personally i dont think there is a point to catcher in the rye. thats why i hated that book. but if you wanted to believe there was a point to the book, it would be another comming of age story and the search for one's self, only holden doesnt quite come of age or figure out who he is. the book was such a controversy because it portrayed life as it was: with unclear meaning, fruitless self wonderings... the hero/main character does not triumph above all. the meaning of the book is that there is not meaining of the book/life.
In response to tim- First of all youre right in that very seldom do salingers stories have a conclusion. They dont reach a point or a conslusion except maybe in franny and zooey where thewy call it a day and go to bed and in (fuck i cant remember the title something about starfishor some such blowfish?) in nine stories where seymore just takes out a gun and blows his life away
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i would have to agree with what danielle is saying more so then tim. Maybe the books they choose to read in school arent the best books to read in a class room, i.e. catcher in the rye and fahrenheit 451 but both books have meanings that are still important to todays generation. catcher in the rye...for me is...more of a mix of both of your interpretations, true Holden doesnt figure out what his point in life and he isnt straightforwardly triumphant of anything but read between the lines and you start to see how much he has in fact accomplished. Understanding more of him and how the world works, that everyone is...tarnished and unpure by their environments that no one can be caught from falling off that cliff of childhoood into adulthood. ah, lost track of what i was going for here. The meaning of the book is what you may think it is..whether its everyone needs to follow his/her own path to find what they need, or to never give up on a dream that you have...even something as rediculous as being the catcher. yep, it is a book of a
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part of the reason i asked this is because i was eating dinner with two people. one was about 40-50 and the other 15... and they both told me the POINT of "catcher in the rye." Neither of them said anything close to the same thing and i didnt personally agree with either of them, but they both believed in what they said with 100 percent conviction. also i saw in both megan and tom's journals and away messages and crap quotes from the 'i want to catch kids as theyre about too fall' part of the book and how they wanted to do that. that seems to be their "point of the book," or close too it, and for me when i read past that in the book i thought it was so cool but it didn't hit home nearly as much as anything else and i didnt find myself wanting to be the catcher in particular. Anyways that dinner conversation thing got me really interested in finding out what other people think so keep commenting everyone i am damn curious.
yeah definitely talk to tom.... that's all i can say. he can talk to you for hours about catcher and the rye. i personally don't remember finishing the book, although i want to, and so it's just a big blur in my mind. i agree with danielle and kayleigh though, i think it's about a boy trying to find where he belongs. stoicism?
no you arent 'maybe dumb' thats good, this is why i love this book, because you think it isnt sad at all and some other people think its horribly depressing. good answer.
The catcher in the rye is me! thats what the whole book is about. Its the angst and the pissed off feelnigs, the scared feelings that come with being 16. oh and dont forget about the ducks.
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but thats just what i think.
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