The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is one of those books that sits on your shelf and whenever you told people, "I've never read it," they looked at you with this shocked look, and ask, "Are you really an English major?" So, I caught up with Salinger, and I read The Catcher in the Rye. It was really quite interesting.

When I brought the list of the 100 Best Novels from the Modern Library down to our work room, several of the teachers made the comment that they love J.D. Salinger, but hate Holden Caulfield. They called him "whiny" and "irritating." I do hate ever so much to disagree with my colleagues (they really are excellent people), but I really kinda liked Holden. I felt terribly sorry for him, but I liked him alright. I have to admit that he was overprivileged and spoiled, but he seemed to genuinely dislike cruelty in all its manifestations, and I do too!

My boyfriend is writing his master's thesis on this really depressing film maker and how his films reflect 20th and 21st century masculinity, and I couldn't help but think of all the things he's writing about when I was reading this book. I keep arguing that while the original ideas of what makes a man masculine are really abhorrent and there have been a lot of negative effects on the concept of masculinity because of femininism, there are some genuine positive aspects of the modern man. Holden struggles against a lot of the societal expectations of manhood. The thought of being a "phony" drives him mad, and he would much rather be poor than have to pretend to be something that he's not. Unfortunately, his disgust with the world extends to his academic diligence, and he has failed out of numerous schools in the last few years. He's sixteen, but he's not on his way to graduate any time soon.

The basic plot is ridiculously simple. Holden's been kicked out of Pencey and is to return home when winter break starts on Wednesday. He begins his tale on Saturday night, when he goes to see his professor, fights with his roomates, and leaves the school early on a train. He goes to New York, and he stays in a hotel; he calls up a girl named Sally and takes her to a show. He gets too drunk Sunday night and returns to his old English teacher's house, but not before he visits his sister Phoebe at his parents' place. On Monday, he decides he's going to run away from home, tries to say goodbye to his sister, and when she insists on accompanying him, he changes his mind and goes home. There is no climax or heroic journey: just Holden telling us about a couple of days last winter. But he really does tell us a lot.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is because when I worked in the UWC (University Writing Center) last year, one of my clients had written a paper on it for an English course. I'll never forget how she really made me like Holden, even before I had read about him. She kept talking about how he was with the nuns and his thoughts about Jane Gallagher. He really was a sensitive and caring guy, and if any of that was valued by his culture, he might have been alright.

Holden is exactly the kind of guy I wish I could have made friends with when I was younger. He's very intelligent and probably just needs someone fairly intelligent to fawn over him. I was exactly that kind of girl. I always thought I could change somebody's life by making them see their own worth. Anyway, it never worked, but I really do feel bad for Holden.