Literary masterpieces : The Catcher in the rye

Literary Masterpieces is one series of the trio that makes up the Gale Study Guides to Great Literature (the others are Literary Topics and Literary Masters). Each Literary Masterpieces volume chooses a book by one of the authors covered in Literary Masters and offers a discussion of themes, characters, comparisons with social events of the era when the book was written and a critical analysis. The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951 when J. D. Salinger had already achieved commercial success and critical acclaim as a short-story writer. The ultimate troubled teenage story is told by seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield who has just flunked out of his third prep school. This novel spells out everything that has ever troubled a teenager about the adult world during any period in history---hypocrisy, insincerity, lack of compassion, lack of respect for everything, and the importance of material possessions over people.