Everyone has to make choices about what is important to them during life, and often, the time when this is hardest is the teen years. In The Catcher In The Rye , author J.D. Salinger epitomizes the growing pains of these teen years. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a sixteen year old boy who has many ideas and values typical to teens. He also has characteristics that for teens are not necessarily normal. Salinger …showed first 75 words of 1182 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1182 total…ends up in an mental institution, and rightly so, in my opinion. The funny thing is, or maybe sad, or even odd, is that through the whole book you know that he is at an institution. The purpose of going to an institution is to get better. But Holden's attitude doesn't change at all. Through the whole reality of his insanity, he ends up the same way that he started out- cynical, defiant, and bitter.