Catcher in the rye what was the point

His absent parents send him off to boarding school, his older brother is away pursuing his career, his teachers sort of try to help the poor guy, and his peers are too screwed up themselves to save their pal.

Only his sister Phoebe understands Holden and, to borrow the cliche of my students, is "there for him. She knows what no one else knows - that to rescue someone, you don't hand them a pamphlet, you take their hand.

In the movies "Precious" and "The Blind Side ," we see perfect examples of how this works: Suffering young people are saved when those with Phoebe-like sensibilities intervene.

It's the only way. So here's this teacher's take-home message: We all need to be Phoebe and look out for those around us, our friends and family and especially all the children everywhere. We all need to be that "catcher in the rye.

He describes his brother Allie watching him from across a golf course, and also watching his sister Phoebe through a window — both distancing effects that suggest he is at a remove from the other characters.

He has a tendency to idealize Allie and Phoebe, both of whom he describes as unrealistically smart, sensitive, and gifted children. He also misunderstands his effect on others. He invites Mrs. For example, while he misjudges Mrs. He also emphasizes his physical frailty. Early in the novel he states that he often has trouble catching his breath, and he is constantly shivering. Toward the end of the book, he suffers from a severe headache, has a bout of diarrhea, and even passes out.

His lack of concern toward his health indicates he is losing touch with reality, and perhaps unconsciously wants to become very sick or even die. Ace your assignments with our guide to The Catcher in the Rye! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook.

Antolini Mr. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. If I'm on the way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. Can we trust anything that he says? Well, we have to, right? It might not be an entirely conscious snowing—he's certainly not sitting back and trying to deceive us—but putting spin on everything seems to be a real part of his persona.

Think about when he tells us about how he puked that night at the Whooton school after indulging in a bottle of scotch; he says he only threw up because he made himself, not because he had to.