The Catcher in the Rye

I knew it was one of the most frequently banned books, then, long before it was one of The Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990s--it has quite a venerable history.

But the question on my mind, was always Why?

I remember asking my English teacher, he had a difficult time with this, and the only thing he could come up with, was that Holden Caulfield was alienated, among other things.

I thought that was curious, because I was. In fact, it seemed to me many of my peers were alienated as well.

Which brings an interesting thought to mind: The right may want to ban this book because it presents the image of something they do not want in their young, but it is. And if those young who are, might find some control of their alienated lives if they could see themselves, as they are, in fiction, a kind of externalization.

Isn't this one of the time-honored purposes of literature and art?

But the right will have none of this--and thereby perpetuate the very things they deplore.

An irony only those on the left can appreciate.

Holden tells his little sister that he wants to be a "catcher in the rye" (in the passage quoted above by prole), but this is not really his goal in life. Holden basically bullshits everyone - he is going out West to be a cowboy, or up North to Vermont where he'll cut his own wood. But he won't do any of these things. He got the idea for being a catcher in the rye because he heard a little boy singing Comin Thro' the Rye incorrectly: "When a body catch a body/Comin thro' the rye" - even Holden's little sister knows it's wrong. It should be "When a body meet a body."

The point, I guess, is that Holden's BS does not stand up very well. Neither does Holden, for that matter.

The thing that surprised me most about this book is that Holden is rich. He is not without social graces, either: he is a good dancer, he knows how to make people happy. He is not really free, either. He is just screwing around in the few days before his parents find out he's been kicked out of school. And he doesn't really *do* anything, either. He's no Ferris Bueller.

In the end, he gets himself sick, soaked to the skin, probably so his parents won't give him too much hell.

I think the reason the book appealed to some celebrity killers is that Holden's life is going nowhere, but there is a speech near the end in which his old teacher tells him that he could die nobly for an unworthy cause. That's probably what lights the light bulb in their whacked out little heads.

The theme of childhood is spread throughout The Catcher in the Rye. Whether it is of childhood lost or the desire for childhood to disappear as quickly as possible, it's always an inescapable matter in the book.

Sunny is a good example of childhood lost. The reader isn't told what background Sunny comes from, or why she became a prostitute, we just know that she's very young and immature, but doing an adult thing. She scares Holden not because she's a prostitute, or because she's too forward with him, it's because she's his own age. He thinks that it's very sad and pathetic that she has become like this, and it shows him that being an adult and having to face some ugly things aren't that all great.

this was part of an essay I wrote called "Holden Fucking Caulfield". Yeah, I said FUCK.

From The Catcher in the Rye, pp.202:
"I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another 'Fuck you' on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn't come off. It's hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the 'Fuck you' signs in the world. It's impossible."

From The Catcher in the Rye, pp.204:
"That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write 'Fuck you' right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetary, and I have a tombstone and all, it'll say 'Holden Caulfield' on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it'll say 'Fuck you.' I'm positive, in fact."

This passage, I believe, has the most telling detail of Holden's inner life than any other from the entire book- the bit where he says "...if I ever die..." as opposed to, "...when I die."