The Catcher in the Rye //Literary Terms

Conflict

The literary term I chose for this week is conflict. Conflict is the struggle within the story and with every story ever written, there is a conflict. In the story The Catcher in the Rye the conflict is Holden Caulfield vs. The World, or character vs. society. Holden Caulfield feels alienation with society. He doesn't feel as if he has fit in anywhere. For example on page 29, Caulfield randomly starts tap-dancing for no apparent reason (which makes him seem different). The text also describes a time when Caulfield writes a composition for his roommate on a topic completely different than his roommate wanted or expected. The biggest one I see so far is that Caulfield's opinions on people and how they act are much different than most. He makes comments throughout the text where he would say something such as, "..but he wouldn't believe me. People never believe you." He doesn't come right out and say it, but you can feel as you read the story his discontent with society and how people act. He doesn't have hope for his future or anything in his present due to his constant battle with society and himself. His lack of hope is from society and their artificial ways of going through life that makes him bitter.