The Catcher in the Rye

I believe that the universal theme in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is pretty obvious; there may even be more than one. One theme or lesson that the reader can take from this book would be to face your problems head on instead of running away from them. Holden Caulfield, the sixteen year old main character from whom the story is told, has been expelled from his school for lack of effort. (This, itself, can be it’s own theme: always try your best in private school because if you fail, you only cause more problems for yourself. Especially if you’ve been expelled by more than one school…) This is not his first time, and he is very afraid of going home and informing his parents of the bad news. Instead of manning up and dealing with the consequences, Holden decides to put it off by spending a few days alone in New York City, using the excuse of winter break to keep him from home. He knows deep down he will have to go home eventually, but his stubborn teenage mind comes up with a plan. To get out of getting in trouble with his mother and father, he will move out west and start a new life. That is obviously a lot more work than getting lectured for a few hours at home. I think that J.D Salinger used Holden’s point of view so the reader could see where he was coming from--because no one likes to be in trouble with their parents--but also so it would be clear that Holden was a little far fetched. The reader would have to be an infant to no recognize the point being made. Holden clearly should have gone home immediately and told his parents. Moral of the story, it is much easier and quicker to come clean and accept responsibility for your actions than trying to flee the area to avoid getting in trouble.