1. Characters
1.1. Ackley
1.1.1. Dirty
1.1.2. Annoyance to Holden
1.2. Stradlater
1.2.1. "Womanizer"
1.2.2. Roommate of Holden
1.2.3. Goes out with Jane
1.2.3.1. Holden gets mad
1.3. Holden Caulfield
1.3.1. Main Character
1.3.2. Lonely
1.3.3. Lies repetitively
1.4. Allie
1.4.1. Died when Holden was 11
1.4.2. Wrote poetry on a baseball mit
1.4.3. Younger brother
1.5. Maurice
1.5.1. Pimp working at Edmont Hotel
1.5.2. Beats up Holden
1.5.3. Sunny
1.5.3.1. A prostitute hired by Holden because he was lonely
1.6. D.B
1.6.1. Lives in Hollywood
1.6.2. Famous for writing
1.6.3. Older brother
1.7. Jane
1.7.1. Holden's childhood friend
1.8. Mr. Spencer
1.8.1. Tries to give advice to Holden
1.8.2. History teacher
1.9. Phoebe
1.9.1. 10 year old girl
1.9.2. Younger sister
2. Themes
2.1. Innocence
2.1.1. Holden likes to think of Jane as a young girl. This is seen as he continuously opposes her having relationships with other guys. Holden is against those who threaten to take away such innocence. This is why Holden does not like Stradlater.
2.2. Death
2.2.1. Holden is seen to be deeply effected by Allie's death even though he doesn't admit it. He struggles to come to terms with it by not talking much about it.
2.3. Change
2.3.1. Holden seems to want to resist change. He does not want to grow up, however, he is forced to. He is seen to want to preserve the innocence surrounding childhood. Holden himself has a patch of gray hair allowing people to mistake him as olden than he actually is. However, his emotions are still that of a child. This is seen through how he tends to act on impulse.
2.4. Isolation
2.4.1. Holden is seen to not have many friends. The reader is able to notice that he longs for human interaction, for example, when he hired Sunny to talk with. Holden does not necessarily like Ackley, however, he interacts with him due to his loneliness. Holden himself feels uncomfortable with social interaction due to his lack of them. As a result, he tends to act awkwardly and starts to lie.
3. Symbolism
3.1. Allie's Baseball Glove
3.1.1. Represents Holden's love for his brother that died. Allie had covered the glove in poems with green ink.
3.2. Red Hunting Cap
3.2.1. The hat represents Holden finding comfort. The hat is made out to be silly looking, however, Holden finds it practical and is not willing to let go of it, almost like his childhood.
3.3. "Catcher in the Rye"
3.3.1. Holden wishes to "catch" the children falling of he edge. He wants to preserve childhood.
4. Colors
4.1. Red
4.1.1. Childhood
4.1.1.1. Hat
4.1.1.1.1. Holden is not willing to let go of his hat, which symbolizes his childhood.
4.1.1.2. Allie and Phoebe's hair color
4.1.1.2.1. Holden is seen to miss Allie and like Phoebe, his little sister.
4.1.1.3. Jane's sweater
4.1.1.3.1. Holden continuously thinks about Jane and how she was when she was younger.
4.2. Yellow
4.2.1. The middle of adulthood and childhood
4.2.1.1. Holden mentions that he is on of the yellow guys.
4.2.1.2. Holden talks about how it is not fun being yellow.
4.3. Green
4.3.1. Adult world
4.3.1.1. Sunny's dress is green.
4.3.1.1.1. Sunny was a prostitute that Holden met.
4.3.1.2. Allie wrote his poems in green ink.
4.3.1.2.1. Allie has died, symbolizing how death is a part of life.