The Catcher in the Rye

Jerome David Salinger was born in New York 1919. His father, Sol, was a jew who was in the meat and cheese business. His relationship to his father was distant and he didnīt even bother to attend his funeral. His mother, of whom he was very fond, was Irish Catholic. Being half jewish was a source of enormous conflict for Salinger.

The cold relationship to his father, his conflict being half jewish and especially his traumatic experiences in World War II were negative aspects of his life which shaped his personality and his fiction.

Salinger is a man of contradiction. He has rigid rules of conduct, but he frequently finds reason to break.

For example:

With his Buddhist beliefs, he scorned wordly desire, but he was vain about the attention his writing received and he pursued young girls for sex.

Salinger enjoyed Valley Forge Military School but portrayed it as a hell hole in his novel

Salinger was fond of military but later he had an aversion to It.

He calls himself a vegetarian, but sometimes he also eats meat.

And so on

Salinger is an very odd person. He doesnīt want his picture on the cover of his books. Although he is one of the most famous writers of th 20^th  century, he lives isolated from society. He doesnīt want any contact to reporters. He published his last book in 1963 "Raise High the Roof Beam". 1974 J.D. Salinger broke a public silence of more than 20 years. Speaking by telephone he tells a New York Times correspondant that he loves to write, but only for himself and for his own pleasure. This was his last interview.

His most important work The Catcher in the Rye (1951), established him as a  leading author.

The Catcher in the Rye is set just after the Second World War; America had just played a major part in helping to win the war and had become a "Superpower". The country was very wealthy and had a huge military force, the society was affluent and very materialistic. At this time America became the first real "consumer society". The hero of the book, Holden Caulfield, rebels against the social attitudes and values.

The novel can also be seen as an example of the rise of teenage rebellion. Before 1950īs there was no real notion of a "teenager". The Catcher in the Rye dealt with teenagerīs feelings towards the society in which they lived.

The novel The Catcher in the Rye concerns three days in the life of Holden Caulfield. He is a troubled sixteen-year-old boy who has been expelled from three schools. Although the main action takes place over three days, there are frequent flashbacks to earlier events in Holdenīs life. It is a first-person narrative told to us by Holden, who is recuperating from a mental breakdown in a Californian hospital.

Holdens story begins on the day he leaves school. Holden has been expelled and has to leave four days before the end of the term.  He goes to his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer for telling him good-bye. Mr. Spencer starts to quiz Holden about his attitude to school. Spencer tells Holden why he had to fail him in history and we learn that Holden is a very lazy pupil and has not really studied for any of his subjects. Holden feels uncomfortable when he leaves his teacherīs house.

Back at the dorm he talks to his room-mate Stradlater, who wants him to write a homework essay for him. Stradlater wants to take a girl out that evening. Holden discovers that Stradlaterīs date is Jane Gallagher, a girl he likes very much. Holden writes an essay based on his brothers Allieīs baseball mitt. Allie, was Holden`s younger brother, who died of leukaemia. Holden has been very disturbed by his death. When Stradlaters returns Holden gives him the essay but Stradlater isnīt satisfied with it. Holden gets very upset and tears up the essay. Then Holden asks his room-mate if they had sex.  Stradlater provokes him and they end up fighting. Finally Holden decides to go to New York immediately.

Holden goes to New York by train and rents a room at a hotel. He doesnīt want to go to bed, so he goes to the hotel night-club. There he dances with three very stupid girls before leaving and going to another night-club. In the meantime he has told us about his younger sister Phoebe and Jane Gallagher. He is very fond of Jane. He still thinks about the Stradlater episode. Holde stays at the club, but he doesnīt enjoy it, because the place was full of "phonies". After leaving the club, Holden walks back to the hotel. He makes an arrangement with the elevator-man for a prostitute. She should be sent to his room. When she arrives Holden doesnīt want sex. Finally he pays her, but Maurice the elevator-man returnes, demanding more money. Holden refuses to pay but Maurice hits Holden and they take the money by force. After this Holden feels depressed enough to kill himself.

The next morning he calls Sally, an friend, for having a date. They go to the theater and afterwards ice-skating. Holden tells Sally about his problems and asks her to run away with him. Sally cannot understand Holden fears and hates, because his problems are very unusual for a sixteen-year-old boy. They get into an argument and Holden leaves her. After then Holden makes an arrangement to meet Carl Luce, a boy who used to be his student adviser at Whooton, one of the other schools Holden has attended. They talk but it is obvious that they have little common any more. Holden has many such conversations throughout the novel. This illustrates his desire to find someone to relate to and the fact is this does not really happen.

Holden leaves the bar, where he met Carl and he is very drunken. He walks through the park but it is very cold. Eventually he decides to sneak into his parentsī house and see his sister Phoebe.

She is surprised meeting him but she soon becomes disappointed because she knows that he left school again. She accuses him of liking nothing and not wanting anything with his life. He tells her he wants to be a "catcher in the rye". When his parents come home he leaves the house to see his old english teacher, Mr. Antolini. Before leaving he borrows Phoebe`s christmas savings. When he arrives at Mr Antolini, Holden has a long conversation with him. Mr. Antolini gives Holden some serious advice about his future. Holden goes to sleep. When he wakes up he feels his old teacherīs hand stroking his hair. He becomes upset und rushes out of Mr. Antoliniīs house.

Holden decides to go away and arranges to meet his sister to give her back the money.  She arrives and explains she is going with him. He realises that this cannot happen and the turning point of the novel is reached. Holden takes his sister to the park and watches her ride on a carroussel. He now feels happy and the story ends. Holden tells us he will return to school next September and that he is recovering.

Holden searches for an answer to his troubles and it ends with a psychological breakdown. He is an outsider but  he attempts to befriend people. From the beginning of his story he has problemes getting on with others, especially with adults. Most people who meet Holden arenīt able to understand him, so he is alone with his troubles.

Like Salinger, Holden is a person of contradiction. Holden despises adults who smoke and drink alcohol. He likes the innocence of childhood, but Holden himself smokes and drinks a lot.

Holden wants to be "a catcher in the rye", which sounds very unrealistic. This based on a song he heard: " If a body catch a body, coming through the rye". That means that he wants to save others from what has happened to him. He feels that he has, in one way "fallen of a cliff". He wants to protect children like Allie and Jane from the world.

The Catcher in The Rye is a brilliant novel and I enjoyed reading it. It isnīt difficult to understand, because Holden tells us the story in his own common speech.

CHARACTERS

Holden Caulfield: He is the main character in the novel and we see the world through his eyes. He is a young man aged sixteen. Holdenīs language is meant to be typical of a teenager. He is a witty individual. His parents are quite wealthy and they live in an expensive part of New York. He has a younger sister and two brothers, one of whom is dead.

Holden is a troubled young man and very confused about much of the world around him. Additionally he is disillusioned with life. His sense of unhappiness and depression increases as the novel progresses, until he has a breakdown. 

Like Salinger Holden is a man of contradiction, too. Even though he claims that he hate the movies, he spends quite a lot of the time pretending to be in them! He tries to behave like an adult by smoking and drinking, going out with girls and hanging around the bars, but he is highly critical of others whom he sees living such a lifestyle and still yearns for his innocent childhood.

Yearn - to desire sth. Strongly and with great emotions

Phoebe Caulfield: Holdenīs ten-year-old sister is described by Holden as pretty, skinny and having red hair. She is an intelligent girl and has a love for writing stories. She seems to enjoy school and has lots of notebooks. Holden says that she is very "grown-up" for her age.

Phoebe becomes a very important character toward the end of the novel. For Holden she represents innocence and goodness.

Allie Caulfield: Holdenīs younger brother, who died when Holden was thirteen. Holden describes Allie as a sensitive boy.

D.B. Caufield: Holden`s elder brother. He is a writer and he moved to Hollywood. He visits Holden at the hospital in California, where Holden is recovering when he tells the story.

Holdenīs mother and father: Holdenīs mother is mentioned briefly and is described as being highly strung, especially since the death of Allie. Holdenīs father is a lawyer who earns highly salery. Although they are discussed very little, they are important to the novel as it is Holdenīs guilt and fear of their reaction that prevents him from going home.

Ward Sradlater: He is Holdenīs roommate and his senior. He is described by Holden as handsome and popular with the girls, someone who knows about the world and is sexually active. Stadlater seems to be able to do things that Holden wants to do but cannot. Stradlater makes Holden jealous, particularly his relationship with Jane Gallagher.

Jane Gallagher: Jane is only mentioned in the novel, but she occupies so much of Holdenīs thoughts. She is a sensitive girl with whom Holden spent the summer holiday two years before. Her father is an alcoholic.

Mr Spencer: Holdens history teacher at Pencey Prep. An old man who was friendly towards his students, often inviting them into his home for hot drinks. He typifies the generation-gap and one of the many "grown-ups" in the novel whom Holden wishes he hadnīt started talking to. Although he is kind and caring, he cannot relate to Holdenīs feelings.

Mr Antolini: He is Holdenīs ex-English teacher from Elkton Hills school, desribed as the best teacher he ever had. A youngish man, not much older than Holdenīs brother. He really cares about Holden, but when Holden is woken up by Mr Antolini ruffling his hair, he interpretes this as a sexual advance.