Jerome Salinger was born into a Jewish family. Father - a successful trader sausage products, giving him a brilliant education, expected that his son will continue the family business. But the real hobby was the literature. What characterized the creative manner of the writer? Probably a keen eye, the ability to consider the blatant injustice that officially seems decency. Consider how circumstances develop in which a young man in a civilized country becomes unhappy. The glory of Salinger was quick and dizzying: in thirty-two years he became famous throughout the country, writing the novel "The Catcher in the Rye."
His spiritual world was strange. To him, acutely aware of the acute shortage of the spirituality of the society, he seemed artificial and far-fetched. By the mouth of his character, the author says that he would rather choose a horse than a car, because it can even talk to her. The book "The Catcher in the Rye" is a novel-anxiety, novel-problem. Salinger tells readers that at a time when adults "played their way", endlessly rebuilding their far-fetched, and therefore imperfect world, children are perplexed, seeing it as it is given: with bright sun and green grass, a river, comrades in the yard . But gradually their clear and pure sight fades as they plunge into the desert of life. They will leave their childhood dreams and impulses. They, of course, will grow up.
The book is a story no longer a child, but not yet an adult - seventeen-year-old Holden Colfield, finishing the course of treatment for tuberculosis in a sanatorium. The young man narrates about the events of the last year. After the conflict and a fight with classmate Stradler, walking with a girl who likes him, he throws a closed school in Egerstown as well as the previous one. The real reason is poor progress: Holden is not rated by half of the subjects of the course. The young man believes that everything around him is fake, pretend, "linden". This is the hero of the book "The Catcher in the Rye." The content of the novel in the future tracks the adventures of a schoolboy-fugitive. He leaves for his native New York, but he is afraid to return home because of the parents' reaction to the fact that he dropped out of school. He stops at the hotel. Of course, he considers himself to be an adult. Therefore, decides to "pull off" first in the hotel nightclub, which fails, then - going to the favorite night bar of his elder brother DB On the way, he asks the taxi drivers the same question, completely stupid, the answer to which he does not care. The young man, on the one hand, reaches out to people, he wants to contact them, and on the other hand, he pushes away from them, seeing the falsity in their words and deeds. This is the main psychological problem of the main character in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye." Reviews of American literary criticism confirm this . In the hotel the young man is tempted to offer an elevator operator - to buy a prostitute for a while. But when she came, she changes her mind. The girl, along with the elevator operator, requires and takes the double against the agreed amount. Then he leaves the hotel and leads the life of the tramp. He invites Sally Hayes to the theater, then goes with her to the ice rink. The girl does not share with Holden Caulfield his irritation to others, does not support his idea for a couple of weeks to leave home to ride with him on a car. In response, the young man insults her, and they part. Holden is tormented by contradictions: after drinking, he tries to apologize on the phone to Sally. Then she decides to see Faby's sister, buys her a plate, but accidentally breaks it. The illogical, impulsive actions of the protagonist determine the content of the novel "Above the Catcher in the Rye." The reviews of literary critics are therefore diametrically opposed: from admiration to rejection. Arriving home in the absence of his parents, he feels full understanding from the sister, she lends him her deferred money. It was at this moment, at the first meeting with Fabi, that Holden Coldfield tells her what he wants to become in this world - a fisherman of helpless and naive children wandering blindly in the rye and risking accidentally falling into the abyss.
He decides to live with his former teacher, Mr. Antolini, but his suspiciousness and impulsiveness again play a cruel joke with him. The question arises: who, in fact, is the main character? Or are hypothetical children in a dangerous situation, that is, "over the precipice in the rye"? The opinions of the Americans themselves are unanimous - in trouble is the protagonist of the novel. In his mind, a purely American pattern is triggered - "to go to the West and start there from scratch". Holden reports this idea to her sister. She is with a suitcase and declares that she will go along with her brother. Now it's Colfield's turn to keep her. On the scene of Fabia's whirling on the merry-go-round in the rain and admiring this spectacle of her brother, the plot of the novel ends. This was enough to buy real estate and settle in provincial Corniche (New Hampshire). Here, the writer lived a life-reclaimer for the next sixty years of his life after the writing "Above the Catcher in the Rye." Reviews of literary critics on subsequent works are becoming more restrained. Why did this happen? Perhaps Jerome Salinger closed up, because he initially expected another reaction to the novel, more practical. After all, he uncovered the real ulcers of the system of education and upbringing, why, recognizing the novel, society did not turn to face their elimination? Unfortunately, his works, written later, could not achieve the success, prepared for "The Catcher in the Rye" (the American name of the novel). Perhaps his triumph overtook him because in the novel he wrote about his youth, weaving emotions, memories, impressions.