by J.D. Salinger
This is another book I feel like I should have been reading years ago. Apparently there has always been a lot of criticism, when The Catcher in the Rye in taught in high school - too much sex or something, pessimism probably. Old Holden Caufield, the bastard. He reminds me of myself. But a wit's end type, version of myself, that is.
I'm interested to find out if Holden overcomes his great disdain with the world and all of its phonies or if he stays the same. Also, why does he hate the movies so much? There are specific excerpts that are eerily familiar. Instances when Holden fantasizes about "chopping some guys head off with an ax" or "socking" crooks in the face - but he can't. His sexual frustrations and the battle between his kind heart and cynical nature remind me a lot of myself too.
I just finished and I really enjoyed the novel. The story ends and Holden never really matures, which confuses me a bit. Assuming J.D. Salinger was trying to describe the awkward phase between adolescence and adulthood, why wouldn't he detail any maturation in the central character? Huh. I read that "the catcher" could be interpreted as an analogy for Holden, who admires childlike attributes, such as innocence, kindness, spontaneity and generosity, that he fails to find in adults. Falling off the cliff would be the progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that he strongly criticizes. At the end of the story, Phoebe (his little sister) and Holden switch places as the "catcher" and the "fallen," he gives her his hunting hat (the symbol of the catcher) and becomes the fallen and Phoebe becomes the catcher, stopping him from hitchhiking out West.
I don't know. I get it - cool an analogy - but what is Phoebe really catching him from? Moving out West? I suppose, growing up; however, just because he doesn't leave doesn't mean he's going to avoid growing up. At the end of the book, he goes back to school, so it makes sense. I don't know. I just don't get "growing up" myself.
I guess some critics have argued that Holden does mature, in the end, when he stops Phoebe from coming out West with him. I can understand that; however, it's frustrating to never see any "real" change in his attitude or lifestyle. It's depressing.
He reminds me of Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Oskar in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. He's much more of cynic and older than the other two, maybe it's just the writing style that reminds me of the other novels?
Holden's uncertainty, angst and disapproval with the state of the "adult" world resonates with me. He says things repeatedly like, "Even if you did go around saving guys' lives and all, how would you really know if you did it because you really wanted to save guys' lives, or because you did it because what you really wanted to do was be a terrific lawyer, with everybody slapping you on the back and congratulating you in court when the goddam trial was over, the reporters and everybody, the way it is in the dirty movies? How you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't."
My existential pandering, exactly.
I really liked the part where Holden visits Mr. Antolini (even though he ends up being an alcoholic flit, probably). He quotes Wilhelm Stekel, "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Mr. Antolini also tells Holden, "You're in love with knowledge... once you get past all the Mr. Vinsons, you're going to start getting closer and closer - that is, if you want to, and if you look for it and wait for it - to the kind of information that will be very, very dear to your heart. Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened an even sickened by human behavior... After a while, you'll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing. For one thing it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that don't suit you, aren't becoming to you. You'll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly."
No comments:
Post a Comment