J.D. Salinger: The Catcher In The Rye

[KevinfromCanada]

PS I don't know about you, Kevin, but in Salinger's volume, Nine Stories,
I am particularly partial to A Perfect Day For a Bananafish and
Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut.

Bananafish is the most important of the stories since it does tell us how the Glass family history "ends" -- trust Salinger to start at the ending. It is also a truly fine piece of work. To Uncle Wiggily, I would add the Chief in The Laughing Man as one of my favorites. Then again, I like all nine stories and all four novellas, so it is hard to even try to list them in order.

If you haven't read Catcher yet there is a good argument to say you should continue to ignore it. I do get somewhat grumpy with people who go on about it and haven't read the rest of Salinger. I don't dislike it, it is just not as good as the Glass stories for my money.

And to be check out this link The New Yorker Digital Reader : Jun 19, 1965 to Hapworth 16, 1924, the 1965 short story that is Salinger's last published work. I'll admit that it is much weirder than the other stories.

Cheers,

Kevin

[David J]

Love that book.

When Beckett was asked what he thought of Salinger he said, "well, he's a writer". This is no small praise coming from Beckett.

I love the cleverness of having a teenager as the protagonist as, when we are that age we can see through the bullshit and this is also an important role for the writer.

Salinger is such an intelligent writer. I love the ending with the drunk english teacher. How much of what he says is valuable to Holden and how much is rubbish?

I first read the book when I was 20 and have read it a couple of times since. It's like Huckleberry Finn - a novel that grows up with you.

[Igu Soni]

I have to say, the sense that I got from reading this book seems very different from everyone else's.

Holden does not hate all adults. Remember his towel-slapping classmate's mother, Jane Gallagher and his own, all of whom he likes. So, my interpretation of the catching business is that he wants to save the children from becoming 'phony' adults rather than just adults. So, in the end he actually has grown up to become 'the catcher in the rye'. He's found his direction in life,as his teacher(another adult whom he likes) wanted him to: to raise kids right - 'if kids want to go for the golden ring, you should let them' and so on. When he says in the end that he doesn't know what he's going to do in school, he's lying to himself. Otherwise, he would admit to himself that he isn't going to apply himself. He is going to live humbly for his cause rather than die nobly(run away). (Sorry, people who haven't read the book, but apart from the last 30 or so pages, this book is, according to me, just fun character building).
I may be wrong, and if I am I'd like to know why.

Also, I would love it if someone would explain why the lying to himself is important, except in the end.

As for lessons - from early in the thread -, to me this is just a character description and nothing more.

[Miriam]

He's found his direction in life,as his teacher(another adult whom he likes) wanted him to: to raise kids right - 'if kids want to go for the golden ring, you should let them' and so on. When he says in the end that he doesn't know what he's going to do in school, he's lying to himself. Otherwise, he would admit to himself that he isn't going to apply himself. He is going to live humbly for his cause rather than die nobly(run away).

I partly agree with you. read my previous posts and you'll understand why just partly. "Catching children" may be his vocation and may be not. Has he really found his direction in life? It seems to me, his way of life was defined...not by himself. And it seems to me that he didn't understood himself, but his Way differed from persons' of narrow. Later he will realize it, but not..let's say "not now"

Also, I would love it if someone would explain why the lying to himself is important, except in the end.

Why do you think that someone was lying to himself. Holden was honest at least with hismsel, I think.

[ronak_niva]

I have always been fascinated by Catcher in the Rye and I read it when I was 18. It was amazing. It must be.. still. English is not my first language but Holden sure spoke my language. And of course he was fascinated with Phoebe, Holden was just entering the unknown adulthood. Phoebe and the other kids that he wants to "catch off the Rye" and save is his salvation at that stage of alienation. The innocence and carefree childhood, he must have already started missing it, Phoebe represents all that. And of course he is a moron. He is seventeen and he feels that way! Doesn't everyone feel the same way at 17, "god but nobody understands me!" "no one out there has any clue on whats going on..!" Well Holden might be one pompous 17 year old in his own shy way(using f..* word is still judged? how silly!! isn't it an everyday vernacular already?) but definitely he sounds honest amongst the "phony" world he sees around himself.

[Bottle Rocket]

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that The Catcher in the Rye is on most high school reading lists in the US, along with Death Be Not Proud and The Red Badge of Courage (among others). I further suspect that the reason this is true is that Holden Caulfield is a character who personifies the turmoil of adolescence and offers teenagers a glimpse into themselves.

While HC may be -- for some readers tiresomely -- negative, his attitude resonates with young people, even those who aren't too much like him. (Mind, that doesn't mean Salinger wrote it particularly for them, only that the book's subject matter and not-very-complicated prose is accessible and relevant to young people.)

Holden is a troubled kid who's "acting out" his anxieties and apprehensions -- being thrown out of a number of schools is a clue to this. He is certainly annoying sometimes, but in real life even the best-adjusted kids his age are irritating from time to time (ask any parent).

More to the point, his distaste for "phoneys" is at least partly a manifestation of his fear that he too is on the road to becoming a phoney like all adults. But to me, his notion of "the catcher in the rye" reveals a redeeming kind of generosity and protectivity that contradicts his self-protective alienation. It also hints at the idea that he wishes he himself had had a catcher in the rye and feels disappointed and cheated. In fact, he is pretty sensitive and very vulnerable, which he tries to defend against with a facade of cynicism. It isn't necessary that he understands himself; what's important is that the reader can see behind the mask Holden has adopted as a coping strategy.

I've got mixed feelings about Salinger. I find him off-putting, cantankerous, and controlling as a person (from what I've read about him, like Joyce Maynard's memoir); I don't think I'd like him in real life. But I enjoyed reading his books -- Nine Stories is my favorite -- although I feel that his work has been rather more influential than it deserves to be. And as for influences on him, no doubt Buddhism is an important source, but it's worth remarking that he was something of a poetaster when it comes to religion and philosophy, flitting among many including Dianetics (the precursor to Scientology) although to his credit his flirtation with that particular phenomenon was quite brief.


BRocket

[lenz]

Originally Posted by ronak_niva

Well Holden might be one pompous 17 year old in his own shy way(using f..* word is still judged? how silly!! isn't it an everyday vernacular already?) but definitely he sounds honest amongst the "phony" world he sees around himself.

The novel was written in about 1950 and the f word wasn't used in everyday vernacular then as it is now - certainly not in Holden's social class. although it's been many years since I've read it, that scene stays with me - where he's sitting in a stairwell and sees some "f.... you" graffiti and thinks that it's that kind of thing that's depressing - (I wish I could quote it exactly but it's something like this) Even if you're feeling okay, you always turn a corner and see "f.... you" written on a wall and it makes you feel bad.
It's not the expression itself that he's judging but the fact that some people make the world uglier by writing hateful things public places - where kids can see it - the kids he's wants to "catch".
As I remember it, it seemed Holden's sadness comes from wanting everyone to be as good as he wants to be and knowing that will never happen.

[Raphael Lambach]

Salinger was audacious in writing this novel. Each word he put in had something of new or revolutionary - f.. you is really small if you compare with context and all rules Salinger had broken withj his "Catcher". Until it was released there's no novel about teenagers. All books you could find didn't tell about teenagers' conflicts, dreams or whises. Then Salinger showed us up who intense any teenager life could be.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

I think it is vastly overrated. A nice YA book. I read it at 20. Was considerably too old for it.

I think I'm wrong.

Not that it isn't overrated a bit, but I think it's better than I gave it credit for. I'm currently re-reading Salinger's works and (sadly) am starting to appreciate them better. Started with some of the old, pre-Catcher stories and working my way upward, very slowly.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by lenz

The novel was written in about 1950 and the f word wasn't used in everyday vernacular then as it is now - certainly not in Holden's social class.

plus, the book still regularly makes the list of mist challenged books.
last year, too ALA | Book on text messaging teens prompts most book challenges of 2009