...If you have a teenager anywhere in your life, t his book might be worth a re-read … RTM CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield, the main character, imagines a field of rye perched high on a cliff, full of children romping and playing. He says he would like to protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff by “catching” them if they were on the verge of tumbling over. Nothing reveals Holden’s view of adulthood better than his fantasy about the catcher in the rye: childhood is an idyllic time of play while adulthood is equivalent to death—a fatal fall over the edge of a cliff. Using loneliness, relationships, intimacy, sexuality, lying, and deception, Salinger sets forth three themes: Alienation as a Form of Self-Protection: Holden’s alienation is his way of protecting himself. As readers, we can see that Holden’s alienation is the cause of most of his pain. He desperately needs human contact and love, but his protective wall of bitterness prevents him from looking for such interaction. The Painfulness of Growing Up: Holden fears change and is overwhelmed by complexity; he wants everything to be easily understandable and eternally fixed. He refuses to acknowledge that adulthood scares and mystifies him, so he invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of superficiality and hypocrisy (“phoniness”), while childhood is a world of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. The Phoniness of the Adult World: “Phoniness,” which is probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye, is one of Holden’s favorite concepts. Phoniness stands as an emblem of everything that’s wrong in the world around him and provides an excuse for him to withdraw into his cynical isolation. Though oversimplified, Holden’s observations are not entirely inaccurate. He can be a highly insightful narrator, and he is very aware of superficial behavior in those around him. The world is not as simple as he’d like—and needs—it to be; but even he cannot adhere to the same black-and-white standards with which he judges other people. |
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