Have you read?: The Catcher in the Rye

Jerome David Salinger died last week at his home in New Hampshire. He was 91 years old and the author of a collection of books and short-story compendia, the most famous of which is his 1951 debut novel The Catcher in the Rye.

I came to appreciate Salinger’s novel relatively late in life, compared to the usual experience of literate youth. Indeed, it was because I was so late to the game that I felt compelled to read his books. Who was this guy, who seemed as if he had been and would be around forever? And what was this book about – the infamous The Catcher in the Rye, which my friends would silently proclaim as a literary gem on their internet profiles but never speak of in person? What was this unspoken right of passage that I was missing out on? I had to find out.

The Catcher in the Rye details the story of jaded 16 year-old Holden Caulfield’s experiences in an odyssey of self-exploration. Through Holden’s less-than-reliable eyes, we see him expelled from his expensive boarding school for academic failure and go on a tour of his home-town of New York City, to which he returns three-days before his expected arrival, staying in a hotel because he doesn’t want to see his parents. Over the course of his stream-of-consciousness style narrative, Holden interacts with abusive tourists and call-girls, cross-dressers and nuns, gets beaten up by a pimp, narrowly escapes being abused by his former English teacher (we are told, but suspect it may be a part of his creeping paranoia and disenchantment), and discusses the future with his insightful younger sister Phoebe. He thinks he may travel west to California, where his older brother works as a screenwriter, but Phoebe is so distressed by this notion that he promises he will stick around.

Holden Caulfield isn’t an especially likable character – you wouldn’t want to spend a weekend with him, in New York or anywhere else. Yet Salinger injects his protagonist with so much adolescent wit and confusion that you can’t help but regard him with compassion. He’s the guy you would have been if you were a little more scattered, a little less emotionally stable, and, strangely enough, a little braver. He’s the fill-in for the life that could have been, and thankfully wasn’t. But that’s the novel’s greatest misdirection – his three days in New York are brazenly unique, but can be seen as universal. You, too, will lose your innocence. You’ll want to protect the innocence of loved ones. And you will, in due course, recognise your hubris and resign yourself to the bitter-sweet realities of life.

It would be wrong to end this article without drawing attention to Salinger’s other excellent works. Those featuring the Glass family are especially worth reading, most notably the novella Franny and Zoey. Salinger’s literary output, though scarce, was and remains hugely influential, informing the work of many other great writers (John Updike credited Salinger with raising the bar of literature) and film-makers. Indeed, by withdrawing into his privacy it seemed as if Salinger would somehow outlast them all – as if he had become as everlasting as the characters in his stories. As his legend acquires more and more influence, however, perhaps such a eulogy won’t be too far from the truth.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.