One of the main themes of Catcher In the Rye is escape, you can see many examples of this throughout the chapters. In chapter 17 when Holden is with Sally at the ice rink he says to her 'Here's my ide. How would you like to get the hell out of here.' This extract relates to escape because he is escaping the life he lives now and going to start out new somewhere else. Holden gets excited when he is telling Sally his idea showing how desperate he is to escape from New York and from reality, he gets carried away with his idea and doesn't actually think about his plan realistically all he knows is that he wants to get away.
In Chapter 20 Holden uses alcohol as an escape. "I kept sitting there getting drunk' he says, getting drunk is partly an excape from boredom as at this moment in time he doesn't have anyone so turns to drink. Getting drunk is also an escape from reality, his dreams of escaping away with Sally have been crushed and he is sitting in the bar on his own, lonely. 'But she pretended she didn't even see me' Holden says, when Valencia walks past him after he gave her the eye. Valencia may not have actually seen him but because in his head he feels lonely and invisible he has convinced himself that she did. Holden still carries on getting just to escape from all the horrible emotions he is feeling.
In Chapter 20 Holden uses alcohol as an escape. "I kept sitting there getting drunk' he says, getting drunk is partly an excape from boredom as at this moment in time he doesn't have anyone so turns to drink. Getting drunk is also an escape from reality, his dreams of escaping away with Sally have been crushed and he is sitting in the bar on his own, lonely. 'But she pretended she didn't even see me' Holden says, when Valencia walks past him after he gave her the eye. Valencia may not have actually seen him but because in his head he feels lonely and invisible he has convinced himself that she did. Holden still carries on getting just to escape from all the horrible emotions he is feeling.
