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

[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.