Beginning of Essay
For one to fully understand and interpret this book, one must remember that J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Still to this day, the main character, Holden Caulfield, understands what teenagers and the youth of our society are facing, and deali ....

Middle of Essay
.... of the first major changes in children’s lives today is the break up of the nuclear family. When Salinger wrote this novel back in 1951, the average family consisted of one mother, one father, and one or more children. Today this is rare and far from normal. Today’s “normal” family is undefined. If one were to look at the average family it would probably consist of a single parent with children. Today in the U.S., there are over 8 million single-parent homes (Holzman). Forty years ago, single-parent homes were few and almost unheard of. If a child grew up with a single parent, divorce was hardly the reason. Death was the cause, ....