4. Would the novel be different if it were set in another place?

In my opinion, although the setting of The Catcher in the Rye has a New England feel to it, there wouldn't be many significant changes to the novel even if the story changed setting. Other than languages and scenery, the novel would still have the same atmosphere and the same feel to it even if it were set in another place, due to the time aspect of the setting. In the novel Holden is reaching his final days at Pencey Prep School in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. Although there are a few aspects of Pencey that specify this prep school to be only set in the area of New England, such as the fact that Pencey is specifically for boys, if you research closely on other prep schools during that time period you would discover that this was the case for all prep schools almost anywhere during the time of the late 1940s. The reason most prep schools were similar in different parts of the world is because the general goal of all prep schools in at the time was inherently the same: to groom boys and girls into sophisticated young men and women ready to live in the post-war prosperity of their country.