The Catcher in the Rye

How does the symbolic meaning of Holden’s red hunting hat change throughout the novel?

How does Holden’s subjective narration work in the novel? What does it do to a reader’s understanding of his character and the plot of the book?

Holden has a complicated relationship with the movies. How does his opinion about the movies inform his opinion about society as a whole?

Holden’s grief is an unspoken issue hanging over much of what happens in this novel. How does his grief manifest in his thinking or his behavior?

It would be easy to think of Holden as a static character, in part because he doesn’t articulate his emotions well, but he grows significantly over the events of the novel. What changes about Holden by the end of the book?

Issues of socioeconomic class come up several times in the book but are often left as subtext. How does class play a role in Holden’s life?

Holden is deeply uncomfortable with the idea of growing up, which informs his struggle to fit in among other teenagers. What’s causing this discomfort?

Some scholars have called Catcher in the Rye a war novel, claiming that it’s informed by J.D. Salinger’s experience in World War II. How does this manifest in the book?