The novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, is set during the 1950s and is narrated by a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. Holden has been expelled from his fourth boarding school, Pencey prep school in Pennsylvania. His troubling behavior has gotten him to fail four out of the five classes he took, and his refusal to adhere to his teachers’ orders has resulted in his dismissal. He is scheduled to leave Pencey on Wednesday so before he leaves, he shortly reminisces in the memories he has gathered from his time at Pencey. When looking back at his memories, Holden talks about always wanting to feel a sort of goodbye and receiving closure. While Holden is looking for any type of goodbye, he says “ I was trying to feel some kind of a good-bye.…show more content… At the beginning of the book, Holden is sitting on a hill watching the football game and thinks about the people he will not come into contact with after he leaves Pencey. One person he describes is the headmaster’s daughter, Holden says “Old Selma Thurmer [..] She had a big nose and her nails were all bitten-down and bleedy-looking and she had on those damn falsies that point all over the place, but you felt sort of sorry for her,” (pg 5, chapter 1). His descriptions of people are also very detailed and observant that they often sound stalker-esque. When Holden talks about his best friend Ackley and his roommate Stradlater he uses very harsh characterizations. While talking about Ackley he portrays him as “ six-four- with lousy teeth. The whole time he roomed next to me, I never even once saw him brush his teeth. They always looked mossy and awful, and he damn near made you sick if you saw him in the dining room with his mouth full of potatoes [...] he had a lot of pimples [..] And not only that, he had a terrible personality,” (pg 26, chapter 3). His depiction of Stradlater was also as judgemental, he says, “Stradlater was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for instance, you should’ve seen the razor he shaved himself with. It was always rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap,” (pg 35, chapter 4). He seems…show more content… He especially loses his cool when he is around Stradlater. Before Stradlater leaves for his date, he somehow manages to convince Holden to write an essay for him. The assignment is to write about a room and give a detailed description, however Holden rarely follows the rules and decides to write about his late younger brother, Allie’s, baseball mitt that had a poem on each finger. He talks about Allie in a very kind and pleasing way, in fact he was rather proud of the essay that he had just written about his brother. However, Stradlater is not amused, he insults Holden by saying, “ God damn it, you always do everything backasswards. No wonder you’re flunking the hell out of here. You don’t do one damn thing the way you’re supposed to. I mean it. Not one damn thing, (on page 53, chapter 6). Holden loses his temper and grabs the paper out of Stradlater’s hands and rips it up, he cannot seem to accept any criticism. Another example of a sudden outburst from Holden is when Stradlater returns from his date with Jane. Holden hoped that Stradlater did not try to do anything with Jane because he was worried that it would change his image of how he remembers her. Yet, when Stradlater threatens to change that image, Holden punches Stradlater’s toothbrush to the back of his throat to essentially try and kill him. Holden describes the incident, “ I tried to sock him, with all my might right
