The Catcher in the Rye: Final Review

I have explained my thoughts, reactions, and conclusions from the characters, themes, and symbols of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, but I do not believe that I have made my feelings as a normal reader of the book entirely clear. I am going to pretend that I am just your average every day reading buff that has finished and pondered the book. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. It did multiple things that I look for in a good book. First, it gave me perspective into its setting. The book is set sometime in the nineteen forties or fifties in New York City. As I have stated earlier, I did not fully grasp the surroundings until about half way through the book, but when I realized the time period, I think I learned a little more about it. Next, the characters were complex, entertaining, and a little mysterious. I am positive that Holden covers all three of these categories. He is the protagonist, and he is not only funny and entertaining, but he really does keep me guessing through the whole book. I never knew exactly what he was going to say next. The inner workings of his mind were quite difficult to understand, but once I finally grasped it, I was enthralled in the story. I think the key was getting to know Mr. Antolini. He made me think of Holden in a completely new way. My third and final point that a good book like this must have and had was it must have had an interesting conflict. The main conflict was that Holden was that one part of Holden wants to mature and become a full-blown adult, but the other part of Holden wants to completely reject the adult world and shell up to his childish and immature ways yet again. If this conflict were set on any other character, it would certainly not have been as entertaining and thought provoking.