success. Salinger’s writing seemed to
tap into the emotions of readers in an unprecedented way. As countercultural revolt
began to grow during the 1950s and 1960s, The Catcher in the Rye was frequently
read as a tale of an individual’s alienation within a heartless world. Holden seemed
to stand for young people everywhere, who felt themselves beset on all sides by
pressures to grow up and live their lives according to the rules, to disengage from
meaningful human connection, and to restrict their own personalities and conform
to a bland cultural norm. Many readers saw Holden Caulfield as a symbol of pure,
unfettered individuality in the face of cultural oppression.
In the same year that The Catcher in the Rye appeared, Salinger published a short
story in The New Yorker magazine called “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” which
proved to be the first in a series of stories about the fictional Glass family. Over the
next decade, other “Glass” stories appeared in the same magazine: “Franny,”
“Zooey,” and “Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters.” These and other stories are
available in the only other books Salinger published besides The Catcher in the
Rye: Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof-
Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Though Nine Stories
received some critical acclaim, the critical reception of the later stories was hostile.
Critics generally found the Glass siblings to be ridiculously and insufferably
precocious and judgmental.

Beginning in the early 1960s, as his critical reputation waned, Salinger began to
publish less and to disengage from society. In 1965, after publishing another Glass
story (“Hapworth 26, 1924”) that was widely reviled by critics, he withdrew almost
completely from public life, a stance he has maintained up to the present. This
reclusiveness, ironically, made Salinger even more famous, transforming him into a
cult figure. To some degree, Salinger’s cult status has overshadowed, or at least
tinged, many readers’ perceptions of his work. As a recluse, Salinger, for many,
embodied much the same spirit as his precocious, wounded characters, and many
readers view author and characters as the same being. Such a reading of
Salinger’s work clearly oversimplifies the process of fiction writing and the
relationship between the author and his creations. But, given Salinger’s
iconoclastic behavior, the general view that Salinger was himself a sort of Holden
Caulfield is understandable.

The few brief public statements that Salinger made before his death in 2010
suggested that he continued to write stories, implying that the majority of his works
might not appear until after his death. Meanwhile, readers have become more
favorably disposed toward Salinger’s later writings, meaning that The Catcher in
the Rye may one day be seen as part of a much larger literary whole.
 Interpretations

The Catcher in the Rye takes the loss of innocence as its primary concern. Holden
wants to be the “catcher in the rye”—someone who saves children from falling off a
cliff, which can be understood as a metaphor for entering adulthood. As Holden
watches Phoebe on the carousel, engaging in childlike behaviour, he is so
overcome with happiness that he is, as he puts it, “damn near bawling.” By taking
her to the zoo, he allows her to maintain her childlike state, thus being a successful
“catcher in the rye.” During this time, however, watching her and the other children
on the carousel, he has also come to accept that he cannot save everyone: “If they
want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If
they fall off, they fall off.”

Holden’s name is also significant: Holden can be read as “hold on,” and Caulfield
can be separated into caul and field. Holden’s desire is to “hold on” to the
protective covering (the caul) that encloses the field of innocence (the same field
he wishes to keep the children from leaving). Holden desperately wants to remain
true and innocent in a world full of, as he puts it, “phonies.”

Bruce Brooks held that Holden's attitude remains unchanged at story's end,
implying no maturation, thus differentiating the novel from young adult fiction. In
contrast, Louis Menand thought that teachers assign the novel because of the
optimistic ending, to teach adolescent readers that "alienation is just a phase."
While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand claimed that Holden
thinks as an adult, given his ability to accurately perceive people and their motives.
Others highlight the dilemma of Holden's state, in between adolescence and
adulthood. Holden is quick to become emotional. "I felt sorry as hell for..." is a
phrase he often uses. It is often said that Holden changes at the end, when he
watches Phoebe on the carousel, and he talks about the golden ring and how it's
good for kids to try and grab it.

Peter Beidler, in his A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the
Rye", identifies the movie that the prostitute "Sunny" refers to. In chapter 13 she
says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The movie is Captains Courageous
(1937), starring Spencer Tracy. Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell
off the boat. Beidler shows (page 28) a still of the boy, played by child-actor
Freddie Bartholomew.
Each Caulfield child has literary talent. D.B. writes screenplays in Hollywood;Hlden
also reveres D.B. for his writing skill (Holden's own best subject), but he also
despises Hollywood industry-based movies, considering them the ultimate in
"phony" as the writer has no space for his own imagination and describes D.B.'s
move to Hollywood to write for films as "prostituting himself"; Allie wrote poetry on
his baseball glove; and Phoebe is a diarist. This "catcher in the rye" is an analogy
for Holden, who admires in children attributes that he often struggles to find in
adults, like innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity. Falling off the cliff
could be a progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that he strongly
criticizes. Later, Phoebe and Holden exchange roles as the "catcher" and the
"fallen"; he gives her his hunting hat, the catcher's symbol, and becomes the fallen
as Phoebe becomes the catcher.

In their biography of Salinger, David Shields and Shane Salerno argue that: "The
Catcher in the Rye can best be understood as a disguised war novel." Salinger
witnessed the horrors of World War II, but rather than writing a combat novel,
Salinger, according to Shields and Salerno, "took the trauma of war and embedded
it within what looked to the naked eye like a coming-of-age novel." Salinger once
admitted in an interview that the novel was semi-autobiographical.
 Reception
The Catcher in the Rye has been consistently listed as one of the best novels of
the twentieth century. Shortly after its publication, in an article for The New York
Times, Nash K. Burger called it "an unusually brilliant novel," while James Stern
wrote an admiring review of the book in a voice imitating Holden's. George H. W.
Bush called it a "marvelous book," listing it among the books that have inspired
him. In June 2009, the BBC's Finlo Rohrer wrote that, 58 years since publication,
the book is still regarded "as the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager."
Adam Gopnik considers it one of the "three perfect books" in American literature,
along with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, and believes
that "no book has ever captured a city better than Catcher in the Rye captured New
York in the fifties." In an appraisal of The Catcher in the Rye written after the death
of J.D. Salinger, Jeff Pruchnic says the novel has retained its appeal for many
generations. Pruchnic describes Holden as a “teenage protagonist frozen
midcentury but destined to be discovered by those of a similar age in every
generation to come.” Bill Gates said that The Catcher in the Rye is one of his
favorite books.

However, not all reception has been positive. The book has had its share of critics,
and many contemporary readers "just cannot understand what the fuss is about".
According to Rohrer, who writes, "many of these readers are disappointed that the
novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the mystique it is shrouded in.
J.D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this mystique. That is to say, he has
done nothing." Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and
criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage angst" and has a
"complex central character" and "accessible conversational style"; while at the
same time some readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular" and
the excessive "whining" of the "self-obsessed character".

Censorship and use in schools

In 1960, a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma was fired for assigning the novel in class;
however, she was later reinstated. Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the
Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States.
The book was banned in the Issaquah, Washington high schools in 1978 as being
part of an "overall communist plot". In 1981, it was both the most censored book
and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States. According
to the American Library Association, The Catcher in the Rye was the 10th most
frequently challenged book from 1990 to 1999.It was one of the ten most
challenged books of 2005, and although it had been off the list for three years, it
reappeared in the list of most challenged books of 2009.
The challenges generally begin with Holden's frequent use of vulgar language;
other reasons includes sexual references, blasphemy, undermining of family
values and moral codes, encouragement of rebellion, and promotion of drinking,
smoking, lying, promiscuity, and sexual abuse. This book was written for an adult
audience in mind, which often forms the foundation of many challenger's argument
against this book. Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.
Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning
the novel in her class, noted that "the challengers are being just like Holden... They
are trying to be catchers in the rye." A Streisand effect has been that this incident
caused people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when
there was no waiting list before.

Violent reactions
Several shootings have been associated with Salinger's novel, including Robert
John Bardo's murder of Rebecca Schaeffer and John Hinckley Jr.'s assassination
attempt on Ronald Reagan. Additionally, after fatally shooting John Lennon, Mark
David Chapman was arrested with a copy of the book that he had purchased that
same day, inside of which he had written: "To Holden Caulfield, From Holden
Caulfield, this is my statement".
 Bibliography References
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, January 10). The Catcher in the Rye. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:49, February 1, 2020, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=The_Catcher_in_the_Rye&oldid=935035984

Kate Lohnes. (2011). The Catcher in the Rye NOVEL BY SALINGER. In

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA , Retrieved February 1, 2020 from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Catcher-in-the-Rye

SparkNotes Editors. (2016). SparkNotes on The Catcher in the Rye. Retrieved

February 1, 2020, from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/

Course Hero Inc (2016). Course Hero on The Catcher in the Rye. Retrieved
February 1, 2020, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Catcher-in-the-Rye/