If you read "A Catcher In the Rye" by J.D. Salinger...?

Question

help me understand why the main character, Holden was called that.

i'm still confused to why he was compared to rye and i still dont get the ending where he's watching his little sister, Phoebe ride in the carousel.

why does it end like that? is the carousel supposed to represent something or what?

explain please because i was really disappointed on how the book ended. maybe because i dont understand.

replies are greatly appreciated :)

Answer 1

The Catcher in the Rye is a classic.  There are numerous free on line resources that can help you with your study of this novel, most of which analyze the story, discuss themes and symbolism and other literary devices, and give character sketches.  If you do a search you will find many helpful resources.  Additionally hundreds of questions have been asked here on Y!A about The Catcher in the Rye so do a search for it in the Yahoo Answers search window and you will find lots of Q’s and A’s that should help you.    

http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/ca...

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/t...

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guide...

Answer 2

That is perhaps one of my favorite books.  And the reason why he wants to catch the children in the rye is because he is really a very sensitive person and he just wants to right the world's problems.  And watching his sister engage in child's play further attests to this.  Put, as far as I know, the carousel doesn't symbolize anything but childhood.  Good luck.

Answer 3

The 'Catcher in the Rye' is a reference to a line in the book when Holden, still lamenting the loss of his kid brother to leukemia, says that if he could be anything in the world, he would be the 'catcher in the rye' who catches and saves all the children (like his brother) from falling.

As far as the carousel ending...

He's finally realized that you just have to let kids be. At first he was terrified of Phoebe being hurt as she reached for the ring on the carousel, but at the end he realized that all his warnings would be in vain anyway. You have to let people experience things for themselves and learn things firsthand.  And this lesson can be extrapolated to far bigger things than a carousel...

Answer 4

Holden wanted to save the children from the loss of innocence. So he wanted to "catch" the children. If you noticed, the only phony people in the novel are the ones who lost their innocence. Holden can't relate to anybody but children.

p.s. Loss of Innocence is a very important motif in this book.