Motifs in The Catcher in the Rye
1. Is the motif a noun? verb? adjective? Sex is a noun.
2. How does it come up in the novel, and how does it impact what is going on? What happens immediately preceding or immediately following a mention or discussion of this motif? In the beginning its comes up as something bad, because the idea that his roommate, Stradlater, did it with his friend, Jane, angers Holden, and it's one of the things that causes Holden to leave Pencey.
3. What is the mood when this idea or thing is brought up? Would you associate this with times when Holden is content? frightened? frantic? confused? Is this mood consistent with every incidence of this motif?
4. Is Holden alone when this motif occurs? If not, with whom is he interacting? How would you characterize that interaction? Does this motif occur both when he is alone and when he is with other people? Is there a connection to be made? The motif only occurs when Holden is alone.
5. What does this motif tell you about Holden, in a “big picture” way - Does this suggest anything about his personality? His weaknesses or strengths? His sense of himself? The motif tells that Holden considers it a big "event" in somebody's life. It may also suggest that Holden is a little insecure because he's never had a real girlfriend.
6. Tie it all together: Did any pattern emerge? Pick out other words or ideas used in conjunction with this motif. Look back on your investigation and come up with a single sentence that sums up what you’ve discovered. Write three or four more sentences supporting your thesis sentence. Use references from the novel, and form an opinion of your own.
Through the novel we can see that Holden has big reactions to the motif. He usually talks about sex when he remembers the time he spent with a girl, or specially Jane. He also starts connecting what he expiriences to it, for example, when he sees couples at the motel he strats judging them. At the same time, Holden starts talking about his memories, he talks a lot about Jane, which tells us that he cares about here and also relates her to the motif.
