J.D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield Of, "Catcher in the Rye"

The famous American author, Jerome David Salinger, created Holden Caulfield in the book, "The Catcher in the Rye," as an autobiographical character. Holden's many adventures lead from his school in Pennsylvania to Central Park in New York. The more readers get to know him, the more they can see that he is a very unique character, and many of the events in the book create surprising results. It's difficult to understand how J.D. Salinger was able to think of so many different scenarios for Holden to experience. However, when comparing Salinger's real life experiences to the events of the book, it is arguable most of the book is autobiographical. Certain real life experiences Salinger went through he placed in the book, while at the same time instilling similar characteristics in the protagonist, Holden. The pieces of Salinger's personal life he put into "The Catcher in the Rye," make up the main structure and underlying ideas the book presents to its audience.

J.D. Salinger was born January 1, 1919 in Manhattan, New York. His parents, a Jewish man and an Irish-Catholic woman, owned a meat importing business. Growing up, he attended Valley Forge Military Academy from 1934 to 1936, and then moved to Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. While at Ursinus, he struggled to keep his grades up, and one professor even called him, "the worst English student in the history of the college." After dropping out of Ursinus, he went to other schools only to fail again and again, and finally ended up at Columbia University. There, he was enrolled in a writing class taught by Whit Burnett, an editor for the Story Magazine. Burnett was the first to see some degree of writing talent in Salinger, and helped him publish some short stories in Story, which was his first opportunity to get his work read and acknowledged by the public (Wikipedia).