How to be the Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” is one of the most popular works of the 1950’s. Through the themes that evolved within the work, the speaker’s tone, the different characters created and different figurative languages, Salinger has effectively shown the message of the book; that an environment and experiences affect and spoil the true nature, purity and innocence of children.
There are many factors that could affect a life of an individual. Different themes developed within the work present this author’s message. One of the themes that were carried out within the work talks about the rampant phoniness present in all adults; that the world is filled with phoniness. Holden has described everyone in his own environment as phonies. “It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys.” He described every bad thing in his environment that corrupts children as they grow up. Another key idea that was carried out within the book discusses the things that can influence an individual’s life; that every struggle, every painful experience and every catastrophe can extremely affect a person’s mental and physical behavior. When Holden wrote the essay about his brother Allie’s baseball glove, he described how completely wonderful his brother was and assured that everyone would’ve love him. And when Allie unfortunately died because of leukemia, Holden narrated how terrible he was when that happened. He mentioned that his parents were going to have him psychoanalyzed because he broke all the windows in the garage and slept there the night that Allie died. “It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit it, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it,” Holden claimed. The pain that he felt when his brother died has completely made him unaware of the disastrous actions that he was doing. It is one of the events that has affected Holden’s way of thinking and actions. From his childhood pains and different struggles that he is facing at the moment like flunking out of school and his thoughts of Jane Gallagher, together with the extreme coldness, loneliness and isolation that he has encountered, we see Holden gradual mental breakdown.
The characters that played different roles not only gave color to the story but successfully helped the author to convey the author’s message. Holden Caulfield has presented himself as bitter and cynical. He has introduced himself with least enthusiasm describing his current environment as “crumby” and refusing to narrate all his past life to avoid “all that David Copperfield kind of crap” which he finds to be boring. He has clearly expressed his contempt against the whole school and described everyone with an extremely negative and hateful perspective; describing them as phonies, conceited and crooks. This characteristic is successfully implied through the quotation “They don’t do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn’t know anybody there that was splendid and clear-thinking and all,” Holden claimed as he tried to contradict all famous description of Pencey or everything that people know about it. Holden has vividly expressed his own disgust against his own school. As he continues his journey, he constantly describes every people that he met and encounters as phonies as well. Holden described his roommate Stradlater as phony and as a “secret slob”. He described him as completely attractive senior who has a great physique and always has to look good. However, Holden implied that though Stradlater is all that, he claimed that he is just as disgusting and as slob as Ackley through describing some of his personal things like his razor. Holden mentioned that his razor was disgusting and full of hair and he never bothers to clean it. “You remember I said before that Ackley was a slob in his personal habits? Well, so was Stradlater”, but in a different way,” Holden compares. Holden also mentioned that Stradlater is a type of guy who wouldn’t give your regards o someone else even if he says he would. This characteristic of Stradlater gave support to Holden’s claim that Pencey was full of phonies and Stradlater is one of them; a guy that is extremely good-looking but has some disgusting and repulsive traits once you get to know him. Holden has described several people with contempt and disgust. However, there are few characters that he really liked and admired. Two of them would be his little brother Allie who died when he was thirteen years old. Another could be her younger sister Phoebe whom he really adored and whom he really cared about. They were the two main persons that represent the purity and innocence present in every children; innocence and purity that their environment and being adult could take away.
Several of figurative languages were also used all over within the work but it were the different symbols that became dominant. One of the symbols that was set in the book is Holden’s Red Hunting Hat. It represents Holden’s individuality and isolationism. It has become a way for Holden to detach himself from the phony society he lives in. “The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back – very corny, I’ll admit, but I like it that way. I looked good in it that way, ” Holden claimed. This has shown how comfortable Holden was in doing something different and something that most people wouldn’t; being different from everybody else. One of the most famous symbols from the book was the symbol of Holden being the “The Catcher in the Rye.” Holden expressed, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all… And I’m standing on the edge of a crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. ” The idea within this symbol is that Holden wanted to be the one who would save every children from falling to the phoniness of the world; to protect their innocence and purity. This symbol became one of the most powerful elements in the book. It expresses the protagonist’s goal of preserving the wonderful nature of every child.
The Catcher in Rye is story of a rebellious and defiant guy struggling to detach himself from the phony environment and phony people he lives with and encounters. Through these elements, Salinger has conveyed his goal of showing what he believes in. Children were pure but delicate and anything can destroy and influence their innocence. The people they live with and the environment they were exposed in can really determine their own formation. The world is filled with many evil and bad things. It is full of phonies, opportunists and crooks and unfortunately the good and innocent nature of childhood could turn into one of them.