The Catcher in The Rye is a book about the main character, Holden Caulfield. The story was written by J. D. Salinger, who published it in 1951 . The novel is the most censored book in high schools across America. Drug and alcohol abuse plays a big part throughout the story because that’s how Holden deals with these things. The book was banned for references to profanity, vulgarity, and sexual content. The book is about Holden’s journey after he got kicked out of Pencey and stayed at a boarding house in New York City called The Edmont Hotel.
Salinger brings up alcohol abuse early on in the story when Holden goes out with his friend named Maurice while he just moved schools. The boys went to a bar and drank many beers. Later on in the night, they meet two women who were prostitutes. In the morning, Maurice woke up not remembering anything from the previous night. The girls took all of Maurice money. The next time we see Holden with alcohol is when he was sitting at a cafeteria table talking to Stradlater with some drinks. Stradlater was annoyed because he needed to get ready for his date. The cafeteria ladies kicked them out because they were making too much noise.
The next time was when Holden was in his dormitory room with Ackley. The two of them were drinking rye. When Stradlater came over, the three of them drank some more and played some records. The next time we see him is at The Edmont Hotel after he got into a fight with Mrs. Morrow’s son Robert. She kicked him out for stealing her valuables including jewelry, money, and fancy clothes . He meets up with Carl Luce who had many drinks for both of them to drink There are also mentions of sexual acts throughout this story. The first time was when Holden and Jane were saying goodbye to each other.
The two of them had sex . The second time is when he hooked up with a girl who was interested in him at The Edmont Hotel. The third time we see this is when Holden runs into his old friend named Maurice on the street. The two of them go back to Maurice’s apartment for some drinks and then later on have sex. The final time we see this is when Stradlater comes out from the bathroom naked after having just had sex with his date, Sally Hayes. Salinger writes about violence throughout this story as well. The first time it happened was a minor fight between a boy named Carl Luce and a man outside an auction house.
The Catcher in the Rye deals with many controversial topics such as alcohol, sex and violence. The book deals with these themes all throughout the story and Holden Caulfield is the main character that shows these types of parties throughout his outside lives, which can show how he deals with these tough topics. The story starts off when Holden is kicked out of Pencey Prep because he gets demoted. He then heads home to New York where he tries to find a room but ends up getting turned down by every hotel on Broadway (Salinger 56).
The next day Holden goes on a walk where he runs into some nuns who tell him about this place called Ernie’s Tavern which is not very far from his house on West Eighty-seventh Street. The place was very seedy according to Holden, he says it “was about as low-class a bar as you could possibly imagine” (Salinger 62). The first time he went there he just had some beers but after that, by the next week, Holden became acquaintances with these types of people at Ernie’s Tavern that liked to drink every day at around 5 o’clock.
The regulars were mostly working class men that would come in and have a few drinks before going home to their wives (Salinger 65). The bartenders at Ernie’s Tavern were usually older Italian men, like Guiseppe or Pheobie (Salinger 65). Every night now Holden goes over there and hangs out drinking beer until closing time with his new group of friends. The next day Holden is hungover and has to meet up with Mr. Spencer, the one person he always hated in school, but because Spencer was so rich Holden had to be nice to him (Salinger 71).
The next day after meeting up with Mr. Spencer Holden goes out drinking again because he knows he will not be attending any more classes at Pencey Prep, including English (Salinger 73-74). The weekend goes by and nothing interesting happens as it usually would as a young teenager as Holden does not go anywhere or do anything other than drink all Saturday afternoon and night (Salinger 76). The alcohol starts becoming a bigger part of his life now that he drinks almost every single day without fail. The next day Holden goes over to Phoebe’s house, his sister, because he is sick of being at home by himself.
The next morning when he wakes up she forces him to hang out with her and her friends in the park but all Holden wants to do is go drinking so they can get away from their parents (Salinger 83-85). The day continues on with them playing in the park until one of Phoebe’s friend’s older brothers shows up and offers to take them all skating down at The Wollman Rink which is very famous for its figure skating rink (Salinger 85). The brother then takes them off into Central Park where they eventually end up going back to Holden’s apartment but not before stopping by The Lamplighter and The West Egg (Salinger 88).
The next day Holden goes to the movies with Phoebe and tries to convince her not to go on a trip she has planned with his parents because he does not want to be home alone (Salinger 93-95). The next day they spend together ends up being very depressing for Holden as he becomes more and more aware of the world around him. The story continues with several depressing events all involving alcohol but they do reach a happy ending in the end when it is revealed that Holden will not die like everyone thought he would at the beginning of the book (Salinger 256).
