Works Cited

George Orwell

Liukkonen, Petri. "George Orwell." Www.kirjasto.sci.fi. Ed. Ari Pesonen. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/gorwell.htm.

Merriman, C. D. "George Orwell - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/.

J.D. Salinger

"J. D. Salinger Biography - Life, Family, Children, Story, Death, History, School, Mother, Young, Book, Information, Born, College, House, Time, Year, Sister." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ro-Sc/Salinger-J-D.html.

"J.D. Salinger Biography." Biography.com. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. http://www.biography.com/articles/J.D.-Salinger-9470070.

J.D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was born January 1, 1919 in New York City to Sol and Miriam Salinger. Salinger grew up in Manhattan and attended public school. He then went on to attend prep schools where he found it difficult to feel comfortable. His father enrolled him into military school for the last two years before his graduation in June 1936. During his schooling Salinger was involved, but distant. In 1938 Salinger enrolled in Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. He extended his literary interested into his college life. Salinger dropped out after one semester in college. Salinger gained a dislike of college structure. In spite of this, Salinger went on to attend Columbia University in 1939. While studying there he took a class by Whit Burnett, who made a lasting impression on Salinger and created opportunities for him to publish his first story, (World Biography). After a lot of work, he began to write for other magazines. Salinger served in World War II from 1942 until the end of the war, (1945). He carried a portable typewriter and continued to write while in the service. Once he returned home, he began his prominent fiction writing career. The New Yorker published his story, “Slight Rebellion Off Madison.” This writing then became a part of his novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger went on to write another book, but since the publishing of The Catcher in the Rye tried his best to stay away from the public eye and moved from New York City and moved to Cornish, New Hampshire. Although there has not been much more published work, there are rumors that he may have written many more novels which are hidden in his house, (Bio).
After doing research on J.D. Salinger I realize that he has many things in common with his The Catcher in the Rye main character Holden Caulfield. Both Holden and Salinger went to prep schools. Neither of them adjusted very well to their surroundings there. Salinger’s life obviously played a major role in The Catcher in the Rye. His school experiences and the opinions that he formed are mirrored in the character of Holden Caulfield and the novel. Salinger’s attitude towards schooling and the normal, accepted society was negative. His life influences the stories that he writes. Another interesting aspect of Salinger’s personality is that he has acted in ways that reflect Holden Caulfield’s opinions. In the novel Holden expressed his dislike of people who are good at things, but know that they are good at them and become worse. It is rumored that Salinger wrote many other works in private and is kept them in his home. Also, Holden contradicts himself in the things that he wants, he will work to achieve something and then decide that he no longer wants it. When Salinger gained his fame and notoriety that he worked so hard for since he was in grade school, he hid from the public and avoided his popularity.

J.D. Salinger

http://www.nndb.com/people/743/000022677/j-d-salinger.jpg

George Orwell

Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell, was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal to his parents Richard and Ida. His father was a civil servant of the opium department. He attended school in England after moving there with his mother and sister in 1904. Blair served for the Indian Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927 in Burma. During his time served he began to strongly dislike imperial rule, and finally resigned. Blair then moved back to Europe and worked low paying jobs. He once got himself arrested , because he wanted to know what it was like to be in jail. Blair took up writing and began to teach at a private school, then he worked as a shop keeper. In 1936 he married his wife Eileen. In the 1930’s Blair showed himself to be very socialist, he traveled to Spain to write about the Civil War, fought with the United Workers Marxist Party militia. During that time he was shot in the throat, he then escaped with his wife. He began to have a stronger opposition of communism. Blair served as a sergeant in the Home Guard and worked as a journalist for BBC during World War II. After the war Blair moved to Scotland and adopted a son with Eileen, who passed away in 1945. He then married his second wife Sonia and three months later he died of tuberculosis, soon after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, (Liukkonen).
As a writer Blair used his various life experiences to add to the novels and writings that he did. The best explanation of Blair’s experience playing a role in his literary works is in his essay “Why I Write,” “First I spent five years in an unsuitable profession (the Indian Imperial Police, in Burma), and then I underwent poverty and the sense of failure. This increased my natural hatred of authority and made me for the first time fully aware of the existence of the working classes, and the job in Burma had given me some understanding of the nature of imperialism: but these experiences were not enough to give me an accurate political orientation. Then came Hitler, the Spanish Civil War, etc. By the end of 1935 I had still failed to reach a firm decision,” (Merriman). All of these events in Blair’s life went toward his growing hatred of any type of authority. This attitude towards authority is the prominent theme in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Blair’s main focus of writing was the different parts of society. He would put himself into various situations, so that he could provide a first hand account in his writings. Blair’s main concern was the ills and negative aspects of life and society, and the opinions he acquired through lie experience are shown through his many literary works, and prominently Nineteen Eighty-Four.

George Orwell

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/george-orwell.jpg

The Catcher in the Rye January 13, FR

The main character Holden Caulfield presented many opinions about life that I had never thought of before. The attitude that Holden has and his personality is different from one I have ever seen before. I understand that this book has played a role in different shootings in history. I can not see how this happened at all. I got nothing from the book that would encourage someone to shoot another person. Maybe I might have missed something, but I do not get that out of the novel at all. In some of my research on the novel I found the various shootings the novel was involved in, especially John Lennon’s. I see The Catcher in the Rye as a story of a boy who is figuring out who he is and what he wants. Holden obviously knows everything that he does not want. The feeling I get from Holden is that he is almost afraid of becoming an adult. Possibly the reason that he keeps failing out of schools is that he does not want to group up. Holden is confused about who he is. The novel has brought up different topics about life that I did not think about before. J.D. Salinger’s characters were a great complement to Holden’s personality. Allowing the reader to meet new characters from Holden’s perspective made Holden more relatable to the reader. Also, Salinger’s writing style makes the reader feel closer to Holden. The entire book is written from Holden’s point of view, so it is written in the language that he would use.

The Catcher in the Rye
http://www.sparknotes.com/sparknotes/video/catcher

The Catcher in the Rye January 7, page 214 Q10

“D.B. asked me what I thought about all this stuff I just finished telling you about. I didn't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don't know what I think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it. About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”

This quote is the ending to the novel and tells about Holden’s personality as well as the writing style of Salinger. Having Holden speak to the reader directly creates a more personally feeling to the novel, and this ending makes the reader feel as if Holden is telling only you the story. When Holden says this, he goes back on some of the feelings he expressed earlier in the book. He says he begins to miss some of the people he came into contact with throughout his journey. The reader can tell that Holden thinks a lot about his life by many of the things he says during the novel.

The Catcher in the Rye January 7, page 173 Q9

“What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy."

This quote is very significant to the story, not only because it is the source of the title, but because it is the perfect example of Holden’s fascination with childhood. Holden says this while talking with his sister. Phoebe asks him if there is anything that he really likes because all he talks about is the things that he does not like. It is very interesting that the one thing that Holden can come up with that he would like to do is play with and watch over children. Of all the other options Holden could have picked, it speaks volumes that he likes this ideas over all the others.

Coming Through the Rye
http://www.archive.org/details/ComingThroughTheRye

The Catcher in the Rye January 6, page 172 Q8

“I'm not too sure old Phoebe knew what the hell I was talking about. I mean she's only a little child and all. But she was listening, at least. If somebody at least listens, it's not too bad.”

Holden says this about his little sister Phoebe. This quote fits in well with the idea that Holden has a closer relationship with children than adults. This is apparent in his family where he is more judgmental toward his parents and older brother than his deceased younger brother and younger sister Phoebe. He enjoys Phoebe’s company more than anyone else he encounters in the book. The relationship he has with Phoebe exhibits Holden’s love of childhood. Holden would normally say something negative in this situation, but because it is his younger sister, he doesn't seem to mind.