The Catcher in the Rye, arguments thereon

[hermionesviolin]

People keep mentioning Catcher in the Rye in a positive context. I was waiting for pallidamors read it so i could just read the discussion on her LJ, but i actually took part in a discussion on it on someone else’s LJ recently and decided i needed to just post on my own LJ and people can discuss here and any time it comes up in the future i can just point here.

I was never assigned it for class in high school, but it’s one of those books everyone seems to have read, so i finally read it over Winter Break this year. It is now on the short list of “books i hate with a violent passion.” I remember often hearing that it's one of those books you read as a teen and identify with Holden, and while i might well not have hated it quite so passionately as a teen, i think i still would have hated Holden.

I don't do well with narratives where i dislike the protagonist(s), and this was rather the epitome of that. Holden was an obnoxious hypocritical little fuck, so i couldn't stand him. And thus couldn't stand the book, since it was all about him.

Everything he complains about in other people he is just as if not more guilty of in himself. If we were supposed to read it as a critique of the hypocrisy inherent in humanity or something, then i think i could at least respect the author's intent even though obviously it would still be painful to read, but everyone who likes the book seems to say they like and identify with Holden.

I’m interested to hear arguments for the character of Holden -- why you liked him, identified with him, found him interesting, whatever. Or you can argue for the merits of the book while conceding Holden’s vileness. Whatever. I like discussion, and it’s such a classic book that i figure there must be rational arguments out there for it and would like to hear them.

You don’t have to defend Salinger himself, unless you would really like to. My personal rule is 2 works by an author before i get to write them off wholesale, and i hear good things about Franny & Zooey and Nine Stories, so at some point i will read them.

Comments

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I thought I was the only one who thinks Holden is a whining little prat. 'You're a PHONEY!' Holden, honey, you're a frickin' phoney too.

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

I should point out that I realize now that that's probably the point. But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy the way it's brought about. Holden Caulfield did NOT speak for me as a teenager and I really resented everyone I knew who told me ze identified with him. They didn't appear or act as fucked up as Holden.

That, and Salinger is a weird man. I don't know. I definitely agree with your issues of identifying with the time period, too.

Liked Perks, a lot. I believe my copy is someone else's that I never returned. It's pretty beat up by now, and I'm sure he's bought another copy. Still feel guilty.

[hedy.livejournal.com]

Have you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower? I read the two back-tp-back, which helped me see Catcher in its historical moment. And definately read Franny and Zooey (there's a Smith reference) and 9 stories

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I read Perks i think my first year in college and liked it well enough, though not hardcore like some people. It felt very late 80s/early 90s, and also very reminscent of a certain niche of the zine culture i was familiar with, so it felt familiar and like i could "get" it. Catcher, in contrast, felt very 40s/50s (which makes sense, of course, given that it was first published in 1951).

[happymartian.livejournal.com]

yeah, you have a point there. I think one of my main complaints about Catcher in the Rye was that it did not feel like my time period at all. That said, my main feeling was "Eh, a little overrated." I can't say I loved it, I can't say I hated it but I can say that I don't remember much about it at all. Which is never a good sign.

[boob-duck.livejournal.com]

I think it helps being a boy who hasn't figured his life out...

Ironically enough people say I remind them of Holden. I get this about twice a month.

He's the 10th grader who hates everying. I ::heart:: teen angst.

-J

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Of all the people you might remind me of, Holden would not even make the list. You are a sweet, caring, thoughtful, intelligent boy. The exact opposite of Holden.

I can see the connection many might feel -- the boy who hates everything and doesn't have his life figured out at all. But Holden's absolutely vile personality totally overrides any of that for me.

[sk8eeyore.livejournal.com]

I don't have anything to argue or discuss, just wanted to say that I HATED that book too. Holden repulsed me. I read it voluntarily when I was 17, and I'm not even sure how I got through it. Or why, because I tend to not finish books whose protagonists I hate or who don't at least intrigue me in some way.

Longer than I expected reponse... why can't I manage this for English 201 assignments?

[azdback.livejournal.com]

I have to say I don't really have any opinions on this book. I've read it three times: once in 3rd grade (because I was a precocious little bitch with nothing better to do than annoy her primary advanced learning teacher by reading books 10 times above grade level...), once in 8th grade, and once my senior year of high school. Ironically, my view on the book and relation to it and the characters did not change at all.

I agree that Holden is a pain in the ass stupid little boy with more than a few hypocritical tendencies. But on one level, I think that's kind of the point: that Holden is just as "phony" and the phonies he hates, and that leads him to his "tragic undoing" (yeah, whatever, I'm kind of against the entire idea of a "tragic hero", and even more whether Holden truly qualifies, but that's an entirely different debate for sure).

I don't hate the book. I don't love it either. I'm one of the few drifting in the rather apathetic middle. I know so many people that say the Catcher in the Rye changed their life (I think my mother might be one of them, but I could be mistaken) or, at the very least, reflected their life in some way. I'm not one of them, but people who know me would parry with the notion that I've been 40 since I was about 8 years old.

Elizabeth: we should get together for coffee and discuss. *dorky grin* Not as though I don't have enough to do already, but hell. Always up for semi-academic procrastination, shit like this is why we pay $40,000 a year, right? Doing anything tomorrow (Saturday?)... Maybe we could catch a movie. I do NOT want to spend another Saturday locked in a tiny room writing about John McCain. I swear to God, I'm about to go more insane than I already am.

[ladyvivien.livejournal.com]

I was overcome with a sudden urge to re-read that today. obviously we have a pyschic link. It's the only explanation ;)

I wasn't terribly impressed with it either - I lived with someone who saw it as her bible and...yeah. should really have seen all that coming. Franny and Zooey I adored after my mother forced me to read it when I was 9. Anything after that came as a disappointment.