The Catcher in the Rye (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: J. D. Salinger
- First Published: 1951
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: Late 1940’s
- Setting: Pennsylvania, New York City
- Principal Characters: Holden Caulfield, Phoebe Caulfield, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Antolini, Robert Ackley, Ward Stradlater, Maurice
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Adolescence, Sex or sexuality, New York City, 1940’s, Alienation, Friendship, Brothers and sisters, Mental illness, Truthfulness and falsehood, Students or student life, Psychiatry or psychiatrists, Private schools
- Locales: New York, NY, Pennsylvania
The Story:
Holden Caulfield was expelled from Pencey Prep, in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, just before Christmas. Before leaving his preparatory school, Holden said good-bye to Mr. Spencer, one of the Pencey teachers with whom he had good rapport, and had an altercation with his roommate, Ward Stradlater, and a dormitory neighbor, Robert Ackley. A disagreement over a composition Holden had agreed to write for Stradlater and Holden’s anger with Stradlater’s treatment of the latter’s weekend date, whom Holden knew and liked, precipitated a fight in which Holden was cut and...
[The entire page is 1569 words long]
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