The Catcher in the Rye

Salinger, J. D. (1951). The catcher in the rye. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0316769177

Plot Summary

                      Holden Caulfield is stranded in a world of phonies, jerks, and people who just don’t understand him.  He feels at odds with the boys he knows at boarding school, the girls with whom he engages in a push-and-pull of attraction and  dislike, the adults who expect things from him that he just can’t give, and his still-grieving family after the death of a younger brother from cancer.  Following expulsion from yet another school, Holden finds himself adrift in New York, passing the time before he goes home and faces his parents after this latest failure.  He spends his time trying to connect to a vast array of characters – nuns, mothers, cab drivers, tourists, teachers, old girlfriends - and is repeatedly rebuffed, misunderstood, and annoyed.  His little sister, the precocious Phoebe, is the only one who he can communicate with, and he finds bright spots with her.  As time drags on and Holden spirals deeper into a depression stemming not only from the expulsion but from years of disconnection, he struggles to understand what he wants and what happens next.

Critical Analysis

                          This novel, written by notoriously reclusive literary great J.D. Salinger, is told from the perspective of an adolescent but originally intended for adults.  However, because of the spot-on accuracy of the voice and viewpoints expressed by Holden, undoubtedly one of the most iconic young adult characters of all time, this book is and always has been extremely popular with young adult readers.  The voice in this book is perhaps the most important literary element.  Holden is vulnerable, sarcastic, sharply observant, highly analytical, and a masterful mix of mature and immature, and this is beautifully expressed in his unique, repetitive young adult language.  Words such as phony, madman, swell, moron, crazy – this language shows up again and again in the patterns of Holden’s speech, creating a highly believable and realistic narrative.  Sometimes Holden is likable and sometimes he is not, but always he is believable and consistent.  The story and characters are seen exclusively through his somewhat distorted and judgmental lens, making this completely Holden’s story and Holden’s world.  There is humor in this novel, and sadness, and love, and anger, and injustice, the whole spectrum of human emotion experienced in this period of days as Holden struggles to stay afloat despite his spiraling depression.  From outside his head, the reader recognizes that this is a story about never quite fitting in or measuring up, emotions young adults often feel, as well as a story about coping with the grief of losing someone you love, namely Allie, Holden’s brother.  The reader feels these aching emotions, and experiences Holden’s New York, a place haunted by the past, as he moves aimlessly through it trying to make sense of what has happened and what will come.

Reader’s Annotation

                                 Holden Caulfield has time to kill before he returns home following yet another expulsion from school.  He drifts aimlessly around New York, struggling to connect, struggling to understand, and waiting with apprehension for what comes next in his crazy life.

About the Author

                            J.D. Salinger, highly famous for his extremely reclusive nature, was born in New York City in 1919.  Known as Sonny when he was a child, he was obviously intelligent but did not apply this intelligence to his schooling.  He flunked out of school and his parents sent him to a military academy.  Following graduation, he was sent by his father to Europe to learn another language and to study the import industry.  He returned home and began college and, in part thanks to a professor who encouraged him and promoted his work, started to write in earnest.  But this was interrupted as he was soon shipped off to World War II.  Following the war, he suffered mental trauma and had to be hospitalized.  Once he recovered, he began writing again and completed The Catcher in the Rye, which was published and immediately achieved enormous success. 

            The attention brought by success was too much for Salinger and he moved from New York to a private estate in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he lived up to the day he died in 2010.  Following a short story released in 1965, he retreated completely from the public eye and never published again.  His reclusive personal life was often marred by unflattering tell-all memoirs from ex-wives and even his daughter.  Rumor has it that he continued to write every day and produced many unpublished novels, but no evidence has come forth to support this following his death.  His works continue to be highly influential and widely read.

Genre

         Crossover 

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include underage drinking and smoking, profanity, discussion of sex and prostitution, and questionable morality. In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: voice, dialog, character development, and point of view. 

Booktalk

              Holden is an outcast in his own world.  He never fits in, he never measures up, he can't seem to behave the way people want him to behave.  After yet another failure at yet another school, he drifts along on his own trying to figure out how to tell his parents that he just isn't able to make his life work the way it's supposed to.  We have all felt this way at one time or another.  Holden is completely honest and thinks the things everyone has thought but maybe not said aloud.  His story is inspirational, relatable, and a relief to all of us who have felt that we are alone in the world even while surrounded by a crowd of well-meaning people.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although interest goes all the way up to adult age as this is a crossover novel intended for adults.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          This is my favorite book, period.  I read it when I was eleven years old after finding my mother's original copy from the fifties in a box of her things.  It blew my mind wide open and I have read it at least once a year, if not more, every year for the past two decades.  This story is achingly honest, poignant, and hilarious.  Holden and the entire novel are iconic and no collection would be complete without it.

References

J.D. Salinger. (2011). Biography.com. Retrieved 04:17, Nov 26, 2011 from http://www.biography.com/people/jd-salinger-9470070