The Catcher in the Rye
The
Catcher in the Rye is a
story by J. D. Salinger,
partially published in serial form in 1945–1946 and as a novel in 1951.[3] It was originally intended for adults, but is often read by
adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique on superficiality in society.[4][5] It has been translated widely.[6] Around one million copies are sold each year, with total
sales of more than 65 million books.[7] The novel's protagonist Holden
Caulfield has become an icon for teenage
rebellion.[8] The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence,
identity, belonging, loss, connection and sex.
The
novel was included on Time Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 best
English-language novels written since 1923,[9] and it was named by Modern Library and its readers
as one of the 100 best
English-language novels of the 20th century.[10][11][12] In 2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey The
Big Read.
Plot
Seventeen-year-old
Holden Caulfield, a character who had appeared in Salinger's previous fiction,
lives in an unspecified institution in Southern California in either 1949 or
1950. He intends to live with his brother D.B., an author and World War II veteran
with whom Holden is angry for becoming a screenwriter, one month after his discharge. Holden recalls the events
of the previous Christmas.
Holden
begins his story at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a boarding
school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. When he
was 16 (the unspecified year being either 1948 or 1949), his schoolwork was
considered so unsatisfactory that he bilged out of Pencey, being told he could
stay until December but was not welcomed back after the Christmas break. He
plans to return home on that day so that he will not be present when his
parents receive notice of his attrition. After forfeiting a fencing match in New York by forgetting the equipment on the
subway, he is invited to the home of his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, who is a
well-meaning but long-winded old man. Spencer greets him and offers him advice,
but he embarrasses Holden by criticizing Holden's history exam.
Holden
returns to his dorm wearing the red hunting cap he bought in New York for one
dollar. His dorm neighbor, Robert Ackley, who is unpopular among his peers,
disturbs Holden with his impolite questioning and mannerisms. Holden, who feels
sorry for Ackley, tolerates his presence. Later, Holden agrees to write an
English composition for his roommate, Ward Stradlater, who is leaving for a
date. However, Holden is distressed to learn that Stradlater's date is Jane
Gallagher, whom Holden had romantic feelings for and feels protective of. That
night, Holden decides to go to a Cary
Grant comedy with Mal Brossard and
Ackley. Since Ackley and Mal had already seen the film, they end up just
playing pinball and returning to Pencey. When Stradlater returns hours later,
he fails to appreciate the deeply personal composition Holden wrote for him
about the baseball glove of Holden's late brother Allie and refuses to say
whether he slept with Jane. Enraged, Holden punches him, and Stradlater easily
wins the fight. When Holden continues insulting him, Stradlater knocks him
unconscious and leaves him with a bloody nose. After leaving for Ackley's room,
Holden is disappointed by Ackley's rude treatment of him. Fed up with the
"phonies" at Pencey Prep, Holden decides to leave Pencey early. He
sells his typewriter
and catches a train to Penn Station in New York. Holden intends to stay away from his home
until Wednesday when his parents would have received notification of his
expulsion. Aboard the train, Holden meets the mother of a wealthy, obnoxious
Pencey student, Ernest Morrow, and lies to her about her son.
In
a taxicab, Holden inquires with the driver whether the ducks in the Central
Park lagoon migrate during winter, a
subject he brings up often, but the man barely responds. Holden checks into the
Edmont Hotel. He spends an evening dancing with three women from Seattle in the hotel lounge and enjoys dancing with one, though he
is disappointed that they are unable to hold a conversation with him. Following
an unpromising visit to Ernie's Nightclub in Greenwich
Village, Holden becomes preoccupied with
his internal angst and agrees to have a prostitute named Sunny visit his room. His attitude toward the girl
changes when she enters the room; she seems about the same age as him. Holden
becomes uncomfortable, and when he tells her all he wants to do is talk, she
becomes annoyed and leaves. Even though he maintains that he paid her the right
amount for her time, she returns with her pimp Maurice and demands more money. Holden insults Maurice,
Sunny takes the money from Holden's wallet, and Maurice snaps his fingers on
Holden's groin and punches him in the stomach. Afterward, Holden imagines that
he has been shot by Maurice, and pictures murdering him with an automatic pistol.
The
next morning, Holden, becoming increasingly depressed and in need of personal
connection, calls Sally Hayes, a familiar date. Although Holden claims that she
is "the queen of all phonies," they agree to meet that afternoon to
attend a play at the Biltmore
Theater. Holden shops for a special record, "Little Shirley Beans", for his 10-year-old
sister Phoebe. He spots a small boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye," which lifts his mood. Although Holden's date
initially goes well, it soon sours after Sally introduces her friend George.
After the play, Holden and Sally go ice skating at Rockefeller Center,
where Holden suddenly begins ranting against society and frightens Sally. He
impulsively invites Sally to run away with him that night to live in the
wilderness of New England,
but she is uninterested in his hastily conceived plan and declines. The
conversation turns sour, and the two angrily part ways.
Holden
decides to meet his old classmate, Carl Luce, for drinks at the Wicker Bar.
During the meeting, Holden annoys Carl with his fixation on sex. After Luce
leaves, Holden gets drunk, awkwardly flirts with several adults, and calls an
icy Sally. Exhausted and out of money, Holden wanders over to Central Park to
investigate the ducks, accidentally breaking Phoebe's record on the way.
Nostalgically recalling his experience in elementary
school and the unchanging dioramas in the Museum of Natural
History that he enjoyed visiting as a
child, Holden heads home to see his sister Phoebe. He sneaks into his parents'
apartment while they are out, and wakes up Phoebe—the only person with whom he
seems to be able to communicate his true feelings. Although Phoebe is happy to
see Holden, she quickly deduces that he has been expelled, and chastises him
for his aimlessness and his apparent disdain for everything. When asked if he
cares about anything, Holden shares a selfless fantasy he has been thinking
about (based on a mishearing
of Robert Burns's
Comin' Through the Rye). Because of this misinterpretation, Holden believes that
to be the "catcher in the rye" means to save children from losing
their innocence.
When
his mother returns home, Holden slips out and visits his former and
much-admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who is now a New York University
professor. Mr. Antolini expresses concern that Holden is headed for "a
terrible fall" and advises him to begin applying himself and provides
Holden with a place to sleep. Although he is exhausted, Holden is courteous and
considers Mr. Antolini's advice. Holden is upset when he wakes up at night to
find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which he interprets as a homosexual advance. He leaves and spends the rest of the night in a
waiting room at Grand Central Station, where he sinks further into despair and expresses regret
over leaving Mr. Antolini. He spends most of Monday morning wandering Fifth
Avenue.
Losing
hope of finding belonging or companionship in the city, Holden impulsively
decides that he will head out west
and live a reclusive lifestyle as a gas station attendant. He decides to see
Phoebe at lunchtime to explain his plan and say goodbye. While visiting
Phoebe's school to give a forged excuse note, Holden sees graffiti containing
the word "fuck" and becomes distressed by the thought of children
learning the word's meaning and tarnishing their innocence. When he meets
Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she arrives with a suitcase and asks to go with him, even
though she was looking forward to acting as Benedict
Arnold in a play that Friday. Holden
refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe, so Holden decides not to
leave. He tries to cheer her up by allowing her to skip school and taking her
to the Central Park Zoo,
but she remains angry. They eventually reach the zoo's carousel, where Phoebe reconciles with Holden after he buys her a
ticket. Holden is finally filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe
riding.
In
a short epilogue, Holden briefly alludes to encountering his parents that night
and "getting sick," mentioning that he will be attending another
school in September. Holden says that he doesn't want to tell anything more,
because he has found himself missing his former classmates.
History
Various
older stories by Salinger contain characters similar to those in The Catcher
in the Rye. While at Columbia University,
Salinger wrote a short story
called "The Young Folks"
in Whit Burnett's
class; one character from this story has been described as a "thinly
penciled prototype of Sally Hayes". In November 1941 he sold the story
"Slight Rebellion off Madison", which featured Holden Caulfield, to The
New Yorker, but it wasn't published until
December 21, 1946, due to World
War II. The story "I'm
Crazy", which was published in the
December 22, 1945 issue of Collier's, contained material that was later used in The Catcher
in the Rye.
In
1946, The New Yorker accepted a 90-page manuscript about Holden Caulfield for publication, but Salinger later
withdrew it.[13]
Writing style
The
Catcher in the Rye is narrated in a subjective
style from the point of view of Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought processes. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and
episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events,
such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about
experiences.
Critical
reviews affirm that the novel accurately reflected the teenage colloquial speech of the time.[14] Words and phrases that appear frequently include:
- "Old" – term of familiarity or endearment.
- "Phony" – superficially acting a certain way only to change others’ perceptions
- "That killed me" – one found that hilarious or astonishing
- "Flit" – homosexual
- "Crumbum" or "crumby" – inadequate, insufficient, disappointing
- "Snowing" – sweet-talking
- "I got a bang out of that" – one found it hilarious or exciting
- "Shoot the bull" – have a conversation containing false elements
- "Give her the time" – sexual intercourse
- "Necking" – passionate kissing especially on the neck. (clothes on)
- "Chew the fat" or "chew the rag" – small-talk
- "Rubbering" or "rubbernecks" – idle onlooking/onlookers
- "The Can" – the bathroom
- "Prince of a guy" – fine fellow (however often used sarcastically)
- "Prostitute" – sellout or phony (e.g. in regard to his brother D.B. who is a writer: "Now he's out in Hollywood being a prostitute")
Interpretations
Bruce
Brooks held that Holden's attitude remains
unchanged at story's end, implying no maturation, thus differentiating the
novel from young adult fiction.[15] In contrast, Louis
Menand thought that teachers assign the
novel because of the optimistic ending, to teach adolescent readers that
"alienation is just a phase."[16] While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand
claimed that Holden thinks as an adult, given his ability to accurately
perceive people and their motives. Others highlight the dilemma of Holden's
state, in between adolescence and adulthood.[17][18] Holden is quick to become emotional. "I felt sorry as
hell for..." is a phrase he often uses. It is often said that Holden
changes at the end, when he watches Phoebe on the carousel, and he talks about
the golden ring and how it's good for kids to try and grab it.[17]
Peter
Beidler, in his A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in
the Rye", identifies the movie that the prostitute "Sunny"
refers to. In chapter 13 she says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The
movie is Captains Courageous (1937), starring Spencer
Tracy. Sunny says that Holden looks like
the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows (page 28) a still of the boy,
played by child-actor Freddie Bartholomew.
Each
Caulfield child has literary talent. D.B. writes screenplays in Hollywood;[19] Holden also reveres D.B. for his writing skill (Holden's
own best subject), but he also despises Hollywood industry-based movies,
considering them the ultimate in "phony" as the writer has no space
for his own imagination and describes D.B.'s move to Hollywood to write for
films as "prostituting himself"; Allie wrote poetry on his baseball
glove;[20] and Phoebe is a diarist.[21] This "catcher in the rye" is an analogy for
Holden, who admires in children attributes that he often struggles to find in
adults, like innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity. Falling off the
cliff could be a progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that
he strongly criticizes. Later, Phoebe and Holden exchange roles as the
"catcher" and the "fallen"; he gives her his hunting hat,
the catcher's symbol, and becomes the fallen as Phoebe becomes the catcher.[22]
In
their biography of Salinger, David
Shields and Shane
Salerno argue that: "The Catcher in
the Rye can best be understood as a disguised war
novel." Salinger witnessed the
horrors of World War II, but rather than writing a combat novel, Salinger,
according to Shields and Salerno, "took the trauma of war and embedded it
within what looked to the naked eye like a coming-of-age novel."[23]
Reception
The
Catcher in the Rye has been consistently listed as one
of the best novels of the twentieth century. Shortly after its publication, in
an article for The New York Times, Nash K. Burger called it "an unusually brilliant
novel,"[24] while James Stern wrote an admiring review of the book in a
voice imitating Holden's.[25] George
H. W. Bush called it a "marvelous
book," listing it among the books that have inspired him.[26] In June 2009, the BBC's Finlo Rohrer wrote that, 58 years since publication, the
book is still regarded "as the defining work on what it is like to be a
teenager."[27] Adam Gopnik
considers it one of the "three perfect books" in American literature,
along with Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and The
Great Gatsby, and believes that "no book
has ever captured a city better than Catcher in the Rye captured New
York in the fifties."[28] In an appraisal of The Catcher in the Rye written
after the death of J.D. Salinger, Jeff Pruchnic says the novel has retained its
appeal for many generations. Pruchnic describes Holden as a “teenage
protagonist frozen midcentury but destined to be discovered by those of a
similar age in every generation to come.”[29] Bill Gates
said that The Catcher in the Rye is one of his favorite books.[30]
However,
not all reception has been positive. The book has had its share of critics, and
many contemporary readers "just cannot understand what the fuss is
about". According to Rohrer, who writes, "many of these readers are
disappointed that the novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the
mystique it is shrouded in. J.D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this
mystique. That is to say, he has done nothing."[27] Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and
criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage
angst" and has a "complex central character" and
"accessible conversational style"; while at the same time some
readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular" and the
excessive "whining" of the "self-obsessed character".
Censorship and use in schools
In
1960, a teacher in Tulsa,
Oklahoma was fired for assigning the novel
in class; however, she was later reinstated.[31] Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was
the most censored
book in high schools and libraries in the United States.[32] The book was banned in the Issaquah, Washington high schools in 1978 as being part of an "overall
communist plot".[33] In 1981, it was both the most censored book and the second
most taught book in public schools in the United States.[34] According to the American Library Association, The Catcher in the Rye was the 10th most frequently
challenged
book from 1990 to 1999.[10] It was one of the ten most challenged books of 2005,[35]
and although it had been off the list for three years, it reappeared in the
list of most challenged books of 2009.[36]
The
challenges generally begin with Holden's frequent use of vulgar language;[37][38] other reasons includes sexual references,[39] blasphemy,
undermining of family values[38] and moral codes,[40] encouragement of rebellion,[41] and promotion of drinking, smoking, lying, promiscuity, and sexual abuse.[40] This book was written for an adult audience in mind, which
often forms the foundation of many challengers' arguments against this book.[42] Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot
itself.[32] Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced
objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that "the
challengers are being just like Holden... They are trying to be catchers in the
rye."[38] A Streisand
effect has been that this incident caused
people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when there
was no waiting list before.[43][44]
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