The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger, it is a very controversial book because of its explicit language and violence. The novel takes place in USA during the 1940s and 1950s, after the Second World War which was a period of change during which America gradually became an economical superpower. Furthermore, the novel portrays the consequences of the World War and other global events.
Holden, the principal character has already lost his younger brother Allie. This loss has a marked impact on him and definitely has consequences on his behaviour in everyday life. “I slept in the garage that night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows on the station wagon we had that time”.
On many an instance in the novel, Holden mentions that he does not want to follow the family’s tradition of being brilliant at school. This disturbs him as he has this constant pressure on him of keeping up to his family standards. He feels inadequate as he isn’t very good at school and does not really know where his life is going. He has been joining a multitude of schools and is thrown out every year. This chaotic situation creates several anxieties in his life as Holden has to be independent: “As a matter of fact, I’m the only dumb one in the family. My brother D.B.’s a writer and all, and my brother Allie, the one that died, was a wizard (...) I’m the only dumb one”.
His family is very wealthy and sophisticated, and he is always afraid of disappointing his parents. They are very “touchy”, they expect a lot from him. He is particularly attached to his younger sister and she means a lot to him.
Holden has faced a lot of difficulties in life, but he does not really know how to confront adult society. He did not get the vital guidance in the pre-adolescent period of his life, which led him to draw his own conclusions. For example, when Holden stays in a hotel, he observes carefully the adult society, and describes them as “lousy bastards”, he can not understand the purpose of their lives and feels confused. He thinks he has no place in a society like this. When he calls Sunny, a prostitute, to his room he does not really know what he wants to do. He sends her back, but doesn’t clearly understand her role in adult society. Later, there is confusion about the price and Holden react to the argument by crying. This attitude reflects the childish side of his personality. Holden does not know what to think about sex. For example he says: “Sex is something I just don’t understand”. Holden generalises his point of view about adults. He is close minded and that is why he can not appreciate the qualities of certain adults, for example when he stays in the hotel he says: “I was probably the only normal bastard in the whole place- and that isn’t saying much”
Holden is looking essentially for freedom and independence from the real world; he wants to live in a world where there are no tensions or anxieties. His past was very sad, aged 13 he lost his brother; he lost any reason for living. After confronting so many difficulties in life, he does not want anything else to happen to him, he is traumatised by the past. Holden wants to lead a simple life, where he will not have any trouble earning money or have to undergo bad moments. Here is a quotation in which he compares himself to the dinosaurs,”The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you”. This statement clearly emphasises the fact that he does not want any change and wants time to stand still.
He does not want to be like others, he has to be different, and he feels trapped by the forced archetype he has to become. He can really adjust quickly; he can decide to move to the other side of the world in a second. Throughout the book, we can see that Holden wants freedom and craves to be a different kind of person. Holden wants a world where he will not be confronted by the difficulties he encounters in real life, such as a shocking image of the adult society, schooling failure etc… He fears that he will have to follow the American Model which clashes with his personality and attitude. He also fears to enter the adult life where he will face many difficulties.
He feels that there is no humanity is this world and he can not bear it. He inevitably seeks freedom after seeing such an ugly world and wants to escape this phenomenon. For example, he asks Sally if she would come with him to the countryside and establish a new life with her.
J.D. Salinger wants to reveal the “real” America through Holden, a country of hypocrites and successful people. He really wants to show us how the U.S. has changed through the years and the consequences of the growth of a superpower. Also, through the vision and mind-set of a teenager, the author has more liberty to criticize a certain part of the adult society. J.D. Salinger wants to portray his conviction through his book. He wants to hold up the idea of a perfect world from the point of view of a teenager, which can be hard at moments and in which there are things adults do not know.