Marko Kuterovac

Prof. Ivan Matkovi

English Literature and Language

American Literature

25 June 2008

The Catcher in the Rye

The novel in the title is the iconic, and highly controversial, work of Jerome David
Salinger, a famous American novelist and short story writer. The book achieved its status due
to its liberal use of profanity, portrayal of sexuality and probably one of the most accurate
depictions of teenage angst. The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is the quintessential
contemporary rebellious and confused teenager therefore it is no surprise that he has become
an icon for teenage rebellion and defiance. My aim for this term paper is to try and explain, in
the best way I know how, the legendary character of Holden Caulfield as well as analyse the
main themes, symbols and characters in the novel but I will first take a short look at the author
and his life, in connection with the novel, and the development of the Holden Caulfield
character through some of Salingers short stories.

Jerome David Salinger is an American author, born in 1919 in New York. His life is an
interesting one, albeit a strange and filled with controversy. It is safe to say that his persona,
along with his decision not to write or simply not to publish any more work since 1965, adds a
great deal to the popularity of The Catcher in the Rye. The rest of his published work is
composed of short stories and the bulk of it is gathered in three books: Nine Stories, Franny
and Zooey, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. The
aforementioned collections feature members of the Glass family which are central to most of
his short stories. When he was young he attended Ursinus College and Valley Forge Military
Academy and it believed that Pencey Prep, the preparatory school that Holden gets expelled
from in the novel, and the characters found there were based loosely on his experiences at
those schools. Indeed he did start writing his short stories while he was in secondary school
but his work did not get published until after World War II, in which he served, and did not
gain any success until he published A Perfect Day for Bananafish, the first of his stories to
feature the Glass family. Although his stories did not get published until after the war, one of
his stories called Slight Rebellion of Madison was accepted for publication in 1941 but due to
the fact that Japan carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor at about the same time and seeing
how the story dealt with a teenager with pre-war jitters, it was not published until 1946. The
most interesting part about that story, in relation to this term paper, is that the teenager in the
story is none other than our very own Holden Caulfield. In fact, a slightly edited version of
this short story was used as a basis for several chapters in The Catcher in the Rye, most
notably the encounters with Sally Hayes and Carl Luce. This is not the first appearance of
Holden in Salingers earlier work as we can clearly see in the short story Im Crazy which
also served as a basis for some parts in the book, mostly for the first chapter. The story starts
the same way the novel does, with Holden standing on top of a hill watching a football game,
and it ends with his conversation to Phoebe. One story that does not feature Holden but is
very evident that it deals with a theme that appears in the book is The Boy in the People
Shooting Hat. Not only is the title quite clearly an allusion to Holdens hunting hat but the
story itself bears a great resemblance to parts of the novel as it is about two characters, Bobby
and Stradlater, who fight over a girl called Jane Gallagher. So we can see that the novel is, in
some way, a collection of short stories as well. Also, many people tried to make connections
between Holden Caulfield and J.D. Salinger but I feel that, even though there are certain
similarities, Holden is more a person that J.D. Salinger wanted to be like when he was a
young adolescent rather than Holden is a credible representation of the younger version of the
author. If anything, I believe that Salinger represented himself through D.B., Holdens older
brother. First of all, there is an instantly visible parallel regarding their names, or should I say
their initials. Furthermore, D.B. served in World War II and, as Salinger, took part in the
invasion of Normandy but the most interesting similarity and the one that helped me make
this assumption is that D.B. is a short story writer as well but he now lives in Hollywood and
writes screenplays which is criticised more than once in the novel. It is well known that
Salinger was a movie buff and that he once sold the movie rights for one of his stories but was
bitterly disappointed with the end product and that experience could very well be the cause of
his issues with Hollywood and movies in the novel. Of course, these are all speculations
because there is no way of backing up these claims since there is little hope of Salinger
clarifying these issues and therefore the rest of us can simply make guesses, however
educated they may be, so it might be wiser to simply concentrate on the text at hand.

The Catcher in the Rye is, as I have already mentioned, Salingers first and only novel. Its plot
is relatively simple and it covers three days in the life of a troubled teenager who just got
expelled from yet another preparatory school just before Christmas so he decides to roam
around New York for a few days before he returns to his parents home. The novel is written
in the first person and Holden is, obviously, the narrator but he is a very unreliable narrator as
his worldview is extremely subjective and his remarks are not to be trusted entirely. At the
start of the book he is 17 and he is retelling us something that happened to him a year before
which was probably the reason he ended up in an institution, where he finds himself at the
beginning of the novel. It has also been suggested that he is telling the story to a doctor or
therapist which seems credible. One of the main reasons why this book enjoyed the reputation
of being the most censored book is its explicit use of language i.e. vulgarities. As a matter of
fact, One irate parent counted 237 appearances of the word "goddamn" in the novel, along
with 58 "bastard"s, 31 "Chrissakes," and 6 "fuck"s.1 One of Salingers favourite techniques,
which is more than evident in his later work but also visible in this novel, is digression. We
can also see Salingers opinion on digression in the novel when he tries to explain the appeal
of digression in the simplified language of a teenager.

Yes--I don't know. I guess he should. I mean I guess he should've picked his uncle as a
subject, instead of the farm, if that interested him most. But what I mean is, lots of time you
don't know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn't interest
you most. I mean you can't help it sometimes. What I think is, you're supposed to leave
somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something. I
like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice. You just didn't know this
teacher, Mr. Vinson. He could drive you crazy sometimes, him and the goddam class. I mean
he'd keep telling you to unify and simplify all the time. Some things you just can't do that to. I
mean you can't hardly ever simplify and unify something just because somebody wants you
to. You didn't know this guy, Mr. Vinson. I mean he was very intelligent and all, but you could
tell he didn't have too much brains 2
The Catcher in the Rye has been a subject for many critical studies over the years and a theory
by Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller, Jr. sound especially appealing to me. According to
them it is clear that J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye belongs to an ancient and
honorable tradition, perhaps the most profound in western fictionIt is, of course, the
tradition of the Quest.3 The novel is even compared to Mark Twains legendary Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn. When it comes down to the basics, both characters are strong
individuals, who do not conform to the norms of society and because of that they undergo a
journey, for Huck a journey down the Mississippi, and for Holden a journey down the streets
and seedy hotels of New York. It is also described as a bildungsroman, although Holden does
seem to act in a nature that is in direct contradiction with the postulates of the genre which
follows a young characters growth into maturity.

One of the main themes of the novel is Holdens alienation from the world. It is a form of
self-protection for Holden as he does not feel ready for the world he is slowly entering into,
the world of adults. He persistently pushes people away and usually for quite immature
reasons and tries to set himself apart from the rest. To that affect he uses probably one of the
most visually recognizable items from the entire novel, his red hunting hat. He uses it as
advertisement for his uniqueness. Even though he is trying to be a misfit, as much as WASP
born and raised in Manhattan can be, he is still very self-conscious about that very hat and
usually hides it whenever he encounters anyone he knows. The hat captures the central
conflict or dichotomy, if you will, of his character: his need to be isolated and his need to be
accepted. This is evident throughout the book as he desperately seeks companionship only to
shun them with his inconsiderate or rude behavior. His loneliness is a source of great pain and
of great security to Holden as well as being, in some strange way, a source of stability in his
life.

I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have
to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me
something, they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get
bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for
the rest of my life.4

Another thing which is also a source of great confusion to Holden is the fact that he is
growing up or it might be better to say that he is expected to grow up. He dreads the fact that
he is about to enter the adult world he labels as phony, which is probably the most memorable
phrase from the entire book. He views most people as phony, not just adults, but adults seem
to be his focus when it comes to exposing the phoniness of the world which stands for
everything that is essentially wrong in the world. His issues with growing up can most easily
be seen in two very interesting images from the book. One easily springs to mind as it is the
title of the novel as well as his dream job, if you will. I am obviously referring to his vision,
inspired by a Robert Burns poem, where he is a catcher in the rye.

Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and
all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm
standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they
start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I
have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the
catcher in the rye and all. 5
The fall motif is very common in this novel and usually connected to death as we see Holden
contemplating suicide by throwing himself through a window and in one of Holdens
memories where a young boy actually commits suicide in the same manner. This motif also
represents adulthood and maturity and, as suicide, it is not something that Holden wants to
embark on. Instead, he wants to keep the children from growing up, ensuring that they stay
innocent and uncorrupted, which in his mind they will become when they become adults. His
wish for everything to stay the same ties in closely with the other image, the one of museum.
Holden loves the museum because nothing ever changes there and that provides him with a
sense of security. In the end he finds out that safe, unchanging environment of the museum
can change as well when he finds a profanity written on the wall of the mummy exhibition.
At that moment he begins to realise that he cannot really protect the children from everything
all the time and that change is a part of life. It is ironic that the person who helps him to truly
come to terms with this notion is not an adult but a ten year old girl, his sister Phoebe.

Then the carrousel started, and I watched her go around and around. There were only about
five or six other kids on the ride, and the song the carrousel was playing was "Smoke Gets in
Your Eyes." It was playing it very jazzy and funny. All the kids kept trying to grab for the
gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but
I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring,
you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off they fall off, but it's bad if you
say anything to them. 6

Once more we see him mentioning the fall, but this time he is more realistic about it. He does
not want to interfere at all with the decisions of his younger sister as she grabs for the gold
ring, which is not gold at all (the symbol of the phony adulthood). He accepts her decision
and this is the moment where we can actually see a glimpse of maturity in his thoughts which
could justify the label of the bildungsroman.

I regard Phoebe as the second most important character in the novel, the first one being
Holden, of course. She seems to be the focal point of Holdens attempts to somehow stop
children from growing up. She is the only character he truly relates to, that is if we exclude
Allie, but even though he is fascinated by her, she does not share his views on growing up, as
you would think to be the case. Despite being six years Holdens junior, she understands that
growing up is a necessary and, more importantly, an inevitable process. Phoebe openly
confronts Holden about his issues and she seems to realise that his take on things reveals more
about him than about the rest of the world and its supposed phoniness. Old Phoebe said
something then, but I couldn't hear her. She had the side of her mouth right smack on the
pillow, and I couldn't hear her. "What?" I said. "Take your mouth away. I can't hear you with
your mouth that way." "You don't like anything that's happening."7 She challenges his view of
the world but she also realises that he is a deeply sad and, above all, insecure teenager in need
of love and attention. Thats why it seems that her attempt to go on the trip with her brother
was more for his sake than it for hers. At the end of the day, she will be fine without him but
we cannot, in all honesty, say the same for Holden.

It is now time to take a look at the protagonist, Holden Caulfield. He has been described as
everything from a modern day hero on a quest to a rebellious teenage icon. Somehow I feel
that the most accurate description is the one which says that he is a sad and insecure young
man. A lot has been said and written about his rebellious nature but is he really a rebel? If he
is, the rebel without a cause moniker surely fits him. The most visible symbol of his so-
called rebellion is his hunting hat which, as I have already mentioned, he hides every time he
is about to see somebody familiar. Although he claims he finds the world of adults, and even
people he is surrounded on a day to day basis, phony, he does not remove himself from that
subset of society as you imagine someone who is truly fed up would. He needs their company.
He needs their presence to remind himself that he is, or at least he thinks he is, better than
them. In contrast with his hunting hat we can see his luggage as the symbol of his belonging
to the class that he despises yet has no real ambition to break his ties with it. No matter if he
tries to deny them, hide them or simply not to think about the ties, just like the luggage, is still
there. It would be easier to credit his detestation of the phony slobs who surround him if he
were distinguished from them in any way but the weakness of his stomach.8 I still see
Holden as a normal teenager, albeit not a typical one and with a healthy tolerance for alcohol.
If nothing, at least his attitude towards sex proves that point. He is obsessed with sex, which is
most notable in the Edmont Hotel, but is still unsure when it comes to losing his virginity. As
with everything in his life, he is unsure about what to do and he is reluctant to make a
decision of any kind. Holden tends to avoid social contacts but it is considered normal for a
teenager to shy away from the world of adults. Holden at times seems as if he is confused
about who he really is, what his identity is. This is also normal with teenagers because the
whole point of puberty and young adolescence is to develop your true identity, however hard
it may be. In relation to the identity development, there is an interesting quotation from
psychologist William Stekel used by Mr. Antolini in the novel: The mark of the immature
man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he
wants to live humbly for one.9 I just hope that Holden will have enough courage to follow
in his sisters footsteps and stop being afraid of the fall because, as the saying goes, its not
the fall that kills you, its the sudden stop at the end.

The Catcher in the Rye is the well known novel of an American author, J.D. Salinger. Both
of them enjoy a somewhat infamous reputation. In the novel we see three days in the life of a
troubled teenager Holden Caulfield who is now a symbol of teenage rebellion although the
cause of his rebellion is unclear. Because of Holdens language, which is full of profanities,
the book was highly controversial and subject to censorship. With all due respect to his
reputation of a rebel, Holden simply strikes me as a confused teenager with identity issues. He
is sad, lonely and afraid of growing up and the novel deals in exactly those themes. Towards
the end of the book we see a glimmer of hope that he is changing and slowly accepting the
inevitable, with great help from his younger sister Phoebe, and I for one hope that he will be
prepared.

WORKS CITED:

Hastings, Wally. The Catcher in the Rye. Northern State University. 1 August 2007. 25 June
2008

<http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/catcher.html>

J.D. Salinger. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 24 June 2008. 25 June 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Salinger>

Salinger, Jerome David. (1991). The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company
Salzman, Jack. (1992). New Essays on The Catcher in the Rye. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press