During my group's discussion of J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye, many important topics were brought up and discussed. We agreed on such points as: 1.) Holden Caufield, the main character is extremely negative toward himself, 2.)Holden uses his dollar hunting cap as a type of security object, and 3.)This book, even though on the surface doesn't seem to be about anything in particular, if the reader scratches a little deeper, it does, and when that realization is made, the book that much more worthwhile to read and analyze.

As mentioned above, Holden is very negative toward himself as a person, making such self-derogatory statements as: I'm a very nervous guy (pg46), I'm a terrific liar (pg34), I'm a pacifist (pg47), he also says that he is the only dumb one in his family (pg47). Our group didn't exactly come to any conclusions to why Holden may be doing this, only a theory. Holden may be attempting to harbor sympathy from the reader by lying about the aforementioned statements. For this, the group had the evidence that Holden remarked that he was "a terrific liar", and for the verification of that statement, we look to the passage in which Holden states:

"I'm a very good golfer. If I told you what I go around in, you probably wouldn't believe me. I almost was once in a movie short, but I changed my mind at the last minute. I figured that anybody that hates the movies as much as I do, I'd be a phony if I let them stick me in a movie short."

This was voted unanimously by our group as a lie. This is most obviously one of the numerous lies that Holden relates to the readers throughout the book, and indirectly proves the statement that Holden may be negative toward himself in order to gain sympathy from the reader.

When Holden "unveils the hunting cap to the readers for the first time, and proceeds to put it on, he says something along the lines of that he didn't care about how he looked in the hat, and reiterates that statement throughout the first half of the book. This illustrates the fact that he uses it as a security blanket, because people customarily don't care how they look with a blanket or other security object as long as the object makes them feel secure and content. Holden even goes to such lengths as to wear the cap to bed, and scrambling to find the cap after his fight with Stradlater, hoping that it would assist him in stabilizing his emotions, and make him feel better about the scene that had unfolded.

The story is extremely absorbing and engaging at first, yet, it doesn't seem to go anywhere in particular. But if one examines the "plot" with a critical eye, it is the story of a boy maturing into an adult, his journey (even though we haven't seen the results of this journey in the plot as of yet) home, not only home in a physical sense, but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense as well. Traveling home to discover how he has changed, and what he must do now to help himself, rather than having his parents push him along in life. His journey on understanding how to be more secure in whom he is. Learning how not to attempt to lie, or fumble his way through life. Teaching himself to stop conforming his personality to what others want, or figuring out how he could present himself in the most favorable light possible, even if that meant compromising his morals and beliefs. The plot is about transition and how even the smallest things can drastically alter a young persons life, and this is why it is pertinent to the 10th grade curriculum, because we are changing now, and are about to embark on these uncertain, unchartered paths, just as J.D. Salinger's character Holden Caulfield does in the classic novel Catcher in the Rye.