Keeper of the Fields

Author: J.D. Salinger
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: If I'm not happy today, what's the point of tomorrow? But who will see the beauty in it? Who cares? Some things are only owned by me... Despair means having no hope at all. There are countless lights outside the window, but none are lit for me, and none will be in the future... ------ Reader Blue
The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old high school student, is one of the earliest antiheroes in contemporary American literature. Holden comes from a wealthy middle-class family in New York City. Teachers at school and his parents force him to study hard so he can stand out and buy a Cadillac in the future. But all he does at school is talk about women, alcohol, and sex. He can't stand everything around him and has no interest in studying, which often leads to punishments. When he gets expelled for the fourth time, he doesn't dare to go home. Instead, he wanders alone in the most prosperous city in America—New York—for one and a half days, staying in small motels and flirting with women in nightclubs. He kills time bored in movie theaters, accidentally hires a prostitute, and uncontrollably makes out with a girlfriend. Meanwhile, his inner turmoil is intense as he tries to escape the hypocritical adult world to find purity and truth. This extreme mental conflict eventually leads to his complete breakdown, lying in a mental hospital.