How a teenager deals with alcohol, sex, and violence in J.D Salinger's "Catcher in the rye"

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, June 1996

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The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, depicts how a lonely teenager, Holden Caulfield, deals with alcohol, sex, and violence. Teenagers must also deal with these problems daily.

Alcohol is very predominate throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Alcoholic beverages are a readily available, and relatively inexpensive for minors to get. Over the past couple of years, teenage consumption of alcohol has risen dramatically. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that more than 1.3 million teenagers have a drinking problem. The National Institute also reports that the reason for underage teenage drinking is they believe in a mixture of rebellion towards their parents and a sign of maturity. Another reason for teenage drinking is it represents a daring gesture. According to Dr. Joseph Franklin, "The way drinking starts is, one kid dares another kid to take a drink of alcohol, and the kid doesn't want his friends to think he is a coward so he does.

Then the rest of them follow."

In the book, Between Parent and Teenager, it states the substance abuse is the number one cause of death amongst teenagers. Studies show that among high school students age 14 - 17, 60% of the students use alcohol once a week, 75% use it at least once a month, and 85% have used it once in the year.

In the novel, Holden Caulfield has very easy access to alcoholic beverages. Throughout the novel, it seems that every time Holden gets depressed, he turns towards alcohol. in Chapter 12, Holden is at Ernie's night club and he got served even though he was only a minor. In Chapter 20, Holden gets drunk. The way he acted when he was drunk shows how pathetic you are when you can not...