History Literature / TheCatcherInTheRye

** Holden's favorite insult, "phony".

* {{Irony}}: A meta example--the novel has been banned/challenged many, ''many'' times over the years, with [[MoralGuardians most objectors]] citing profanity and/or sexual content. The inherent irony of this (Holden thinks kids should be shielded from "FUCK YOU"'s and sexy stuff, after all) always seems to evade them.

** The title of the book comes from Holden mistaking a line from the song "Comin' Through the Rye". He thinks it's "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye", but it's really "If a body ''meet'' a body comin' through the rye."

-->''The Egyptians were an ancient race of Caucasians residing in one of the northern sections of Africa. The latter as we all know is the largest continent in the Eastern Hemisphere. The Egyptians are extremely interesting to us today for various reasons. Modern science would still like to know what the secret ingredients were that the Egyptians used when they wrapped up dead people so that their faces would not rot for innumerable centuries. This interesting riddle is still quite a challenge to modern science in the twentieth century.''

* ThisLoserIsYou: Holden is arguably this, being a self-loathing teenagers that hates everything and believes that only he is the OnlySaneMan in a world full of phonies.

* TradeYourPassionForGlory: Holden's thinks his brother D.B. has done this by writing for Hollywood.

* ConsummateLiar: Holden often makes up stories with people he meets. Often, it will be his age.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After so much self-destruction, Holden finally ends his runaway stunt and returns home thanks to Phoebe. His parents were probably mad at him, but in the epilogue he mentions he is going to go to another school to recover his year, and his last lines sound perhaps less angsty, if still characteristically snarky.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: It is heavily implied that Holden is suffering from undiagnosed mental disorder, probably a bipolar disorder or a clinical depression. For instance, he is definitely very cynical, doesn't eat or sleep enough, is constantly mentioning how lonely and depressed he is, has frequent crying spells, gets impulsive urges to commit ''suicide'', shows manic behavior whenever he tries to connect with someone ([[SanitySlippage especially noticeable later on in the book]]), suffers from frequent body and headaches for no reason, is an avid smoker and drinker (possibly as a form of self-medication), and is obviously traumatized over the suddenness of Allie and Castle's deaths.

%%* AntiHero: Holden is a ClassicalAntiHero.

%%* AutoErotica: it's heavily [[ImpliedTrope implied]] this happened between Stradlater and Jane.

%%* BrilliantButLazy: Holden.
* ByronicHero: Holden - kind of, for the [[TheFifties 1950s]] - angry, brooding and confused.

%%* EmoTeen: Holden, probable TropeCodifier.

* {{Irony}}: A meta example - The novel has been banned/challenged many, ''many'' times over the years, with [[MoralGuardians most objectors]] citing profanity and/or sexual content. The inherent irony of this (Holden thinks kids should be shielded from "FUCK YOU"'s and sexy stuff, after all) always seems to evade them.

* NiceHat: Holden's iconic red hunting cap.

* AntiHero: Holden is a ClassicalAntiHero.

* AutoErotica: it's heavily [[ImpliedTrope implied]] this happened between Stradlater and Jane.

* BrilliantButLazy: Holden.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: And then they're not anymore.

* EmoTeen: Holden, probable TropeCodifier.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: A group of children are playing on "some crazy cliff," and Holden's task is to [[TitleDrop catch]] them before they fall off the edge. Imagining this, he wishes it could be his purpose. Never mind the entire mental construct is based on a {{Mondegreen}}. Most Salinger characters are hothouse flowers; to survive, they need a rare element... one which the world could never provide.

* MisaimedFandom: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Holden does this with the song "Comin' Thru the Rye". It's actually about two lovers meeting in a field. Holden adopts it as an image of himself protecting children from their own inevitable maturity (especially sex) and phoniness (like, say, lying about where you're going and screwing some guy in a field instead). He [[{{Mondegreen}} mishears it]], after all. Interestingly, the word ‘rye’ might actually refer to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Garnock#Rye_Water Rye Water]] in Scotland. The poem then discusses a girl named Jenny who lets her petticoat down and get wet instead of holding it up while crossing it, so she can push away the boys who would run by to kiss the girls who would hold their petticoats on one hand and whatever they were carrying on the other instead, leaving no free hand to ward off the boys. Holden decided to interpret the word ‘rye’ [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant as actual rye]], which is the more ‘adult’ version, but misinterprets the meaning of the poem as talking about kids playing in a rye field.

* DrivenToSuicide: Holden mentions James Castle, a boy he knew at school committed suicide because of bullying. Castle called another boy, Phil Stabile, a "very conceited guy", so Stabile and six of his friends tried to force him to take it back.

* TheForties: Despite being published in the early [[TheFifties fifties]], it's obvious the novel is set in this decade. TV is never mentioned, {{newsreel}}s are still a thing, and everyone knows who Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are. More specifically, the Lunt-Fontanne play that Holden and Sally go to see (''I Know My Love'') places the story in December of 1949.
** Despite that, many reviewers and cultural commentators consider the novel's subjects as more emblematic of [[TheFifties fifties]], in its portrayal of a teenager rebelling against hypocrisy, social conventions, and hidden cruelty.

** Interestingly, Holden himself fits the popular perception explained in Luce's case, as he similarly identifies several gay people in the bars he visits. Moreover, he refers to how attractive Stradlater is all the damn time, including calling him a "sexy bastard" at least twice (though, as noted on the main page, this is most likely the result of HaveAGayOldTime and/or Holden trying deliberately to annoy him). Although Holden would be actually bi, given that, unlike Luce, he is unambiguously attracted to girls too.

** Holden writes a paper about ancient Egypt, which reads thus: "The Egyptians were an ancient race of Caucasians residing in one of the northern sections of Africa. The latter as we all know is the largest continent in the Eastern Hemisphere. The Egyptians are extremely interesting to us today for various reasons. Modern science would still like to know what the secret ingredients were that the Egyptians used when they wrapped up dead people so that their faces would not rot for innumerable centuries. This interesting riddle is still quite a challenge to modern science in the twentieth century." That is the paper, in its entirety.

* MoralityPet: Phoebe is the only character who Holden is nice to, since she symbolizes the [[ChildrenAreInnocent child-like innocence]] he wants to protect.

* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: Holden doesn't really like the idea of casual sex without emotional attachment, but it is clear that he is still a hormonal teenage boy who checks out just about every female character that shows up and he even tries to hook up with a prostitute at one point. Likewise, when he sees a cross dressing man and a drunk couple playfully spitting liquid on each other in another building, he mentions how gross it all is but can't help but watch and feel aroused anyway.

* StylisticSuck: Very accurately done with Holden's one-paragraph essay on the ancient Egyptians. Possibly in-universe too; given that we see Holden is not exactly uncultured, it's easy to guess some of its silliness was him having fun with an exam he knew he hadn't studied enough to pass.

* VagueAge: Holden's age is not mentioned, but judging by him being in a preparatory school, he should be 16-17. The text is actually more effective this way, though - it only makes him more pitiable or his troubles that we don't know how much maturity he is supposed to have in his favor.

* WritersCannotDoMath: In-universe. Phoebe writes about a girl detective named [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Hazle]] Weatherfield whose father is described as a "tall attractive gentleman about 20 years of age." This is admittedly odd, considering she's said to be 10 years old (well over the age in which children master the most basic math) and very smart in general. Maybe he was going to be revealed as not her real father at some point of the story?
* YoungerThanTheyLook: 17-year-old Holden Caulfield is 6'2" and has gray hairs. As such, [[InformedAbility he claims]] he can easily pass as an adult. But he's more often called out on being a minor than he is successfully able to pass. Sunny, for example, not only wouldn't believe he was 22, but may have also compared him to 13-year-old Freddie Bartholomew from the 1937 movie ''Captains Courageous''.

* BookEnds: The first chapter reveals Holden's pathetic essay on the Ancient Egyptians. The last chapter show him teaching two little boys at a museum about the same subject.

* CoolTeacher: Subverted by Mr. Antolini, who comes off as this right up until he starts blatantly hitting in Holden.

* BigManOnCampus: Stradlater, who [[IncrediblyLamePun straddles]] the line between JerkJock and LovableJock. Although he beats up Holden (in fact, while [[OverlyLongGag straddling]] him), he only does so after Holden already attacked him, and while he does seem to be a cocky flirt, he also seems to be a pretty good guy who genuinely likes spending time with Holden. On the other hand, he's implied to be [[ReallyGetsAround highly promiscuous]], having casual sex with women whose names he can't even bother to remember.

* HiddenDepths: DB is implied to be a ShellShockedVeteran.

%%* MaddenIntoMisanthropy

* TheSnarkKnight: Holden, possibly.

%%* ThisLoserIsYou

* InsanityEstablishmentMoment: Holden's AmbiguousDisorder becomes clear when he starts talking to his dead brother, Allie, while walking, even though he's been dead 2 years.

* TheForties: Despite being published in the early [[TheFifties fifties]], it's obvious the novel is set in this decade. TV is never mentioned, [[{{Newsreel}} newsreels]] are still a thing, and everyone knows who Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are. More specifically, the Lunt-Fontanne play that Holden and Sally go to see (''I Know My Love'') places the story in December of 1949.
** Despite that, many reviewers and cultural commentators consider the novel's subjects as more emblematic of [[TheFifties fifties]], in it's portrayal of a teenager rebelling against hypocrisy, social conventions, and hidden cruelty.

-->"Anyway, he's dead now."

-->"When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid."

* DrivenToSuicide: Holden mentions James Castle, a boy he knew at school committed suicide because of bullying. Castle called another boy, Phil Stable, a "very conceited guy", so Stabile and six of his friends tried to force him to take it back.
-->I won't even tell you what they did to him--it's too repulsive--but he still wouldn't take it back, old James Castle. And you should've seen him. He was a skinny little weak-looking guy, with wrists about as big as pencils. Finally, what he did, instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window.

''->If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.''

->If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
-->-- [[SignatureLine Opening line]]