On the Catcher in the Rye

Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it.

First, a disclaimer: Like any work of literature, the perceptions of the reader (and reviewer) of a book are guided by their own experiences. Looking at the reviews of this book that other users have written, everybody has a different opinion, and they appear to change over time. Frankly, I think that a reader’s response to this book are even more dependent on his or her own experiences than other pieces of literature. This is because the story of the book doesn’t really matter. Instead, opinions are developed on what they think of Holden Caulfield himself.

When I first picked this book up, it brought up memories of a friend of mine from high school. This friend identified heavily with Holden Caulfield, and I never really understood why. I hadn’t read the book, and all of my knowledge about it came from cultural references. My friend got in with a bad crowd of people in our sophomore year, so his father sent him to a military school hundreds of miles away to set him on the straight and narrow. Instead, my friend fell deeper into his issues, never finished high school, and lived his time after high school tormented by depression and unemployment. He and his girlfriend had a son when they were nineteen, and he killed himself a few months later. When I picked up this book, all of these memories came back to mind.

After I began to read this book, I thought it seemed paper-thin without anything to offer. The first 150 pages were an absolute bore, and it did not really improve. I didn’t think Holden (or Salinger, speaking through Holden) had anything profound to say. Yet, after ruminating on the book for a little, I’ve realized that Salinger is spoken through what is un-said. This book, to me, is about authenticity.

Throughout the entirety of the book, Holden Caulfield gripes that he doesn’t like so-and-so, going so far to say that he hates them, because they are “phony” or “corny.” To Holden, phoniness and corniness are the greatest sins of American society. He wants social relations to be real. We can see this when Holden asks his cab drivers about the ducks in Central Park, and where they go for the winter. We see this when Holden hires a prostitute and only wants to talk to her. We also see this when Holden chats with nuns. However, Holden himself often is phony. His refusal to relate to phoniness and corniness leads to a level of self-censoring that limits his potential interests. Holden Caulfield hates film, for example. When he discusses the prospect of moving to the Western US, he mentions that his brother can live with him to write so long as he does not write screenplays. His obsession with being authentic also leads to alienating himself from his date (was her name Sarah, or something?).

Because this book doesn’t really have a plot, it is difficult to pinpoint when exactly the climax is.

Spoiler

To me, it is when Phoebe and Holden discuss what Holden does like, as Phoebe insists he doesn’t like anything. Holden is at a loss for words and he never really gives us an answer. This leads Phoebe to say that he does not like anything. This is wrong. Holden LOVES his sister more than anything in the world, he loves his brother Allie, he loves the ducks in Central Park, he loves ice skating, he loves literature, and he loves the natural history museum. But, Holden cannot admit this at risk of sounding corny thus weakening his own authenticity.

After having finished this book and taking some time to think about it, I love it. Maybe I sound naive or young, but I think Holden is one of the most human fictional characters I’ve read about, even if he is the son of wealthy parents who has an unsettlingly strong sense of entitlement. The scene of Holden watching his sister on the carousel brought me to tears, and I wish the book had ended there as it is just a raw, relatable moment, whereas the last chapter reinforced Holden’s self-censoring once more.

I apologize for rambling a bit, but I adored this novel.