| The Catcher in the Rye | |
First edition cover |
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| Author | J. D. Salinger |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Publication date | 16 July 1951 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 277 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | N/A |
| Followed by | Nine Stories (1953) |
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger. First published in the United States in 1951, the novel has been frequently challenged[1][2][3] in its home country for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst.
Originally published for adults,[4] the novel has become a common part of high school and college curricula throughout the English-speaking world; it has also been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.[5] Around 250,000 copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than sixty-five million.[6] The novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion and defiance.[7]
The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the one-hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.[8]
Contents |
Written in the first person, The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden's experiences in New York City in the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a college preparatory school. As Holden share's his experiences, it becomes evident that he is talking from a mental facility where he is being psychoanalyzed.
Holden shares encounters he has had with students and faculty of Pencey, whom he criticizes as being superficial, or, as he puts it, "phony." After an altercation over a girl with his roommate, Holden packs up and leaves the school immediately, in the middle of the night. He takes a train to New York, but does not want to return to his family's apartment immediately, and instead checks into the derelict Edmont Hotel. There, he spends an evening dancing with three tourist girls and has a clumsy encounter with a prostitute; he sends the woman away without any services having been rendered, although he pays her for her time. She demands more than was originally agreed upon, and, when Holden refuses to pay, he receives a second beating in as many nights, at the hands of her pimp.
Holden spends a total of two days in the city, characterized largely by drunkenness and loneliness. At one point he ends up at a museum, where he contrasts his life with the statues of Eskimos on display. For as long as he can remember, the statues have been fixed and unchanging. It is clear to the reader, if not to Holden, that the teenager is afraid and nervous about the process of change and growing up. These concerns may largely have stemmed from the death of his brother, Allie. Eventually, he sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are away to visit his younger sister Phoebe, who is about the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate. To her, Holden aimlessly shares a fantasy he has been thinking about; he pictures himself as the sole guardian of several children playing a game of ball in a huge rye field on the edge of a cliff. His job is to catch the children if they wander close to the brink, to be a "catcher in the rye".
After leaving his parent's apartment, Holden then drops by to see his old English teacher, Mr. Antolini. The comfort he hopes to find from his mentor is upset when he wakes up in the night to find Mr. Antolini petting his head in a way that seems to Holden to be "perverty." Holden therefore leaves, and spends his last afternoon wandering the city. [9]
Holden intends to move out west, and relays these plans to his sister, who decides she wants to go with him. He refuses to take her, instead telling her that he himself will no longer go. Holden then takes Phoebe to a zoo, where he watches her as she rides a carousel. Watching her with both fear and joy, Holden seems to have realized that there can be no "catcher" to protect children's innocence, that they should develop in the harsh world on their own.
Holden never does give a thorough assessment of his prognosis since his hospitalization. His voice in the novel's last few pages indicates that his time recovering has left him calmer and with more perspective, yet he remains lonely and without definite direction.
Holden Caulfield is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Holden is seventeen when he tells the story, but was sixteen years old when the events took place.[10] Though intelligent and sensitive, Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice. His bitterness is a form of self-protection from the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him. He uses many different methods to block himself from the people who surround him.
D.B. Caulfield is Holden's older brother and lives in Hollywood. Holden professes to despise cinema for he believes it exemplifies his concept of "phoniness," but throughout the book he offers thoughtful and in-depth commentaries on films he has seen. Holden is narrating the novel at a hospital near Hollywood (while the story takes place across the country) since he says that D.B. visits him every weekend.
Allie Caulfield was Holden's younger brother, who died of leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Even though Allie was younger than Holden, Holden idolized him. Holden provides a detailed description of the baseball mitt that Allie had covered in poems. Holden even prays to his deceased brother for safety. The night of Allie's death, Holden smashed all the windows in the family garage with his bare fists, permanently injuring his right hand after trying to smash the windows of the car.
Jane Gallagher is a girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer, when their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine. Holden frequently stated that Jane always "kept her kings in the back row" whenever she played checkers (representing her virginity) and asked his roommate if she still did that. He likes to remember Jane as a sensitive, innocent girl. When she turns out to be his roommate's date, he is deeply bothered, as his roomate is well-known for his "Lothario" reputation. Jane is the only non-relative that Holden speaks well of in the novel without criticism.
Ward Stradlater Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. It is clear that Holden dislikes him, referring to him as a "moron" and a "bastard." He also attacks Stradlater when he refuses to answer any of his questions about his date with Jane Gallagher. Stradlater easily overcomes Holden, and leaves him with a badly bloodied nose.
Robert Ackley Holden's dorm neighbor at Pency Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy with terrible dental hygiene. He is incredibly obnoxious and socially inept, which annoys and disgusts Holden. Holden refers to him as "Ackley kid"
Mr. Spencer was Holden's history teacher at Pencey Prep. In the beginning of the book he lectures Holden for his academic slack and tries to put some sense in his head, a speech which Holden ignores.
Sally Hayes is a very attractive girl whom Holden has known and dated for a long time. Though Sally is well read, Holden claims that she is stupid and superficial, although it is difficult to tell whether this judgment is cynical or merely stems from Holden's ambivalence about being sexually attracted to her.
Phoebe Caulfield is Holden's younger sister. She is in the fourth grade at the time Holden leaves Pencey Prep. In some ways, she can be even more mature than him, even criticizing him for childishness, although she clearly idolizes Holden. Holden also idolizes her, in a way. She is the only character who seems to understand her brother's disturbed personality. Near the end of the book, Phoebe wants to run away with Holden to the west. It is at this point that Holden decides not to go away.
Sunny is a prostitute about the same age as Holden whom Holden hires through the hotel elevator man. She is one of a number of women with whom Holden clumsily attempts to connect. His sexual timorousness leads him to try to strike up a meaningful discussion with her, but she clearly shows no interest.
Carl Luce is student at Columbia who was Holden's student adviser. Luce is three years older than Holden and has a great deal of sexual experience. Though Holden tries to get him to talk about sex at their meeting, Carl suggests Holden get psychoanalysis. It is now known to the readers that Luce is the one who suggested psychoanalysis to Holden, who is narrating the novel at a hospital.
James Castle A previous student at Elkton Hills, a school Holden went to, who had committed suicide by jumping out of a window. Mr. Antolini was the only individual to walk right up to James' corpse on the ground.
Mr. Antolini is Holden's former teacher whom Holden turns to for guidance and support. Mr. Antolini warns Holden that he is riding for a horrible fall, and advises him that he is being immature for his enthusiasm to "die nobly for his cause" and that he should instead "live humbly" for it. Although written very ambiguously, Mr. Antolini (in Holden's view) makes a pass at Holden. Holden himself later questions if that is actually what it seemed to him at the time.
Bruce Brooks noted that Holden's attitude is the same at the end as it was in the beginning, which implies a lack of growth in distinguishing the story from young adult fiction.[11] On the other hand, Louis Menand claimed that teachers assign it to students because of the optimism at the end, that "alienation is just a phase." [12] While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand observed that Holden thinks like an adult with his ability to see through people clearly.
The novel has been interpreted as having only a negative answer to the social problems it expresses. In another type of critique, its philosophy has been negatively compared with that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[13]
Phoebe's character plays an important role of influencing Holden. Her name, Phoebe, is from the Greek Phoibus, referring to the Greek sun and moon god. [14] The comparison suggests that she serves as an oracle figure for Holden, to whom he can confide and seek advice. [14] Phoebe also stands to be a catalytic character for Holden. Holden pictures himself as a catcher in the rye; he imagines himself standing on a cliff in a field of rye with children playing tag around him, and as they strayed too close to the edge, he would be the one to catch them, and save them. [15] Phoebe and Holden seem to exchange roles as the catcher-fallen as well. Holden gives her the symbol of the catcher, his hunting hat, and becomes the fallen just as Phoebe assumes the role of the catcher. [16]
However, in the final few pages of the novel, Holden realizes that he cannot take control of Phoebe's life nor prevent her from growing up. Inevitably, she will make mistakes as she matures, but he sees that he must allow her to grab the "gold ring" on the merry-go-round - a symbol of adolescent errors. Inevitably, this will include some of what he terms "phoniness." Therefore, Holden has indeed changed over the course of the novel, and has come to terms, to some extent, with his inability to be a "catcher" for Phoebe and all other children - he must allow them to grow up for themselves.
In 1960, a teacher was fired, and later reinstated, for assigning the novel in class.[17] Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States.[18] In 1981, it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States.[19] According to the American Library Association, The Catcher in the Rye was the 13th most frequently challenged book from 1990–2000.[1] It was one of the 10 most challenged books in 2005, and came off the list in 2006.[20]
The challenges generally begin with vulgar language, citing the novel's use of words like fuck[21] and "goddam",[22] with more general reasons including sexual references,[23] blasphemy, undermining of family values[22] and moral codes,[24] Holden's being a poor role model,[25] encouragement of rebellion,[26] and promotion of drinking, smoking, lying, and promiscuity.[24] Often, the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.[18] Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that the challengers "are being just like Holden ... They are trying to be catchers in the rye."[22] A reverse effect has been that this incident caused people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when there were none before.[27]
Early in his career, J. D. Salinger expressed a willingness to have his work adapted for the screen.[28] However, in 1949, a critically panned film version of his short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was released; renamed My Foolish Heart and taking great liberties with Salinger's story, the film is widely considered to be among the reasons that Salinger has refused to allow any subsequent movie adaptations of his work.[29] The enduring popularity of The Catcher in the Rye, however, has resulted in repeated attempts to secure the novel's screen rights.
When The Catcher in the Rye was first released, many offers were made to adapt it for the screen; among them was Sam Goldwyn, producer of My Foolish Heart.[29] In a letter written in the early fifties, Salinger spoke of mounting a play in which he would play the role of Holden Caulfield opposite Margaret O'Brien, and, if he couldn’t play the part himself, to “forget about it." Almost fifty years later, the writer Joyce Maynard definitively concluded, "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger."[30]
Salinger told Maynard in the seventies that Jerry Lewis "tried for years to get his hands on the part of Holden,"[30] despite Lewis not having read the novel until he was in his thirties.[27] Celebrities ranging from Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson to Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio have since made efforts to make a film adaptation.[31] In an interview with Premiere magazine, John Cusack commented that his one regret about turning twenty-one was that he had become too old to play Holden Caulfield. Writer-director Billy Wilder recounted his abortive attempts to snare the novel's rights, saying,
| “ | Of course I read The Catcher in the Rye....Wonderful book. I loved it. I pursued it. I wanted to make a picture out of it. And then one day a young man came to the office of Leland Hayward, my agent, in New York, and said, 'Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to lay off. He’s very, very insensitive.' And he walked out. That was the entire speech. I never saw him. That was J. D. Salinger and that was Catcher in the Rye.[32] | ” |
In 1961, Salinger denied Elia Kazan permission to direct a stage adaptation of Catcher for Broadway.[33] More recently, Salinger's agents received bids for the Catcher movie rights from Harvey Weinstein and Steven Spielberg,[34] neither of which was even passed on to Salinger for consideration.
In 2003, the BBC television program The Big Read featured The Catcher in the Rye, intercutting discussions of the novel with "a series of short films that featured an actor playing Salinger's adolescent antihero, Holden Caulfield."[33] The show defended its unlicensed adaptation of the novel by claiming to be a "literary review," and no major charges were filed.
According to a speculative article in The Guardian in May 2006, there are rumors that director Terrence Malick has been linked to a possible screen adaptation of the novel.[35]
The Japanese animated television series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex references the novel with their character 'The Laughing Man'(a futuristic cyber-terrorist) who uses the phrase "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes," from chapter 25 in his logo, a symbol he uses to hide his face.
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