The picaresque novel "Catcher in the Rye" is based upon the narrator and central character Holden Caulfield and his episodic journey through the streets of New York. Throughout the novel Holden is telling the story of his journey from inside a sanitarium. The author J.D. Salinger chose to use first person point of view and this allows the reader to feel as if Holden is talking to you and you're the psychiatrist. I believe that this close connection allows the reader to see the events more clearly and to get a better understanding of the pressures that Holden has deal with and the pressures of adolescence in general. The first person point of view is a writing style that is often used in picaresque novels like the "Catcher in the rye."

The "Catcher in the rye" can be classified as a picaresque novel. According to the wikipedia...