Who is the modern-day, urban Holden Caulfield?

Asked by LauraQ (2

) February 23rd, 2008

Holden lived in NYC, but he didn’t go to school there. For urban high school students reading Catcher in the Rye, it can be hard to connect initially, but once they see the universal themes they generally have lots to say. I’ve got a bunch of kiddos this year who are probably going to take a while to get to the “universal themes”, so I’d like to hook them in with more contemporary—and preferably urban—parallels…but I can’t think of any!!

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2 Answers

I’m not sure if you’re looking for fictional characters, but I think the movie Igby Goes Down was based on Catcher in the Rye. There was a teacher in high school who showed her students this movie while teaching the book. I also feel that the tortured character Ephram Brown from the cancelled show Everwood channeled bits of Holden.

jz1220 (829

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i’m responding over a year later, and i’m not sure if i’m understanding the question right, but a lot of people have compared the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky to catcher in the rye. i’ve read both, catcher after wallflower, and i did notice some vague similarities.

tiffyandthewall (6082

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