The Catcher In the Rye

Synopsis: "The Catcher in Rye" is the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, but it's relevant to all ages. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies' themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. Lazy in style, full of slang and swear words, it's a novel whose interest and appeal comes from its observations rather than its plot intrigues (in conventional terms, there is hardly any plot at all). Salinger's style creates an effect of conversation, it is as though Holden is speaking to you personally, as though you too have seen through the pretences of the American Dream and are growing up unable to see the point of living in, or contributing to, the society around you. Written with the clarity of a boy leaving childhood, it deals with society, love, loss, and expectations without ever falling into the clutch of a cliche.

Review: I wasn't expecting to like this one, I don't know why .. it has a bit of a difficult reputation but I liked it a lot. I loved the opening paragraph .. 'If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfied kind of c**p, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all - I'm not saying that - but they're also touchy as hell.' ... that sort of sets the scene really and straight away you get a handle on the character of your narrator.

Holden has a naturally conspiratorial chatty style, his thoughts on all subjects just tumble out. It's clear he's depressed (for one thing that's his favourite expression .. he finds nearly everything depressing or phoney) but it's also clear that this depression has swung over into something more serious and stifling. Holden's younger brother Allie died and this is something which has obviously had a big effect on him, he has a great love for his younger sister too and a need to try and protect her. When asked what he really wants to be, Holden says that he wants to be the man who stands by the cliff at the edge of a field of rye catching the children and stopping them from accidentally going over the edge (Holden quotes Robert Burns' poem 'Coming through the Rye' in which he wrote 'gin a body meet a body coming thro' the rye' .. Holden has always thought the line was 'if a body catch a body coming through the rye'.)

As the synopsis says there isn't much of a plot to speak of, Holden has been kicked out of his fourth school but instead of going home at the end of term he decides to bunk off early by a few days and just wander around the city for a bit before facing the wrath of his parents. It's clear his teachers are bemused by him, he's clever but doesn't seem to want to apply himself, he doesn't really have any friends, he gets on with his roomies ok but he doesn't really like them, he likes women but finds it hard to sustain a relationship with any of them. Really, he just can't deal with the insincerity, lies and phoniness that are part of ordinary adult life. He doesn't want to communicate with anybody, he'd rather be mute .. even when he envisages a wife he has her writing her conversations down on paper.

I think Salinger has captured the confused withdrawn cynical adolescent world perfectly, Holden is a complex character but he's so open with his thoughts and feelings that it's fairly easy to see why his life has come to this. He repeats himself constantly which I took to be further signs of his troubled mind. One thing I was impressed with particularly is how Salinger gives us an insight into Holden's behaviour by the way the other characters react to him .. for instance during what looks like normal conversations (or at least Holden's normal rambling style) Holden is often told to stop shouting/screaming .. and you realise then that his behaviour is more erratic than you thought. The book doesn't tie up all the ends and I quite like that too, you're left to draw your own conclusions about Holden and his future.