The GI Bill of Rights provided educational and other financial opportunities for returning members of the armed forces. Literally tens of thousands of service personnel, who otherwise would not have been able to afford it, attended college. A serious problem, however, was inflation. During the war, the emergency Office of Price Administration had kept costs in check. After its elimination, inflation ran rampant. In some areas, food prices doubled within a month. The cost of living rose by a third. Those on a fixed income, including many attending schools on the GI Bill, were especially strained.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden's family, and the families of the boys with whom Holden attends school, appear to have no financial concerns. Holden's family lives in an expensive apartment in an affluent section of New York City. Holden's father is a corporate attorney. Holden assures us that all a lawyer does is "make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot." (Chapter 22) Although his profession is probably more difficult than what his son makes it out to be, Mr. Caulfield is doing very well financially. He can afford a live-in maid, Charlene, and his son seems to go from one private school to another with little concern for cost. Holden's perspective is that of the upper-middle class. In the first chapter of the novel, he notices that the Spencers, whom he is visiting, can't afford a maid and have to answer their door themselves — "They didn't have too much dough" — indicating Holden's socioeconomic background.
